Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Assistant Practitioner - Children's Community Nursing

The closing date is 21 July 2025

Job summary

An exciting development opportunity has arisen for a full time Band 4 Assistant Practitioner role in the Children's Community Nursing Team, working across St Helen's and Halton.

The Children's Community Nursing Team (CCNT) provides support to children and young people aged 0-19 years with complex health needs that require nursing intervention. Providing care and support for children and young people who are technology dependent, have a life limiting condition, palliative care and end of life support.

The CCNT aims to prevent hospital admission and aid a safe and effective early discharge and when needed with an appropriate package of care. We work closely with professionals to jointly formulate a plan of care which enables health needs to be managed within the community setting.

Main duties of the job

The role of the Assistant Practitioner is to work with Registered Nurses to provide and monitor high quality care, by contributing to the ongoing care of children and young people under the care of the service in line with the service pathways.

The Assistant Practitioner will develop a a breadth of knowledge to provide holistic and person centered care and support for children and young people under the care of the Children's Community Nursing Team. Working towards achieving work based competencies, developing skills in caring for children and young people with complex medical conditions, acute illness and long-term conditions.

The Community Paediatric services are seeking to employ a Assistant Practitioner to improve the quality and safety of care delivered to our children and young people . The Assistant Practitoner will work across the St Helens and Halton areas, to support care with full training provided for specialist areas of care such as tracheostomy, ventilation and enteral feeding. The post holder will support parents/carers to provide care to enable children and young people to remain at home and access the community.

The Assistant Practitioner will work flexibly to provide care and support to children and young people in the community.

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

o Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018

o Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)

o National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Date posted

11 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£26,530 to £29,114 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

409-7307429

Job locations

Lowe House Health Centre

103 Crab Street

St Helens

WA10 2DJ

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.

Advertising date: 11th July 2025

Closing date: 21st July 2025

Shortlisting date: 22nd July 2025

Proposed Interview date: TBC

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.

Advertising date: 11th July 2025

Closing date: 21st July 2025

Shortlisting date: 22nd July 2025

Proposed Interview date: TBC

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

NNEB/NVQ Level 3 in Children's Care, Learning and Development or equivalent. e.g.CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Child Care and Education or BTEC National Diploma in Children's Care, Learning and Development.
Educated to GSCE level in Maths or English or equivalent qualification or relevant experience in a Health Care Setting
Diploma or equivalent appropriate qualification, e.g foundation degree, or NVQ3 Level qual or relevant experience equivalent to diploma level.

Knowledge

Essential

Knowledge of clinical skills required to undertake the role
Experience of working with children and young people with complex medical health needs
Knowledge of Safeguarding/Children and Vulnerable Adults procedures
Be able to work without direct supervision
Evidence of working within a team

Desirable

Experience in working in the community setting

Skills

Essential

Excellent communication skills

Desirable

IT skills appropriate to role.

Other

Essential

Motivated individual, keen to develop within the role
Flexible and adaptable approach to working hours and attend appropriate training as required.
Ability to travel to various locations via own car

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

NNEB/NVQ Level 3 in Children's Care, Learning and Development or equivalent. e.g.CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Child Care and Education or BTEC National Diploma in Children's Care, Learning and Development.
Educated to GSCE level in Maths or English or equivalent qualification or relevant experience in a Health Care Setting
Diploma or equivalent appropriate qualification, e.g foundation degree, or NVQ3 Level qual or relevant experience equivalent to diploma level.

Knowledge

Essential

Knowledge of clinical skills required to undertake the role
Experience of working with children and young people with complex medical health needs
Knowledge of Safeguarding/Children and Vulnerable Adults procedures
Be able to work without direct supervision
Evidence of working within a team

Desirable

Experience in working in the community setting

Skills

Essential

Excellent communication skills

Desirable

IT skills appropriate to role.

Other

Essential

Motivated individual, keen to develop within the role
Flexible and adaptable approach to working hours and attend appropriate training as required.
Ability to travel to various locations via own car

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.

Employer details

Employer name

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Address

Lowe House Health Centre

103 Crab Street

St Helens

WA10 2DJ

Employer's website

https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Address

Lowe House Health Centre

103 Crab Street

St Helens

WA10 2DJ

Employer's website

https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)