Tobacco Dependency Advisor

Job summary

Please note that this post is not eligible for sponsorship.

Smoking remains the leading cause of premature mortality among those with a severe mental illness reducing life expectancy by up to 20 years. The NHS have identified this as one of the largest health inequalities we face. Because of this, the NHS Long Term Plan has set aside dedicated funding to offer all service users who come into contact with mental health services a dedicated service to support these with their addiction to nicotine. As part of the long term plan, each mental health trust will be responsible for ensuring service users are offered support. This is undertaken by a dedicated team of tobacco dependency advisors working across different sites within the trust. The tobacco dependency advisor will play a key role in the multi disciplinary team and is responsible for identifying service users who smoke and offering dedicated support in order to manage their addiction to nicotine.

This post is split between Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) and Hertfordshire Community Trust (HCT)

Main duties of the job

The tobacco dependency advisor main duties will include:

Identifying and supporting service users who smoke with evidence based treatments Creating personalised quit plans for each service user To support the clinical matron in all areas of tobacco dependency To collect data as part of NHS England's data requirements To support the training the tobacco dependency team undertakes across the trust To work as part of the multi disciplinary team to support wider teams to support the smoke free agenda To network with other tobacco dependency teams locally and regionally To support the research aims of the tobacco dependency teams

HPFT is an exceptional organisation with big ambitions, our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services.

Whilst it is a challenging period for the NHS, there has never been a more exciting time to join HPFT. Building on the CQC Outstanding, as we continue to innovate, improve, transform and ultimately deliver the very highest standards of care to the service users and communities that we serve.

About us

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from theCare Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country.

Our family of over 3500 members of staff provide health and social care for over 400,000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services.

The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers - everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout:

Our Trust values are:

Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional.

These values are at the core of who we are, everything we do, and how we do it

Would you like to be part of the HPFT family? Would you like work with us to ensure our service users live the fullest lives possible they can? Would you like to be supported in your career to be the best that you can be?

Then please read on..."

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Tobacco Dependency Advisor will work across inpatient, rehabilitation and community teams under the supervision of the Clinical Matron, undertaking tobacco dependence assessments, educating service users about options to manage their tobacco dependence differently, without harm from smoking and supporting quit attempts. The Tobacco Dependency Advisor will be responsible for creating personalized QUITT Plans and assist service users to access the support they need for their quit attempt both during their inpatient stay and arranging and liaising with the relevant teams for discharge. The Tobacco Dependency Advisor will also be responsible for supporting service users maintain their temporary abstinence from smoking while admitted to our services. The Tobacco Dependency Advisor will also collect data in accordance with the metrics required by the ICS and NHSE monitoring.

The Tobacco Dependency Advisor will play a key role within a wide multidisciplinary team, to raise awareness of the harm from tobacco and the effects on long term physical health, particularly for people with serious mental illness. The Tobacco Dependency Advisor will develop links with other local & regional Tobacco Dependency services. They will play a key role in developing a regional Tobacco Dependency advisor network and supporting the research aims of the Tobacco Dependency team.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

NCSCT Smoking cessation level 2 practitioner course

Experience

Essential

Experience of working in a healthcare or health promotion setting

Desirable

Previous experience of working with service users with mental health challenges

Skills

Essential

Ability to work on own initiative Ability to work well in a team IT skills appropriate to the role Able to recognise own limitations in the context of the smoking cessation advisor role To attend all mandatory training and additional learning opportunities related to the role An ability to act calmly in emergencies and to respond in a professional manner to stressful and challenging behaviour

Desirable

Awareness of local services and ability to liaise with and refer to different services/teams To have knowledge and understanding of evidenced based interventions for smoking cessation To have delivered training to healthcare professionals

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