Advanced Stroke Clinical Nurse Specialist

Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and motivated Band 7 Advanced Stroke Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) to join our well-established, high-performing Stroke Team.

Working within a forward-thinking hospital with excellent thrombolysis and thrombectomy performance, you will play a pivotal role in delivering expert, evidence-based care across the stroke pathway. You will provide advanced clinical assessment, leadership, education, and support to patients and their families while working collaboratively within a highly skilled multidisciplinary team.

We are looking for a dynamic clinician with significant stroke experience, excellent communication skills, and a passion for improving patient outcomes. This is an excellent opportunity to develop your advanced practice within a service recognised for delivering high-quality stroke care and driving continuous improvement.

If you are committed to clinical excellence and want to be part of a team at the forefront of stroke care, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job
As a Band 7 Advanced Stroke Clinical Nurse Specialist, you will provide expert specialist nursing care across the stroke pathway, including hyperacute, acute and rehabilitation services. Working within our established multidisciplinary Stroke Team, you will deliver advanced clinical assessment, support evidence-based stroke and TIA management, coordinate complex patient care, and provide specialist advice to patients, carers and healthcare professionals.

You will contribute to service development, education, audit and quality improvement, helping to deliver national stroke standards, including SSNAP, NICE guidance and the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke. This is an exciting opportunity to join a high-performing service with excellent thrombolysis and thrombectomy outcomes and play a key role in improving the care and outcomes of patients affected by stroke.

About us
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is committed to being an inclusive and disability confident employer and has been awarded the Gold for the Armed Forces Employment Recognition Scheme. We provide first class development opportunities for all staff and have a wide range of professional, management and leadership, and clinical skills training available.

Here at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, we know how important it is to have a healthy work life balance; this benefits not only individuals but the patients we care for too.

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service and its users.

Job responsibilities

• The post holder will work within the Stroke Service at Frimley Park hospital, providing senior specialist nursing expertise across the stroke pathway including hyperacute and acute care.
• The role supports delivery of:
• National Stroke Service Model
• National Clinical Guideline for Stroke
• SSNAP standards
• NICE guidance relevant to stroke and TIA management
• FHFT Stroke Service objectives and pathways.
• The post holder acts as a senior specialist resource for patients, carers, ward teams and multidisciplinary colleagues in relation to stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA) care. The post holder works closely with the Stroke Nurse Consultant and medical stroke team to support delivery of acute specialist stroke services.
• Provide specialist nursing assessment and advice for patients with suspected or confirmed stroke and TIA.
• Participate in stroke pathway assessment processes in accordance with local protocols and competence requirements.
• Support timely escalation and referral within hyperacute stroke pathways, including thrombectomy referral pathways where appropriate.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Registered Nurse with appropriate NMC registration for role.
• Learning Disabilities nurse, RN8/RNC Children's nurse or RM: Midwife) or NMC other specialist community or public health nursing NMC L1 registrants.
• Degree level qualification or equivalent professional Qualification and experience
• Post-registration qualification relevant to the specialty, or equivalent specialist experience and evidence of continued professional development.

Desirable

• Relevant postgraduate study or specialist qualification.
• Leadership, management, quality improvement or teaching qualification/training.
• Evidence of further study relevant to the specialty.

Experience
Essential

• Significant post-registration experience within the relevant specialty or closely related clinical area.
• Experience working at Band 6 or equivalent level within specialist nursing practice.
• Experience managing patients with complex specialist needs and supporting clinical decision making within agreed pathways. Experience providing senior specialist advice to staff, patients, carers or multidisciplinary colleagues.
• Experience supervising, supporting and developing registered staff, unregistered staff and learners.
• Experience leading or coordinating audit, service evaluation, quality improvement or local service development initiatives.
• Experience working effectively within multidisciplinary teams and across organisational or service boundaries.

Desirable

• Experience of supporting recruitment, appraisal, competency assessment or performance support
• Experience producing reports, briefing papers, education resources or service improvement updates.

Skills and knowledge
Essential

• Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate specialist nursing care for patients with complex needs within agreed clinical governance arrangements.
• Ability to coordinate complex patient pathways and contribute to continuity of care across services.
• Ability to provide senior specialist advice, guidance and support to staff, patients and carers. Strong understanding of clinical governance, risk management, safeguarding, information governance, equality and human rights.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex, sensitive or distressing information with compassion and clarity.
• Ability to organise own workload and support prioritisation of work across a specialist team or pathway.

Desirable

• Knowledge of service improvement methodology.
• Awareness of national standards, guidance or performance measures relevant to the specialty.
• Competent IT and data skills for audit, reporting and service monitoring.

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.
Applicants must have current UK professional registration.