Learning Disability and Autism Specialist Nurse

The Learning Disability and Autism Specialist role is an essential member of our Complex Health service in ESNEFT. This post enables provision of specialist advice, consultation and interventions for people with a learning disability and/or autism (LD&A) who need to access physical health care in Colchester Hospital. Staff providing care within ESNEFT are required to understand their roles and responsibilities in ensuring that people with LD&A receive accessible services through use of reasonable adjustments and tailored approaches to care. You will support patients, their families and staff in situations where high levels of complexity increase the challenges that a person with LD&A may experience. They will be required to work collaboratively with individuals to assess needs and plan care alongside the MDT to support optimal outcomes. You will demonstrate compassionate leadership to empower the workforce to provide high standards of care for this patient group. To enable this they will lead and participate in forums which enable a greater understanding of patient and carer experiences and support projects to enable improvement where this is required. You will represent ESNEFT in wider system LD&A forums and meetings to ensure that Trust wide practice is in line with local and national policy. They will build relationships with partner organisations to ensure that services for people with LD&A are safe, effective and inclusive of physical health needs and experience., You will be responsible for working with divisions to identify training needs and support the development and facilitation of training in line with statutory and mandatory requirements. The post holder will undertake governance processes to understand the quality of the service and work alongside the senior lead for safeguarding and complex health to identify areas which require focus and change.

• Direct contact and interventions with patients who have complex health needs in relation to LD&A and support for families, carers and staff to ensure that experience of receiving care is not limited by these needs.
• Expert advice and guidance for clinical colleagues to support and empower them to provide care for people with LD&A using reasonable adjustments and care planned approaches for optimal health outcomes.
• To undertake ongoing analysis of service information and data to contribute to the understanding of the needs of this patient group so as to ensure that care can be delivered safely, effectively and compassionately.
• To ensure that Trust policies and protocols are reflective of national drivers and requirements in relation to care for people with LD&A.
• To support colleagues through provision of educational resources and training.
• To represent ESNEFT in wider LD&A forums as appropriate to role.
  
  We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.
We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff. We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services. Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients. We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients. If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you. Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A