Clinical Nurse Specialist - Homeless Outreach
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
The closing date is 28 June 2026
The aim is to provide a service specific to homeless individuals within the local authority catchment. The role will include a range of activities addressing the individuals health and wellbeing, the development of pathways into specialist services, training of hostel staff to manage residents out of hours, and improving the overall health inequalities through:
- Health promotion
- General Health screening
- Engagement in Primary Care services and facilitation of access to organised health care
- Management of substance use and addiction disorders
The purpose of this role will be to improve integrated pathways, preventing fragmented services that are inefficient and ineffective. The role is specific to support those who continually consume alcohol where traditional structured treatment will not be appropriate. It will require a peripatetic nurse-led general health clinics within hostels, supported through general practice.
The collective aim of the service is to help those with a range of health needs, including drug and alcohol, to access the appropriate treatment, and to address the physical and mental health of homeless and hostel residents. The service will provide essential health promotion to increase the number of residents engaging with services to address their health and wellbeing.
Main duties of the job
- Develop pathways into specialist services for clients.
- Train hostel and partnership outreach staff to manage residents outside regular hours.
- Conduct nurse-led general health clinics within hostels and for street homeless individuals.
- Support clients, particularly those with alcohol dependency, where traditional treatment methods may not be suitable.
About us
CNWL- Addictions and Offender Care Directorates
CNWL Addictions is a well-established NHS provider offering a wide range of high-quality drug and alcohol treatment interventions to the diverse and multicultural population across Ealing, Brent, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Milton Keynes. In addition, we also have the tri-borough Club Drug Clinic as well as our National Problem Gambling Service.
The service is committed to a harm minimisation philosophy and partnership working. Our main partners are primary care services, social and the third sectors.
Treatments are provided across all our clinical centres. Clinical Governance framework is well established and the service prides itself in its continuous development towards becoming a learning organisation.
Job responsibilities
Management and Leadership
- Contribute to the development of a culture of risk assessment and management to be delivered effectively within your sphere of responsibility and practice.
- Contribute to the development and implementation of systems and processes to support compliance with Care Quality Commission Essential Standards for Safety and Quality.
- Represent the peripatetic service at internal and external clinical meetings and forums, role modelling a professional and leadership style.
- Ensure that feedback to others is positive and meaningful and strengths are clearly acknowledged.
- Ensure delivery of all key quality, financial, cost improvement and performance targets.
Education
- Identify gaps in the current knowledge base of staff and disseminate specialist knowledge to others to improve patient care.
- Provide effective teaching to individual clients and their families.
- Coordinate and contribute to the development of educational materials.
- Act as a preceptor/mentor for newly-appointed staff or upgraded staff.
- Initiate and participate in clinical supervision and mentoring.
- Provide a high-quality clinical environment and educational experience for pre‑ and post‑registration students.
- Take responsibility for your own professional development, review and develop competencies as required to support clinical practice.
- Contribute to the wider development of practice through publishing, presenting and networking locally and nationally.
- Provide written information and education for patients with physical health conditions and their carers, and regularly review this literature.
Communication
- Participate in multi-disciplinary meetings, both on-site and in the community, relating to client management.
- Attend business and clinical service‑wide meetings and external satellite groups as a team representative, as and when required.
- Work collaboratively and communicate effectively with colleagues within your team, directorate, trust, partnership agencies and other service providers while remaining within good practice boundaries.
- Undertake satellite clinics in Primary Care Services when required, providing guidance to GPs on the clinical management of substance misusing clients.
- Promote an open dialogue culture that values a positive culture on improving communication, and maintaining a healthy therapeutic relationship with clients.
- Contribute to the promotion of team cohesiveness, multidisciplinary working and always work collaboratively with colleagues in all parts of the Trust to achieve healthy and effective communication.
- Develop professional links with other statutory and voluntary service providers, ensuring a corporate approach is adopted.
- Provide specialist nursing advice, when required, on drug/alcohol misuse to other colleagues in relation to assessment, treatment planning and implementation of interventions for substance misusing clients.
- Participate in a range of partnership arrangements both internal and external to the service/unit while remaining within good practice boundaries.
- Communicate effectively with health and social care agencies and other key professionals contributing towards patient care, ensuring effective and safe interventions where care is delivered by multiple agencies.
Data management
- Use word processing and electronic monitoring of data‑based systems, for which training will be available if needed.
- Maintain accurate and up‑to‑date documentation of all service client records and ensure confidentiality in line with the Data Protection Act and Information Sharing Protocol.
- Ensure that all information requirements on KPIs are complied with for the peripatetic caseload (including DET, TOP), data entered onto appropriate administration systems and submitted as required.
- Adhere to service data recording and reporting policies and procedures, and gather additional information as required for data reporting.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
- RMN / RGN
- Experience of working with Rough Sleeper's client based
- Diploma in Drugs and Alcohol Studies or equivalent qualification
- Training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Completed the Motivational Interviewing Training Module
Previous Experience
- Extensive post‑registration experience in mental or general Health
- Relevant post‑registration experience of working with drug and alcohol users
- Experience in the supply and administration of Hepatitis vaccines
- Experience and competence in the supply and administration of CNWL Trust Hepatitis Patient Group Directions
- Extensive clinical experience
- Experience of undertaking Risk Assessments and Risk Management
- Teaching and Assessing qualification ENB 998 / SLICE or equivalent e.g.: mentorship
- Community Nursing Experience
- Experience of working in and delivering services to injecting drug users/street homeless clients
- Experience of teaching others and willingness to undertake Teaching and Assessing qualification within six months of commencing post.
Skills and knowledge
- Sound clinical knowledge and understanding of current NHS policies and national drug issues/policies
- Good verbal, written and presentation skills
- Good interpersonal skills to communicate and negotiate effectively, both inside and outside the Trust
- Ability to work independently and prioritise effectively
- Ability to assess and treat people with dual diagnosis
- Evidence of effective leadership and organisational skills
- Evidence of ability to work in a changing and stressful situation.
- Evidence of ability to teach and disseminate knowledge and skills
- Ability to treat service users with respect and dignity at all times, adopting a culturally sensitive approach that considers the needs of the whole person.
- Able to build constructive relationships with warmth and empathy, using good communication skills
- IT literate: competent using Microsoft Word and able to report clinical activity data on patient information systems.
- Experience of managing a caseload within the community
- Awareness / knowledge of research skills
- Awareness of counselling models
- Motivational Interviewing skills / Relapse Management skills
- Experience of working with stimulant users and people with alcohol problems.
- Experience of group facilitation
- Committed to multidisciplinary team work
- Committed to User involvement
- Flexible & responsive to a developing service. The post holder must understand and implement the Equal and Diversity policy at a level appropriate to the job
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.
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
£45,953 to £54,254 a year per annum inc HCAS pro rata
