Main area Secure Division -Specialist Support Team - Learning Disabilities and or Autism Grade Band 8a Contract Permanent: Post Holder will be required to participate in On Call rota covering 7 days Hours
* Full time
* Flexible working
* Compressed hours
37.5 hours per week (Post Holder will be required to participate in On Call rota covering 7 days) Job ref 350-SC7461953-A
Employer Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type NHS
Site Hollins Park House
Town Warrington
Salary £55,690 - £62,682 per annum
Salary period Yearly
Closing 12/11/2025 23:59
Advanced Clinical Practitioner – in Autism
Band 8a
We are committed to equality of opportunity and to challenging discrimination, and we welcome applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
Job overview
Are you ready to make a meaningful impact in a pioneering service that places people at the heart of everything we do? We are seeking a dynamic, compassionate Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) - Autism to join our expanding Cheshire and Merseyside Specialist Community Forensic Team for people with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism (SCFT LD/A team). This is a unique opportunity to be part of a service transforming care regionally for individuals with learning disabilities and/or autism who have a forensic need.
Previous applicants can re-apply.
Main duties of the job
The Specialist Community Forensic Team is a multi-disciplinary team including Nursing, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Social Work, Support Worker, Psychology and Psychiatry. The post holder will work across Cheshire and Merseyside and liaise with Health, Social Care and Criminal Justice partners to develop proactive risk mitigation and support. The ACP will deliver advanced clinical practice within their remit, exercising independent judgment to assess, investigate, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate clinical care and management. They will provide leadership, share knowledge, and engage in research to promote evidence-based practice. The ACP will report via the divisional leadership structure and will support education and development of trainee APs and the wider MDT. Key relationships include all team members, trust management, and wider partners.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people. We offer specialist inpatient and community services across physical health, mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services, including high secure mental health facilities. We are committed to delivering safe, effective, timely, equitable and efficient care and to transforming services while reducing costs.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Clinical Practice
1. Working autonomously to deliver, manage, and evaluate clinical care for patients/service users within the service.
2. Delivering an evidence-based clinical model ensuring specialist assessment and intervention align with current guidance and practice.
3. Providing specialist advanced practice input to risk assessment and the development of multi-disciplinary treatment plans.
4. Providing specialist advice for assessing, managing and intervening for people who are autistic, including engagement with complex situations.
5. Working with individuals, families and others to use advanced knowledge and skills to assess, examine, investigate, diagnose, and manage care through an episode of care.
6. Supporting decision-making to promote person-centred care.
7. Using expertise to make clinical judgments for patients with complex presentations.
8. Synthesising information from multiple sources to make evidence-based judgments within professional boundaries.
9. Managing risk, including in complex and unpredictable situations.
10. Improving patient experience by identifying and meeting individual clinical needs, including safeguarding and vulnerable groups.
11. Delivering care underpinned by evidence-based knowledge and demonstrated competence.
12. Acting as a clinical role model and providing leadership within the service.
13. Being professionally and legally accountable within Trust policies and professional codes.
Leadership and Management
1. Providing compassionate clinical leadership and promoting safe practice.
2. Identifying unsafe environments and escalating appropriately.
3. Participating in appraisal, clinical supervision, and ongoing professional development.
4. Managing risk within the area of responsibility and ensuring protective measures for staff and patients.
5. Leading and contributing to the development of systems and processes that improve patient experiences and outcomes.
6. Adapting specialist knowledge to different clinical settings to influence service delivery.
7. Advising on patient care to the wider MDT and contributing to governance.
8. Developing governance systems and implementing evidence-based protocols and documentation.
9. Leading the review and development of clinical pathways to reduce unwarranted variation and promote best practice.
10. Continuously developing practice to meet future needs and prioritise workload and interventions.
11. Working within an individual scope of practice and engaging stakeholders to improve practice across clinical practice.
12. Contributing to service development and cross-agency collaboration.
Education
1. Identifying learning needs and development plans; adhering to CPD requirements.
2. Sharing knowledge and acting as a resource across the organisation.
3. Engaging in peer review and promoting lifelong learning.
4. Supporting the development of others, including Trainee ACPs, in care development.
5. Role modelling, coaching, and promoting reflective practice and ACP visibility within the Trust.
Research
1. Engaging in research to promote evidence-based practice and evaluating clinical practice and service impact.
2. Leading on audits, evaluating practice, and disseminating best practice.
3. Reviewing NICE guidance and identifying gaps between evidence and practice.
4. Facilitating links between clinical practice and research through collaboration with academic and clinical staff.
Person specification
Qualifications
* Registration with relevant clinical body (NMC/HCPC)
* MSc Advanced Clinical Practice or equivalent (NHSE accreditation)
* Independent and supplementary prescribing qualification
* Specialist ASC diagnostic training
Knowledge/Experience
* Experience at a senior level in a community multidisciplinary environment
* Compassionate leadership skills
* Engagement with research and audit
* Experience of service change to improve outcomes
* Experience supervising and supporting teams
* Advanced knowledge of autistic needs and assessment approaches
* Knowledge of relevant legislation and frameworks
* Advanced skills in formulation and risk assessment
* Experience of working with people with mental health problems
* Post-graduate training in research methodology
* Post-graduate training in leadership
Values
* Accountability
* Support
* High professional standards
* Responsive to service users
* Engaging leadership style
* Transparency and honesty
* Discreet
* Change oriented
Skills
* Excellent communication skills
* Change management
* Able to work across boundaries
* Negotiation and conflict management
* IT literate
Please ensure you check the email account from which you apply for all correspondence. All information regarding your application will come from apps.trac.jobs not NHS Jobs.
Only those applicants who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for interview.
As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves disabled and meet the minimum criteria. If you would like your application considered under this scheme, indicate this in the application form.
Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email recruitment@merseycare.nhs.uk.
We reserve the right to close vacancies when we have received a minimum number of applications. Please apply without delay.
The Trust expects all post holders requiring an enhanced DBS in Children’s & Young People services to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. Enrolment is for a fee of £16 per year. Trans applicants who require DBS checks and wish to anonymise prior identities can contact the DBS team.
Applicants requiring sponsorship should assess themselves against gov.uk criteria.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
The use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and must be declared on the application form if used.
New entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.
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Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and it will be necessary to submit to Disclosure to the DBS.
Name Chris Colwell
Job title Operational Team Manager
Email christopher.colwell@merseycare.nhs.uk
Telephone 07386 652 889
Additional information
Julia Anderson
Clinical Service Manager-Specialist Support Team
Tel 07795 828722
Email Julia.Anderson@merseycare.nhs.uk
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