Senior Community Nurse – Learning Disabilities

About the Borough

The London Borough of Sutton is situated less than 30 minutes by train from Central London, with direct connections to London Victoria and London Bridge. Found in zone 5 with good transport links in and out of London, Sutton boasts award winning parks and open spaces, low crime rates, affordable housing and great schools. As well as high levels of resident engagement and satisfaction, providing quality services and success in addressing our financial challenges, whilst involving residents in key issues and high street changes.

Sutton is continuously investing in the health, wellbeing and education of our residents and the future generation, as set out in the “Ambitious for Sutton” corporate plan. We are home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together with the development of the London Cancer Hub, Sutton will be the world’s leading life-science district, specialising in cancer research and treatment. Our vision will create around 13,000 jobs while contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy each year, a vibrant community of scientists, doctors and innovative companies intended to deliver real benefits for cancer patients and drive economic growth. With the regeneration of the local areas with new homes and schools, Sutton is passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

The Council is seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. As we strive to improve our services and spaces for our residents as set out in the ‘Ambitious for Sutton’ corporate plan, Sutton aims to shape the future of the borough and adapt to the needs of its residents to make our Borough a great place to live, work and raise a family.

About the Service and Team

Our Sutton Learning Disability Community Service in South West London provides comprehensive, patient-focused support through a multidisciplinary team including occupational therapy, physiotherapy (with access to hydrotherapy), speech and language therapy for communication and dysphagia, psychology and behavioural therapy, nursing and dietetics. We deliver personalised, holistic care spanning physical health, communication, mental wellbeing and coordinated support for people with complex needs. The team are focussed on quality-improvement, including projects to enhance annual health checks, increase pneumococcal vaccination uptake, and embed Universal Care Plans for older adults with learning disabilities. We are also developing a dedicated Learning Disability Complex Care Pathway to provide more proactive, specialist input for individuals with higher support needs. Our service is rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), reflecting our commitment to delivering safe, effective and compassionate care across Sutton.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

We are looking for an experienced and compassionate Senior Community Nurse specialising in Learning Disabilities to lead and coordinate care for adults with learning disabilities within Sutton’s community services. This role involves delivering expert assessments, creating personalised care plans, and providing interventions to support individuals with complex health needs. Our objective is to deliver the best outcomes for the health of adults with a learning disability

You will play a key leadership role by supervising, mentoring, and supporting LD nursing staff and students, ensuring high standards of care and professional development within the team. Your clinical expertise will guide care delivery, help resolve complex cases, and promote best practice. Working autonomously in the community setting, you will manage a varied caseload, including hospital discharge follow-ups, transition planning, and ongoing health management. You will build strong relationships with patients, families, and multidisciplinary teams to ensure holistic, person-centered care. You will represent the service at multi-agency forums and meetings, advocating for the needs and rights of adults with learning disabilities. Your collaborative approach will support integrated care planning and service development initiatives aimed at reducing health inequalities. Additionally, you will contribute to quality improvement projects and service development efforts to enhance care delivery, promote equitable access, and ensure best practice standards are met across the community team. This role offers a rewarding opportunity to lead, influence, and improve health outcomes for adults with learning disabilities through expert clinical practice and strategic leadership.

Our ideal candidate is an enthusiastic, compassionate and highly skilled Registered Learning Disability Nurse with substantial post-registration experience supporting adults with learning disabilities (minimum of 3 years). You will be confident working autonomously in the community, managing a varied caseload and delivering specialist assessments and interventions. You will have strong leadership qualities and be able to provide supervision, support and direction to others. Excellent communication skills are essential, especially when presenting complex information clearly and representing the team in multi-agency meetings such as Integrated Neighbourhood Team meetings, safeguarding forums, Joint Intelligence Groups and MDT discussions. You will have a thorough understanding of the Mental Capacity Act, safeguarding processes, risk management and positive behaviour support. You will be proactive, resilient and committed to improving outcomes and reducing health inequalities for people with learning disabilities through evidence-based practice, collaborative working and service development.

If you are passionate about making a meaningful difference and ready to take the next step in your career, we would love to hear from you.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-31 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Two volunteering days per year
• Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
• Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Sutton we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our PRIDE values.
Here at Sutton we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.