Paediatric Diabetic Clinical Nurse SpecialistNHS

Job summary

A Paediatric Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist plays a central role in delivering expert, family-centred care to children and young people living with diabetes. In this role, the nurse provides advanced clinical assessment, ongoing management, and education to help patients and their families understand and confidently manage the condition. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, the specialist leads on care planning, supports insulin therapy optimisation, and offers guidance on technology such as pumps and continuous glucose monitoring. They also coordinate care across hospital and community settings, deliver training to schools and healthcare staff, and contribute to service development, audit, and evidence-based practice to improve outcomes for children with diabetes. This role blends clinical expertise, teaching, and compassionate support to empower young people to live well with their condition.

Main duties of the job

The Paediatric Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist provides expert, family-centred care for children and young people with diabetes. Key duties include advanced clinical assessment, interpreting findings and adjusting treatment to optimise glycemic control. The role involves care planning and management, developing and reviewing individualised plans with families, schools, and the multidisciplinary team. The CNS leads insulin therapy optimisation, supporting MDI, pump therapy, and hybrid closed-loop systems. They deliver technology education, training families in CGM, flash monitoring, and pump use. The post-holder provides family education and support, offering structured teaching and emotional guidance. They act as a school and community liaison, ensuring safe diabetes management outside hospital. The CNS works in multidisciplinary collaboration with consultants, dietitians, and psychologists. They support emergency management of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, and DKA. The role includes service development and audit, contributing to quality improvement, and delivering professional education to staff. The CNS also provides transition support for young people moving to adult services and upholds strong safeguarding responsibilities to ensure children's safety and wellbeing.

Job description

The Paediatric Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) is an essential member of the multidisciplinary paediatric diabetes team, providing highly specialised, familycentred care to children and young people living with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The postholder acts as an expert practitioner, delivering comprehensive clinical assessment, supporting complex treatment decisions, and offering advanced guidance on insulin therapy, diabetes technologies, and selfmanagement strategies. Through skilled communication and compassionate support, the CNS empowers children, young people, and their families to develop confidence and competence in managing diabetes safely in everyday life.

Working across inpatient wards, outpatient clinics, emergency settings, community environments, and educational establishments, the CNS ensures continuity and consistency of care throughout the patient journey. The role involves proactive case management, early identification of clinical deterioration, and timely intervention to prevent complications. The postholder provides specialist advice to colleagues, schools, and external agencies, acting as a key liaison to promote safe diabetes management beyond the hospital setting.

The CNS contributes significantly to the strategic development of the paediatric diabetes service, participating in clinical governance, audit, and qualityimprovement initiatives to enhance patient outcomes and service performance. They play a central role in delivering structured education programmes, supporting transition to adult services, and embedding evidencebased practice across the team. As an autonomous practitioner and clinical leader, the CNS models high standards of care, supports the development of junior staff, and helps drive innovation within the service to meet national standards and bestpractice guidance.

About us

Our ambition is to deliver excellent local and specialist services, to improve the health and well being of our patients, and provide a vibrant place for staff to develop, innovate and build careers.

We aim to make the most of our skills and experiences so we can become the best we can be. As one organisation we will recruit the finest and retain more specialist staff due to more employment opportunities across our Trust.