Continence Nurse Specialist

You will feel valued as a Continence Nurse Specialist within HCRG Care Group, with access to a wide range of rewards and benefits, including:

• Agenda for Change Band 7 salary, NHS Pension and full Agenda for Change terms and conditions
• Free on-site parking at Livingstone Hospital
• My Reward Hub membership – discounts on everyday purchases, cashback offers and voucher deals
• Early access to earned wages for unexpected expenses through Wagestream
• Extensive physical and mental wellbeing support, including counselling, legal and financial guidance, post-trauma support, health resources and wellbeing programmes
• Outstanding learning and development opportunities, including access to eLearning, bespoke career pathways and continuing professional development through The Learning Enterprise
• A supportive culture where innovation is encouraged, backed by over £100,000 of ring-fenced innovation funding each year
• Opportunities to contribute to service improvement, quality improvement and clinical innovation projects
• The reassurance of working within a clinically robust organisation, with 100% of rated services achieving "Good" or "Outstanding" by the Care Quality Commission
• Free tea, coffee and milk at your base location

As a Continence Nurse Specialist, you will join our specialist community service across North Kent, delivering expert assessment, treatment and management for patients experiencing complex bladder and bowel dysfunction.

Working across Dartford, Gravesham, Swanley and Swale, you will provide highly specialised continence care, helping patients improve their quality of life, maintain independence and achieve the best possible outcomes. You will work closely with multidisciplinary colleagues across health and social care, providing clinical leadership, education and expert advice to both patients and professionals.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced specialist nurse to join a supportive and forward-thinking team committed to delivering high-quality, patient-centred care within the community.

The Continence Nurse Specialist will be responsible for, but not limited to:

• Leading the delivery of a specialist continence service for patients with complex bladder and bowel dysfunction, ensuring timely onward referral to Urology, Urogynaecology and other specialist services where appropriate
• Undertaking comprehensive assessments, developing care plans and evaluating outcomes for patients with complex continence needs
• Demonstrating advanced clinical reasoning and decision-making skills when assessing, planning and delivering care
• Working autonomously to assess and manage patients using bladder and bowel diaries, symptom assessment tools, portable ultrasound, urinalysis and digital rectal examination where appropriate
• Initiating, interpreting and acting upon clinical findings to provide specialist treatment and advice
• Promoting independence and self-management through specialist education and training for patients and carers, including catheter care, intermittent self-catheterisation and other continence-related interventions
• Providing specialist advice, support and education to healthcare professionals across community and primary care services
• Contributing to service development, clinical audit, quality improvement and evidence-based practice initiatives
• Working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams and partner organisations to ensure seamless patient care
• Supporting the development and delivery of continence-related training programmes for healthcare professionals

For full details of the role and responsibilities, please refer to the attached Job Description.

You will have:

• Registered Nurse with current NMC registration
• Degree-level qualification or equivalent experience
• Specialist training in the assessment and management of bladder and bowel dysfunction
• MSc, PGDip or equivalent qualification in a relevant clinical specialty, or evidence of working towards this
• Advanced clinical assessment skills at postgraduate level
• Urology and/or Gynaecology experience
• Experience of developing and delivering formal education and training programmes
• Experience of budget and resource management
• A minimum of five years post-registration experience, including significant experience within a specialist continence service
• Experience of leading and developing clinical services
• Experience of running a service continence supply and understanding of budget and provision of consumables
• Experience of clinical audit, service evaluation and implementing quality improvements
• Demonstrable evidence of continuing professional development
• Excellent communication, leadership, organisational and clinical decision‑making skills
• Strong IT skills, including experience of electronic patient record systems and Microsoft Office applications
• Detailed knowledge of national directives, guidance and legislation influencing continence care
• In-depth understanding of Clinical Governance, safeguarding, professional…