Mental Health, Justice Health and Alcohol & Drug Services (MHJHADS) provide health services directly and through partnerships with community organisations. The services provided range from prevention and treatment to recovery, maintenance and harm minimisation. Consumer and carer participation is encouraged in all aspects of service planning and delivery. The Division works in partnership with consumers, carers and a range of government and non-government service providers to ensure the best possible outcomes for clients.

The Division delivers services at a number of locations, including hospital inpatient and outpatient settings, community health centres, detention centres, other community settings including peoples’ homes.

These services include:

• Adult Community & Older Persons Mental Health Services
• Adult Inpatient Mental Health Services
• Alcohol & Drug Services (ADS)
• Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
• Justice Health Services (JHS)

Adult Inpatient Mental Health Services is across both The Canberra Hospital (TCH), the University of Canberra Hospital (UCH), and North Canberra Hospital (NCH) sites, and includes services such as Adult Mental Health Unit, Ward 12B Mental Health Unit, Mental Health Short Stay Unit, Mental Health Clinical Liaison TCH and NCH, the Adult Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit, the Adult Mental Day Service, and Acacia Mental Health Unit (Acacia).

The Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) for the Acacia Ward provides operational leadership within the inpatient mental health setting, including management of nursing workloads and coordination of clinical practice.

The role requires high-level communication, leadership and clinical expertise to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of quality patient care based on best-practice principles within a collaborative, multidisciplinary framework.

Under limited direction of the ADON, you will provide senior nursing leadership for the clinical and administrative operations, including rostering for NCH Mental Health Services. You will:

1. Coordination and provision of patient centred care using evidence-based practices in collaboration with the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) to ensure safe and efficient access to patient care is achieved.
2. Responsible for daily ward staffing resources ensuring patient care and safety is maximised as well as liaising with medical and allied health colleagues regarding the planning of patient care.
3. Liaising with the Mental Health Patient Flow Manager and Hospital Patient Flow team regarding admissions, discharges, outlying patients and patient flow solutions.
4. Be actively involved in clinical governance systems and processes through quality activities, program and process evaluation, outcomes measurement and membership of committees and working parties.
5. Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operations of Acacia Mental Health unit within the approved scope of clinical practice; including and not limited to acting as Team Leader as required.
6. Apply clinical practice in accordance with the Mental Health Act (2015) and other relevant legislation.
7. Facilitates the implementation of Workforce Diversity, Workplace Health and Safety, Industrial Democracy principles and practices and demonstrates a commitment to the values of North Canberra Hospital.
8. Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of North Canberra Hospital.

• Proven advanced clinical experience in a leadership role with a high level of written communication skills.
• Ability to work within a multidisciplinary team and adapt quickly to a changing environment.
• Commitment to achieving positive outcomes for patients and their families/ carers who are presenting in mental health distress.
• Ability to respond to and prioritise competing demands in a calm and respectful manner whilst ensuring a high level of high work standards and accuracy is maintained.
• The ability to engage, maintain and build and effective paths of communication with a range of stakeholders.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

• Tertiary qualification in nursing
• Be registered with the National Nursing and Midwifery Board through the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
• Strong understanding of rostering principles in accordance with ACT Nursing and Midwifery Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026 requirements.
• Fulfil the responsibilities of this role in alignment to the CHS Exceptional Care Framework and all other related frameworks.
• CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

Desirable

• Current drivers licence.

Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to the following.

Essential

• 6 months experience in a similar role.
• 5 years full time (8550) worked in direct or indirect roles or completion (inclusive of 7 weeks annual leave per year) as a Registered Nurse.

Desirable

• Experience working professionally in a mental health setting.

• Pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct.
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

1. Proven expert clinical knowledge of mental health practice including a demonstrated ability to undertake complex mental health and to provide high-quality, recovery based mental health interventions.
2. Demonstrated ability to lead and work within a multi-disciplinary team and an ability to build and maintain effective working relationships.
3. Proven ability to work with and lead diverse teams and external parties in a consultative, collaborative, and influential manner.
4. Proven excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to consult, negotiate and liaise effectively with a diverse range of people.
5. Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, work, health, and safety (WH&S) and the positive patient experience. Displays behaviour consistent with CNH’s values of Hospitality, Healing, Respect, and Kind.

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.

Administrative	Frequency
Telephone use	Frequently
General computer use	Frequently
Extensive keying/data entry	Frequently
Graphical/analytical based	Occasionally
Sitting at a desk	Frequently
Standing for long periods	Occasionally

Psychosocial demands	Frequency
Distressed People e.g. Emergency or grief situations	Frequently
Aggressive & Uncooperative People e.g. drug / alcohol, dementia, mental illness	Frequently
Unpredictable People e.g. Dementia, mental illness, head injuries	Occasionally
Restraining e.g. involvement in physical containment of clients/consumers	Occasionally
Exposure to Distressing Situations e.g. Child abuse, viewing dead / mutilated bodies; verbal abuse; domestic violence; suicide	Frequently

Physical demands	Frequency
Distance walking (large buildings or inter-building transit)	Occasionally
Working outdoors	Never

Manual handling	Frequency
Lifting 0 - 9kg	Frequently
Lifting 10 - 15kg	Occasionally
Lifting 16kg+	Occasionally
Climbing	Never
Running	Never
Reaching	Occasionally
Kneeling	Occasionally
Foot and leg movement	Occasionally
Hand, arm and grasping movements	Occasionally
Bending/squatting	Occasionally
Bend/Lean Forward from Waist/Trunk twisting	Occasionally
Push/pull	Occasionally
Sequential repetitive movements in a short amount of time	Frequently

Travel	Frequency
Frequent travel – multiple work sites	Occasionally
Frequent travel – driving	Occasionally

Specific hazards	Frequency
Working at heights	Never
Exposure to extreme temperatures	Never
Operation of heavy machinery e.g. forklift	Never
Confined spaces	Never
Excessive noise	Occasionally
Low lighting	Never
Handling of dangerous goods/equipment e.g. gases; liquids; biological.	Occasionally
Slippery or uneven surfaces	Never