Job summary
- Main area
- Mental Health Nursing
- Grade
- Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 310-MASMH-7376458
- Employer
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Fens Service, HMP Whitemoor
- Town
- March
- Salary
- £47,810 - £54,710 £1446.00 pa regional secure allowance
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 17/09/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Nurse Therapist
Band 7
Job overview
To ensure the systematic provision of a high-quality specialist nursing intervention consistent with the approved theoretical treatment model for prisoners referred to The Fens Unit.
To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of both the Trust’s and The Fens Unit ‘s policies and procedures.
To exercise responsibility for the maintenance and development of good nursing practise.
To ensure that the delivery of nursing care is reflective of evidence-based practice and research within the framework of healthcare governance. A major requirement of the job is to carry out audit, policy and service development and research activities and/or programmes.
To propose and implement relevant policy and service development changes in relation to nursing within The Fens Unit.
To assist in the identification and assessment of mental health need and redirect to appropriate psychiatry provision. Half of this role will be focused on the delivery of therapy interventions for the service. This will include holding a caseload of up to 10, In the form of 1:1 and group therapy.
Main duties of the job
The post involves working with prisoners of The Fens Unit within a High Secure male prison.
Settings within the prison include the residential wing, workshops, the health care centre and, at times, may involve attending prisoners who are temporarily based in the Health Care, Segregation Unit or the Close Supervision Unit.
The working environment includes exposure to extremely high levels of distress in others. A major element of the job is the constant potential for direct exposure to verbal and physical aggression.
There is a requirement for substantial periods of concentration and sitting. The nature of the working environment requires routine exposure to security procedures such as searches.
The post holder will also be required to adhere to all the prison’s security policies and procedures.
Working for our organisation
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.
Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.
To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high-calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.
Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.
Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.
For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities
Clinical core responsibility:
To exercise full autonomous professional responsibility for the nursing assessment, treatment and discharge of clients, and manage and maintain a caseload. In line with current standards of nurse therapist practice and consistent with agreed team approaches which are coherent with the agreed theoretical model used underpinning the clinical work of the Unit
To communicate the results of assessment and interventions to other members of the multidisciplinary team including non-clinical staff using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills.
To communicate, using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills, the results of this clinical work to the prisoner who may be hostile and antagonistic to receiving this information.
To develop plans for the formal nursing interventions and/or management of a prisoner’s mental health and behavioural problems, based upon an appropriate conceptual framework of these problems, and employing methods based upon evidence of efficacy, across the full range of care settings.
To ensure the participation of the nursing model in the development,
implementation and evaluation of appropriate interventions, individual and group.
To provide specialist nursing advice, guidance and consultation to other
professionals contributing directly to the management of prisoners’ symptoms and treatment.
To ensure that all members of the clinical team have access to the understanding of the prisoner from a nursing perspective, through the provision of advice and consultation and the dissemination of nursing research and theory.
To use highly specialist nursing knowledge and expertise to undertake ongoing risk assessment and risk management for individual prisoners and to provide advice risk management in line with the OPDP Planning and Delivery Guide and with Trust and inter-agency policies and procedures.
To work in partnership with other disciplines to help to establish and maintain trans-disciplinary team working and care programme approach.
To take a leading role within the trans-disciplinary team meetings providing direct input to those meeting and communicating information on assessments, formulations and interventions collected by other staff within The Fens Unit.
Person specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered Mental Nurse/RN (Mental Health)
- Relevant post – basic qualification(s) with a Professional portfolio to evidence
- Relevant qualifications in the delivery of psychotherapeutic interventions
Desirable criteria
- Graduate at Masters level or studying towards this level
- Relevant Supervision qualification
- Relevant Management qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Substantial post registration experience in senior nursing positions, to include significant leadership function.
- Experience of managing a nursing service
- Change management experience
- Organisational development experience
- Evidence of applying research to advance practice
Desirable criteria
- Teaching experience across NHS/College settings
- Experience of practice development by extensive experience of supervision and teaching
- Experience of influencing the advancement of mental health care
- Currently engaged in significant clinical work with people with personality disorder at an advanced level of practice and can demonstrate a high degree of professional autonomy in this area
Knowledge & Skills
Essential criteria
- Theory and concepts associated with mental health and personality disorder and their application
- Principles of managing change
Desirable criteria
- Research, audit and quality improvement methodologies and their application
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent communication skills
- Leadership skills e.g. can exercise leadership to support and inspire colleagues
- IT literate
- Advanced/higher level practice in mental health nursing
- Time management skills
- Analytical and problem-solving skills
- Teamwork skills
Personal Attributes
Essential criteria
- Patient focused
- Ability to empower others
- Enthusiasm for achieving excellence
- Respects diversity/differences in others
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Siobhan O'Kane
- Job title
- Service Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01354 602586
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