Senior Specialist Diabetes Practitioner

Job summary

An opportunity has arisen for a motivated and experienced Specialist Diabetes Practitioner, Band 7to join theNorth East Essex Diabetes Service (NEEDS), a multidisciplinary diabetes team delivering specialist care across community and primary care settings, with strong links to secondary care services.

NEEDS is an award-winning service comprising three Consultant Diabetologists/Endocrinologists, a team of Specialist Diabetes Practitioners from a range of professional backgrounds, and a highly valued administrative team. We provide specialist diabetes care to approximately 25,000 people across North East Essex and deliver services including:

• Complex diabetes management
• Young adult diabetes clinics
• Pre-pregnancy and antenatal diabetes care
• Insulin pump and diabetes technology services
• Multidisciplinary foot services
• Structured diabetes education programmes

We have a strong focus on integrated working and collaborates closely with primary care, community services, pharmacy, mental health services, lifestyle services and the ICB. We are committed to improving diabetes outcomes through education, mentorship, quality improvement, service development, and population health approaches.

A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes are essential.

We welcome applications from all backgrounds and are happy to discuss flexible working arrangements.

Proposed Interview date: 15th September 2026

Main duties of the job

You will manager a complex caseload autonomously, providing highly specialist diabetes assessment, treatment, education, and support. You will play a key role in delivering person-centred care, supporting self-management, reducing diabetes-related complications, and improving outcomes for people living with diabetes.

Your role will include supporting education for patients, carers and healthcare professionals, contributing to audit and quality improvement, supervising junior staff and students, and supporting service development initiatives.

About us

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A

Job responsibilities

Please see attached Job Description and person Specification

In return, we offer a supportive and friendly working environment, regular CPD opportunities, clinical supervision, leadership development and opportunities to contribute to innovation and research.

Person specification

Experience

Essential

• oProven post registration experience
• oSignificant experience at Band 6 level - working in community settings.
• oContinued professional development
• oDemonstrated understanding of the role of community diabetes care within the current evolving health environment
• oWorking within a multidisciplinary / interdisciplinary team
• oAdvanced competencies related to care group
• oSupervising the work of others
• oManaging complex/highly specialist cases

Desirable

• oPrevious experience of developing a service
• oPrevious experience of formal presentations to multi professional groups
• oExperience of research
• oRobust understanding of all aspects of Clinical Governance including previous experience of quality issues, audit and risk management

Qualifications

Essential

• oDegree/Diploma in Nursing or Dietetics
• oHCPC or NMC registration
• oProfessional knowledge and skills underpinned by theory and experience, acquired through degree supplemented by specialist training, experience in specialist field, to masters level or equivalent
• oPrescribing qualification

Desirable

• oRecognised post graduate qualification in related area e.g. MSc, PGCert
• oStudent supervision and mentoring/clinical education course

Knowledge

Essential

• oAdvanced knowledge of a broad range of assessments and interventions including relevant to the specialist care group and the relative benefits of each.
• oAwareness of national guidance relevant to own specialities, including, consent issues, and other legal frameworks relating to care group
• oCompetent IT skills

Skills

Essential

• oExceptional communication and problem solving skills
• oAble to work independently and manage a team
• oExcellent time management and organisational skills
• oAbility to prioritise own and others' workload, delegating appropriately
• oAble to present information, written and orally in a clear and logical fashion
• oAbility to keep legible and accurate records in English using SOAP format
• oAbility to comprehend and work within the Trust's policies including data protection, equal opportunities and Health and Safety to meet the differing needs of the patient
• oAble to recognise in yourself and individuals work related stress and pressures
• oConduct professional affairs in a confident and assertive manner
• oAble to carry out concurrent activities (multi tasking) and work in an unpredictable working pattern
• oCar owner and driver / access to care