Staff Nurse - Registered Mental Health Nurse

Date posted: 27 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 5
Salary: £34,073 to £41,043 a year
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 277-8114189-SWALE-A
Job locations: HMP Swaleside, Brabazon Road, Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, ME12 4AX

Job summary
This position is located at HMP Swaleside within the Primary Care Nursing Team. The post holder will also need to collaborate closely with colleagues at nearby Kent prisons, including HMP Emley and HMP Standford Hill, and may occasionally provide cross-cover between sites.

The Staff Nurse will deliver high quality, personalised, compassionate care to service users, providing a range of specialist interventions.

Ensure consistently high standards of practice and clinical excellence, which comply with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) code of professional conduct.

Lead the delivery of comprehensive service user assessment, planning, implementing and evaluating programmes of patient-centred care in a range of settings.

Provide clinical supervision and support to junior colleagues, including students.

Assist and support the manager, as directed, to deliver a nurse-led integrated care service and develop a specialist practice-based clinical model of care.

Maintain a safe and therapeutic working environment, working collaboratively with the Multi-Disciplinary Team and maintaining accurate records.

Band 5 Nursing roles are only open to staff with a Nursing registration, obtained as a result of completing a qualification recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Important Sponsorship Information for this post: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post.

Main duties of the job
Exercise a high degree of personal and professional autonomy and have the ability to plan and reach complex and critical judgments, using decision-making skills within the framework of established Trust policies, procedures, and the NMC Code of Conduct.

Deliver high-quality clinical care within the service, contributing to the physical, psychological, social, recreational and spiritual care in a recovery-focused way, through therapeutic engagement and activities, in line with the NHS Plan, public health indicators and National Service Frameworks.

Lead on and undertake activities to ensure that the fundamentals of care are met - nutrition, hydration, comfort, emotional and social support.

Demonstrate and provide robust clinical skills with a sound understanding of evidence-based nursing practice to provide a pro-active approach to ensure quality and outcome-driven practice on a day-to-day basis.

Demonstrate an enhanced understanding of Mental Health signs and symptoms, understanding how these may present in practice, including recognition of impact on patient presentation and behaviour and risk factors.

Recognise and respond appropriately to challenging behaviour in line with Trust policies and training. Support junior staff in managing difficult situations and de-escalation, developing resilience and strategies to manage.

About us
Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We're Kind
• We're Fair
• We Listen
• We Care

Job responsibilities

• Assess, plan, implement and evaluate clinical care/care packages within scope of practice.
• Provide specialist advice concerning the care of treatment of identified groups of patients / service users.
• Support the delivery of an effective integrated healthcare service clinical model.
• Manage a complex clinical caseload.
• Administer and monitor the side-effects of medication, monitoring service user compliance, demonstrating a sound understanding of pharmacology, particularly for regular medications used in the clinical area.
• Ensure all clinics and consultations are delivered in a clinically effective and timely way, in line with service needs.
• Be able to give intravenous injections, immunisations and syringe pumps and infusions as necessary for the role.
• Implement the principles of recovery, encouraging and supporting service users to engage with healthy lifestyles, facilitating psychosocial activities and other activities of their interest. Where appropriate, contribute to psychological interventions.
• Escorting service users, as required, in line with Trust policies.
• Maintain systems for the collection of triage and allocation of referrals, as appropriate, monitoring and supporting the auditing of quality and effectiveness of service delivery.
• Maintain an effective case management service to ensure care and continuity of treatment is maintained throughout the patient care pathway.
• Attend and actively participate in team / care plan reviews.
• Maintain close working partnerships with all services that may be involved with the care and management of the service users.
• Understand and work within the boundaries of the Lone Working Policy and have an awareness of Personal Safety in all healthcare settings, including clear and updated communication with the shift lead.
• Maintain timely and accurate patient written/electronic records in line with the Trust Policy, procedure and protocols. Use and complete care plans, pathway documents and SystmOne notes appropriately and in a timely manner.
• Advocate for service users needs and rights within Trust policy. Encourage and empower service users to have an optimum level of responsibility for their individual programme of care.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ:
All applicants must be willing to undertake National Security Vetting in order to work in a Prison Setting. This will be completed as part of the pre-employment checks through Oxleas and the prison vetting team.

You will need to provide:

• Proof of right to work documentation
• Proof of ID, needs to include 1 photographic ID
• Proof of address documentation
• Non-UK passport holders will need to have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home office Share code.

Address History:

• 5 years address history will be needed.
• Applicants that are not UK Passport holders who provide less than 5 years UK address history will need to provide a Police Certificate which must be in English from where they resided previously.
• Applicants who are UK Passport holders who have lived abroad for a period of more than six months during the last three years will need to provide a certificate of good conduct or an overseas police check in English from the countries resided in or visited.

In order to assist you in obtaining a Police Certificate, guidance can be sought from:

If the country you have resided in is not listed here, you can obtain the necessary information by contacting the relevant Embassy or High Commission for that Country. Their contact details can be found on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website (

Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential

• Professional NMC Qualification (Registered Mental Health Nurse)
• Professional, clinical knowledge acquired through training to degree level or equivalent.

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
• Experience of providing and receiving complex, sensitive information
• Working knowledge of current issues/agendas facing healthcare in chosen area of specialism
• Experience of setting, monitoring and evaluating standards of care.
• Experience of research-based/reflective practice.

Skills/Abilities/Knowledge
Essential

• Ability to communicate effectively (written, verbal and non-verbal communication) with patients/relatives and carers and all members of the multi-disciplinary team.
• Ability to present ideas with clarity in a persuasive and influential style.
• Ability to work effectively and autonomously
• Ability to lead and empower people to make decisions and plan ahead.
• Ability to develop effective and appropriate relationships with people, their families, carers, and colleagues.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details
Employer name: Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Address: HMP Swaleside, Brabazon Road, Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, ME12 4AX, United Kingdom
Employer's website: (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Recruitment & Retention Resourcing Officer
Clare Denny
View email address on meeveem.com
View phone number on meeveem.com

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