Candidate Clinical Nurse Specialist (cCNS) Children’s Complex Disabilities, Cork University Hospital

Details of Service

Cork University Hospital (CUH) has approximately 800 beds and this will increase further to 1,000 beds on completion of the transfer of additional services to the CUH campus. CUH currently employs approximately 4,571 (WTE) staff of multiple professions and is the primary teaching hospital for the Faculty of Health and Science in University College Cork (UCC). UCC is the Academic partner of the South/South West Hospital Group. CUH has very strong relationships with each of the six schools within the Science Faculty of UCC and this is a key area for future development to maximise the opportunities for both the service and academia.

CUH is a recommended Major Trauma Centre for the Republic of Ireland due to the wide range of specialties delivered by the hospital – including Neurosciences, Cardiac Services, Orthopaedics, General Surgery, Renal, Internal Medicine, Vascular, Ophthalmology, Urology, Plastic Surgery, Maxillary-Facial, Paediatrics, Intensive Care, Oncology, Haematology, Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Neonatology and Emergency Medicine.

CUH is the tertiary referral centre for the HSE Southern area, and the supra regional area of Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny. CUH therefore acts as a regional centre for secondary and tertiary care for the catchment population of approx. 550,000 served by the HSE Southern area and a supra-regional centre for a total a population of 1.2 million.

Six Health Regions have been established within the HSE, on the basis of the geographical boundaries agreed by the Government in July 2019 and they will be operational from 2024.

Each Health Region will be tasked with population specific planning resourcing and delivery of health and social care services for the needs of its unique population. This will result in improved accountability and governance in terms of finance and performance, while also bringing decision-making closer to the frontline.

Health Regions will enable and empower staff to provide services that are:

• Integrated, locally planned and delivered

• Easier to access and navigate

• Available closer to home

Health Regions are geographically based units with clearly defined populations. They align community and hospital services within specific areas. The HSE will retain a strong but leaner central organisation, with more service provision developed at a local level.

The HSE South West health region will manage and deliver all public health and social care services in Cork and Kerry. HSE South West includes all hospital and community healthcare services in the region.

This includes:

• South / South West Hospital Group S/SWHG

• Cork Kerry Community Healthcare CKCH

The Department of Population and Public Health is also now aligned with this health region

Services in the South West health region:

HSE Services working within this region include:

• Acute Hospitals

• Primary care services

• Community services

• Social care services

• Health and social care professionals

• Voluntary sector services

South / South West Hospital Group and Cork Kerry Community Healthcare became part of HSE South West health region on 3rd March 2025 and the transition to the new structures will continue throughout 2026.

Paediatric Department CUH

• The Paediatric Department of CUH provides care for over 30,000 outpatients and 2,000 inpatients every year. Over 4,000 of these attend the Neurology and Neurodisability Services, and over 400 patients are admitted every year with neurological conditions. They are currently served by 2 Paediatric Neurologists, 7 Paediatrician with special interest in complex disability and community care. 3 CNS in Paediatric Epilepsy, 1 ANP Epilepsy , currently 1 CNS complex disability /intellectual disability, along with Health and Social Care Professionals.

• The CNS will provide care for children whom have disabilities that have a significant and enduring impact on their life and who are likely to need specialist support from education, health and/or social care at times or throughout their childhood and adolescence. These children are likely to have intellectual as well as physical disabilities.

• The CNS will coordinate the botox injection list for limb in conjunction with CNS colleagues and paediatric consultants

• The CNS will attend established clinic days in sites such as cope foundation and other facilities.

• The CNS will work closely with the relevant Paediatric Consultant(s) for the child, as well as HSCPs and other nursing staff including Home Care Teams, Epilepsy Nurse Specialists, Children’s Outreach CNS and Sedation CNS.

• The Post holder will work as an integral member of the multi-disciplinary team with responsibility for a caseload of children with disability in the catchment area served by CUH i.e. mostly Cork City/County, but with some referrals from the wider South West area.

• The principle focus will be to educate, support and improve access to expert care and information, and to provide a clinical link between the family in the community and the hospital services, ensuring timely appointments occur when the child is unwell, results are communicated in a timely manner, and issues relating to activities of daily living are dealt with to maximise the child’s quality of life, while minimising hospital visits where possible.

• Improve the quality of care across the healthcare spectrum from prevention, through managed primary care to complex surgical care for difficult epilepsy.

It is estimated that 4% of children have complex on-going disability needs for health supports, with a further 10% having occasional needs for health intervention (HSE, 2009). This equates to 48,000 children with complex disability and 161,000 children with disability nationally. The post holder will be a key professional on the team who specifically manages the child’s health needs, and through co-ordination and advocacy supports the parents/carers in navigating the system, thereby relieving the care burden. Communication between local and specialist services is a large part of this role. The continuity of input throughout childhood in children with multiple healthcare needs is hugely beneficial.

Purpose of the Post

The post holder will be clinically responsible for the safe, effective and efficient delivery of Children’s Complex Disabilities nursing care, and the education of staff and parents/carers.

The cCNS post holder will deliver care in line with the five core concepts of the role set out in the Framework for the Establishment of Clinical Nurse Specialist Posts, 4th edition, National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery (NCNM) 2008.

Caseload

The cCNS will focus initially on the following service user groups: Paediatric patients requiring the Children’s Complex Disabilities Service.

The concepts are:

· Clinical Focus (Direct and Indirect Care)

· Service user/client Advocacy

· Education and Training

· Audit and Research

· Consultancy (including leadership in clinical practice)

Informal Enquiries

We welcome enquiries about the role.

Contact Diarmuid Nolan – Assistant Director of Nursing, diarmuid.nolan@hse.ie 087 3653102 - for further information about the role

Contact Tamara Broderick- People Resourcing, Tamara.broderick@hse.ie – for enquiries relating to the recruitment process