Job overview
Clinical Nurse Specialist - Palliative and End of Life Care
1 x WTE 6-month secondment to cover Maternity Leave - inpatient services.
We have an exciting opportunity for an ambitious and experienced Clinical Nurse Specialist to join our Palliative and End of Life Careteam.
We provide fully integrated 24/7 clinically effective, efficient and high-quality care to people with complex specialist palliative and end of life care needs, based on current evidence and best practice across inpatient and community settings. Our dedicated Palliative and End of Life Care team provides rapid response to patients in the dying phase and our overnight service () support people to remain in their preferred place of care.
We really look forward to welcoming you to our team!
Please contact to find out more about our team and your chance to join us. You will have the opportunity to work alongside wider specialist teams including Learning Disabilities, Health Inclusion Team, Neighbourhood Nursing, Dementia and Delirium.
Closing date - 28th September 2025 at Midnight
Provisional Interview date - 7th October 2025
Main duties of the job
The successful post holder will lead and support the delivery of excellent personalised care to patients and families across the Boroughs of Lambeth & Southwark, in their own homes and care homes.
You will provide specialist advice on pain and other physical symptoms as well as psychological, emotional, social and spiritual concerns. Our team includes nursing, pharmacy, medical, social work, and psychology colleagues.
Our Band 7 nurses participate in developing our Band 6 nurses within the team with support from our Matrons, Consultant Nurse & Deputy Head of Nursing.
Working for our organisation
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK’s best known hospitals – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield – as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.
We are among the UK’s busiest, most successful foundation trusts. We provide specialist care for patients including heart and lung, cancer and renal services as well as a full range of local hospital and community services for people in Lambeth and Southwark.
We have a long tradition of clinical and scientific achievement and – as part of King’s Health Partners – we are one of England’s eight academic health sciences centres, bringing together world-class clinical services, teaching and research. We have one of the National Institute for Health Research’s biomedical research centres, established with King’s College London in 2007, as well as dedicated clinical research facilities.
We are a member of the Palliative Care Clinical Academic Group, providing unique access to world leading researchers in the field. You will have the opportunity to develop your teaching skills through delivering training across the wider Trust. We support our staff wellbeing through clinical supervision as well as multiple team and Trust wide initiatives.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description and personal specification for a detailed description of the roles and responsibilities for this post
Person specification
Qualifications / education
Essential criteria
1. BSC/1st degree or equivalent qualification/training in Adult Nursing and experience
2. Your professional knowledge acquired at degree level will be supplemented by specialist training, experience and short courses to Masters level equivalent.
3. Post registration qualification in appropriate area of speciality or equivalent post qualification experience
4. Leadership/Mentorship course
Desirable criteria
5. To have or be working towards a Master’s degree
6. To have or working towards a non medical physical assessment course
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
7. Experience of working autonomously at an advanced level within Palliative and end of life care delivering effective patient focused care.
8. Experience of working autonomously assessing, diagnosing and treating patients within the community setting
9. Proven evidence of advanced organisational/leadership skills and autonomous practice
10. Experience of audit, research & evidence based care
11. Experience of delivering change management both personally and as a facilitator
Desirable criteria
12. Teaching and assessing
Skills, knowledge and ability
Essential criteria
13. Decisive, able to make decisions quickly and be assertive.
14. Proven listening / counselling skills with the ability to manage complex situations and appropriately deliver sensitive and difficult outcomes.
15. Confident and effective at lone working
16. Up to date knowledge of current clinical and professional issues (incl. long term, complex or other conditions encompassing the care of older people).
17. Excellent verbal, written, interpersonal, communication skills
18. Ability to de-escalate situations involving conflict and provide an effective resolution.
19. Able to use skills of history taking and physical and holistic assessment to direct patient care
20. Ability to conduct & evaluate own projects successfully
Desirable criteria
21. Undertaken clinical & Nursing research
22. Presentation Skills
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.