Alcohol Support Nurse

Go back East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 18 March 2026

Alcohol causes a wide range of conditions and is a contributing factor causing harm, accidents, violence and self‑harm in patients. Over 1.1 million hospital admissions each year have alcohol as a casual factor (NHS, 2019). Dependent drinkers are at the highest risk of alcohol related conditions.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our Alcohol Care Team based in Ipswich Hospital. The Alcohol Care Team (ACT) primarily provide specialist expertise and interventions for alcohol dependent patients, and those presenting with acute intoxication or other alcohol related complications, attending ED or admitted as an inpatient.

The Alcohol Specialist Nurse will work within the team with community alcohol services, dual diagnosis, safeguarding and multiple other specialities to provide holistic, individualised care.

The role is very diverse; you could find yourself working either in ED or on the inpatient wards within the hospital. You would also be running outpatient face‑to‑face alcohol support clinics and managing a caseload.

If you would like to join our ACT and have a real passion to support this complex and vulnerable patient group, we would like to hear from you.

The posts are at Band 6, both full time and part time and will be based on a seven‑day service, with lone working at the weekend.

Please note that you do require NMC Registered – Adult Nursing.

As an Alcohol Specialist Nurse you will provide a comprehensive alcohol assessment, identify alcohol dependence and withdrawal, manage detoxification regimes, contribute to care planning, provide psychosocial interventions and an MDT approach, plan safe discharge and referral to community services.

You will be responsible for overseeing the withdrawal process from alcohol and work with patients who are experiencing withdrawal symptoms, cravings, and other issues that may arise during this time.

You will provide support and counselling to help patients through their recovery process. This will include helping them find treatment programmes or services that will aid in their long‑term sobriety, supporting them with housing, finances, safeguarding, mental health and domestic abuse.

You will provide support and education to clinical staff teaching them how to identify and treat withdrawal symptoms and how to provide brief interventions to the patient for alcohol support.

The ACT also facilitates nurse‑led outpatient clinics to manage the holistic treatment for patients in recovery from their alcohol dependency and for those patients who require surveillance for their stable liver cirrhosis caused by alcohol.

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.

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