Band 7 Clinical Practitioner, Home Dementia Support Service

Job summary
Are you passionate about making a difference to people living with dementia? Join an exciting partnership between West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the Alzheimer's Society, helping to improve dementia care across South and West Hertfordshire. As a Clinical Practitioner, you will provide specialist, person-centred clinical support to residents living with dementia, initially focusing on those with severe dementia. Working alongside care home teams, residents, families and wider health and care professionals, and help maintain their independence and receive the right care in familiar surroundings wherever possible. You will play a key role in strengthening care home staff confidence and capability through clinical assessment, specialist advice, practical education and coaching. By promoting early intervention, recognising deterioration and supporting personalised care planning, you will help improve residents' quality of life, support families and reduce avoidable hospital admissions while ensuring people receive timely escalation when needed. We are looking for a compassionate, proactive and clinically confident practitioner who can build trusted relationships, work autonomously and bring people together to deliver excellent dementia care. You will be someone who champions dignity, understands the importance of seeing the person beyond their diagnosis and is motivated to share knowledge, develop others and drive improvements in care.

Main duties of the job
As a Clinical Practitioner within the Care Home Dementia Support Service, you will provide specialist clinical support to residents living with dementia across participating residential and nursing homes, initially focusing on people living with severe dementia. Working in partnership with the Alzheimer's Society, West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and wider health and care services, you will help deliver compassionate, personalised care that improves quality of life and enables residents to remain well in familiar surroundings wherever possible. Your key responsibilities will include:

• Deliver specialist clinical care: Undertake holistic clinical assessments, develop personalised care plans and provide specialist advice to support residents' wellbeing, dignity, independence and quality of life.
• Empower care home teams: Provide practical education, coaching, case-based learning and ongoing clinical guidance to strengthen staff knowledge, confidence and capability in dementia care.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary support: Work collaboratively with residents, families, care home staff, GPs, community and mental health services, social care and voluntary organisations to ensure coordinated, timely and appropriate care.
• Support residents and families: Help people understand dementia, navigate health and care services and participate meaningfully in decisions about their care, ensuring their individual needs, wishes and preferences remain central.

About us
With a new hospital planned for Watford, work underway to update theatres at St Albans City Hospital and plans for a neighbourhood healthcare centre in Hemel Hempstead, this is an exciting time to join us. We are building on the success of our award-winning virtual hospital and re-imagining models of care, working closely with partners and making the most of advances in digital healthcare. Staff wellbeing and development are a priority, as is the role of innovation in improving clinical care, outcomes and patient experience. Our vision is Excellent patient care, together and our values are to be empowered, compassionate, professional and inclusive. They capture an important balance across what we must all do as individuals and to support others. We offer a variety of flexible working options as we recognise the importance of a good work life balance. Visit www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk/flexibleworking. If you have a disability or long-term health condition and require support or guidance please contact westherts.recruitment@nhs.net

Essential education and qualifications

• Degree level qualification in healthcare profession or equivalent experience.
• Registered with a current statutory regulatory body.
• Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to assessment, dementia care and clinical practice.

Desirable education and qualifications

• NHS Leadership course or equivalent Masters or evidence of working towards one.
• Post graduate qualification in dementia, older people's care or clinical assessment, teaching qualification.

Essential knowledge

• Experience educating, coaching and supporting staff.
• Ability to assess learning needs and facilitate reflective practice.
• Knowledge and experience of dementia and delirium care and management.
• Knowledge and experience of local and national dementia priorities.
• Specialist knowledge of dementia, delirium, frailty, deterioration and person-centred responses to distress.
• Understanding of consent, mental capacity, best-interest decision-making, applicable deprivation of liberty safeguards, adult safeguarding and confidentiality.
• Knowledge of care planning, clinical risk assessment and acute, community, primary care and mental health interfaces.
• Understanding of staff learning needs, coaching, competency assessment and clinical governance.

Desirable knowledge

• Experience of developing champions or delivering training/education to staff.
• Knowledge and understanding of clinical audits/effective research.
• Knowledge/experience of quality improvement methodologies and experience working in different care settings, including mental health.
• Experience of safeguarding adults.

Essential experience

• Management/Leadership experience.
• Substantial relevant experience supporting people with dementia and complex health needs.
• Experience recognising deterioration and coordinating clinical escalation.
• Experience of working within multiagency policy, protocols and guidelines.
• Demonstration of ability to manage complex situations.

Desirable experience

• Experience of working in different care settings; care home outreach, community services, frailty and older people's mental health.

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.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

Employer details
Employer name: West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Address: Cross Site, Watford General Hospital, Watford, WD18 0HB, United Kingdom
Closing date: 03 November 2026
Contact: Florence Muzanechita, Associate Director of Operations, f.muzanechita@nhs.net, 07584271642

We reserve the right to close this advert early due to the volume of applicants. Please apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. If you do not hear back within 3 weeks of your application, please assume you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.