Associate Practitioner​/Assistant Practitioner - Alcohol Care Team

Employer Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Torbay Hospital Town Torquay Salary £28,392 - £31,157 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 28/10/2026 23:59

We are seeking a dedicated and proactive Band 4 Nursing Associate / Assistant Practitioner to join our growing Alcohol Care Team. In this post, you will play a key role in building and embedding our Alcohol Harm Reduction Programme across the Trust.

You will work closely with clinical teams on the front line to optimize alcohol screening practices, deliver training on harm reduction advice, and empower staff to identify and manage alcohol-related harm early.

A central focus of your role will be supporting admission avoidance and timely discharge. By initiating pre-discharge contact, following up with patient’s post-discharge, and applying structured motivational interviewing techniques, you will provide critical psychosocial support that aids recovery and reduces hospital re-attendances. As part of this post-discharge care, you will actively contact patients who were unable to be seen during their inpatient stay due to being admitted out of operational hours or missed due to capacity.

The Assistant Practitioner will function at a higher competency level than that of other Healthcare Support Workers with responsibility for actively participating as part of the Multi-Disciplinary Team within the ward/dept, to provide a seamless service to patients with proximal supervision from a registered nurse/practitioner.

Trust-Wide Harm Reduction & Screening:
Support acute wards and clinical departments to embed robust, standardized alcohol screening; deliver practical guidance and training to multidisciplinary teams on applying screening tools and harm reduction principles.

Inpatient Screening & Identification:
Proactively identify and screen patients across hospital wards to recognize those at risk of alcohol-related harm at the earliest opportunity.

Patient Care & Psychosocial Interventions:
Utilize motivational interviewing and evidence-based brief interventions (IBA) to support patients in understanding their alcohol use, setting personal recovery goals, and implementing effective harm reduction strategies.

Patient & Carer

Education:

Deliver clear, specialist information and advice to patients and families living with alcohol use disorders and/or diagnosed liver disease, empowering them to manage their conditions.

Admission Avoidance & Post-Discharge Support: C onduct follow-up contact with patients (in-person or telephone) following discharge to support safe transitions, maintain recovery gains, and reduce hospital re-attendances.

Service Coordination & Operational Support:
Assist in managing the day-to-day operations of the Alcohol Care Team (ACT) - handling triage, referrals, emails, phone inquiries, and patient communications efficiently.

Team Collaboration & Support:
Work closely with ACT clinical nurse specialists and the multidisciplinary team to support the ongoing care, management, and escalation of complex patient cases.

Data Collection & Quality Improvement:
Accurately record patient interactions and track screening compliance and follow-up metrics to contribute to service audits, quality assurance, and ongoing program development.

This is currently a Monday to Friday service subject to change

This is an exciting opportunity to join and continue to develop a service within Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.

The Alcohol Care Team works within a well-established Gastroenterology Department that provides seamless multi-speciality care, with an ethos in facilitating the right care, at the right…