Clinical Nurse Specialist

Job responsibilities

As a key member of the clinical leadership team, the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) with a Hospital Liaison focus will ensure high-quality, family-centred care for babies, children and young people with life-limiting or complex needs. This post is pivotal in strengthening relationships between Haven House, tertiary hospitals, and community providers to ensure seamless transitions of care, safe discharges, and coordinated support during hospital admissions.

The post-holder will deliver advanced clinical care and provide expert support for symptom management, palliative and end-of-life care, and emotional support for families navigating complex hospital journeys. This role requires strong interagency collaboration, expert clinical decision-making, and a proactive approach to supporting hospital-to-hospice transitions.

In addition to clinical leadership, the post-holder will contribute to education, service development, risk management and the supervision of a team of registered and unregistered staff.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical

1. Act as the key link between hospice and hospital services, especially PICU/NICU, to facilitate timely discharge planning and coordinated care.

2. Support families emotionally and practically during hospital stays and assist in navigating discharge and care planning.

3. Develop, implement and review advance care plans and symptom management plans in collaboration with hospital and community professionals.

4. Work flexibly across all settings (hospice, hospital, home) in response to the needs and preferences of children and families.

5. Participate in the 24/7 on-call rota for palliative and end-of-life care.

Managerial

1. Manage a designated team of registered and unregistered staff, providing supervision, support and development.

2. Coordinate a caseload of children, particularly those with complex hospital transitions.

3. Participate in incident management, complaints handling and implementation of service improvement actions.

4. Support safe recruitment and induction of new staff.

5. Facilitate reflective practice and staff debriefs, particularly around challenging hospital discharges or end-of-life cases.

Education and Professional Development

1. Work with the Practice Nurse Educator to support learning needs related to hospital transitions, discharge planning and symptom management.

2. Deliver training to staff, families, and external professionals on palliative care, communication, and technical care needs.

3. Participate in reflective learning and maintain clinical competency through supervision and CPD.

4. Keep up to date with developments in childrens palliative care, complex needs and hospital liaison best practice.

Risk and Governance

1. Support robust risk assessment and care planning around hospital discharges and community re-entry.

2. Participate in audit, quality improvement and regulatory compliance work (e.g., CQC standards).

3. Ensure accurate, timely documentation and safe communication across all agencies involved in care.

Contribute to ongoing Other duties

1. To promote and live the Haven House values Compassionate, Professional, Respectful and Safe.

2. To work with colleagues across the hospice as part of the Haven House One Team approach.

3. To conduct yourself in line with the Haven House cultures and behaviours at all times, acting as an ambassador for the hospice.

4. To contribute towards a culture of continuous improvement to help drive our service to Outstanding.

5. To offer flexible support for the work of the organisation, with a flexible approach to new duties and responsibilities as needed to support our vision, mission and values.

This job description is not a definitive or exhaustive list of responsibilities but identifies the key responsibilities and tasks of the post holder. The specific objectives of the post holder will be subject to review as part of the individual performance process.

evaluation Haven House is committed to Equal Opportunities in Employment and therefore it is our aim to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on grounds of gender, disability, religion, race, colour, sexual orientation, and nationality, ethnic or national origins or is placed at a disadvantage by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

Haven House is responsible under the existing equality and diversity legislation to ensure equality issues are promoted and you are expected to work with Haven House to fulfil these obligations, policies and codes of good practice.

Employees must take reasonable care and be aware of the responsibilities placed on them under the Health & Safety at Work Act (1974) and ensure that agreed safety procedures are carried out to maintain a safe environment for employees, patients and visitors.

Haven House is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment. Employment is subject to receipt of satisfactory references and an enhanced DBS check.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of managing a team.
• Experience of clinical risk assessment.
• Experience of safeguarding and working with vulnerable families.
• Experience of working with young people with physical or learning disabilities.
• Experience of working with children or young people and their families in a community setting.
• Experience of working with children with complex health needs.
• Multi-disciplinary team working.
• Experience of resource management.

Desirable

• Experience of clinical risk assessment.
• Experience in a paediatric intensive care setting e.g. PICU, NICU, HDU.
• Experience of undertaking clinical audits.
• Experience of working with bereaved families.

Personal Qualities/others

Essential

• Positive attitude
• Enthusiastic and motivated and a collaborator.
• Supportive of colleagues, children and families.
• Flexible able to respond to the needs of children over a 24 hour period.
• Ability to motivate self and others.
• Professional manner.
• Approachable, fair and consistent.
• Honest and trustworthy.
• Car drive desirable

Qualifications

Essential

• RSCN or RN child
• Advanced assessment, nonmedical prescribing or willingness to
• complete.
• Evidence of continued professional development.
• Evidence of complying with NMC/PREP requirements.
• First Level Degree or equivalent experience

Desirable

• Diploma/ Degree palliative care/ oncology/ specialist practice (CCN).
• Mentorship qualification.
• Clinical supervision training.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Excellent leadership skills
• Competent in an identified area of advanced clinical care skills e.g., symptom management, intravenous and subcutaneous therapy, tracheostomy care, long term ventilation etc.
• An understanding of the principles and philosophy of palliative care and life limiting conditions.
• Knowledge of recent initiatives, current legislation and guidance in paediatric health and social care.
• Ability to report, collect and collate data using IT.
• Adaptable, able to use skills, knowledge and experience to care for children, families based on individual needs.
• Ability to prioritise workload and to be flexible to changing demands.
• Excellent communication, both written and oral.
• Good organisational skills and ability to prioritise and delegate workload.

Desirable

• Mentorship and supervision skills.
• Teaching and presentation skills.
• Research awareness.
• Safeguarding supervisor training.
• Good IT skills.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).