Community Nurse Co-coordinator/ Learning Disabilities

Job/Role Summary

• Co-ordination and management of Trust Community Learning Disability Services
• Managerial and professional supervision for community nurses
• Working collaboratively with the Senior Social Worker
• Allocation of referrals, monitoring caseloads, ensuring efficiency and adherence to Trust policies and procedures and NMC guidelines
• Management of staff
• Recruitment and selection
• Budget management
• Research and service planning.

Specific qualifications and experience required

• Registered nurse for people with a learning disability
• Diploma in community learning disability nursing
• 3 years experience at grade G
• Relevant qualifications for example: counselling

Career Milestones

I have over 30 years experience of working in the field of Learning Disability Nursing. I worked in a hospital setting for the first 17 years of my career which gave me a sound base of knowledge and skills from which to work. I found studying for a diploma in Community Learning Disability one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences in my nursing career. For the past 15 years I have worked as a community nurse providing support for children, adults and their families. I thoroughly enjoy the variety of community work and learned a lot from this experience. I found studying for a post-graduate certificate difficult as I was not in a management role at the stage at which I undertook the study. However, the knowledge and skills I gained from the course have been valuable to me in my present role.

What attracted you to this job?

• Knowledge and experience of the job
• Belief in my ability to provide strong leadership and the requirement for good interpersonal skills within the post
• Ability to work collaboratively with other professionals, services and agencies
• I was highly motivated and enthusiastic, needing a new challenge
• A desire to improve services for people with a learning disability.

Enjoyable aspects of the job/role

• Working with people with a severe learning disability and their carers
• Using my experience from years of working ‘on the ground’ to effect changes at a higher level
• Good team working opportunities

Important success factors

• Excellent support from my line managers and nursing colleagues
• Support from other professionals
• Self determination and a willingness to learn and develop myself

Advice for those considering the type of job/role?

It is a very enjoyable job and also challenging. You have to be prepared to give the job 110% to get the best out of your role. This is not a ‘9-5’ job and it requires planning and commitment so you would need to be prepared for that. You will spend some of your personal time giving professional advice and writing references etc. for other people. You can be accessible to a lot of staff members and often find yourself pulled in a number of directions in any given working day. You need self-determination and commitment to enjoy and be successful in this role.

Key skills that can be gained within this job/role?

• Skills to co-ordinate services and work with other professionals/agencies to do so.
• Effective communication skills.
• Planning skills.
• Skills in policy formulation
• Supervision. and teaching.
• Skills in staff motivation and leadership.
• Skills in public speaking.
• Counselling skills with staff/ clients and parents.
• Skills in budget management.
• Skills in recruitment and selection of staff.

Career Profiles