Nicola Whittaker
Wigan,Greater Manchester
Summary
Dedicated Registered Mental Health Nurse experienced in ADHD assessment and management across diverse settings. Achieved service transformation and enhanced clinical governance through leadership in urgent care, community mental health, and neurodevelopmental pathways. Focused on providing holistic, patient-centred care while addressing complex comorbidities and bridging service gaps.
Active NMC P.I.N - 09K0011N
Overview
2027
2027
years of professional experience
Work History
Clinical Lead – Referral & Assessment Hub
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Wigan
01.2025 - Current
- Help in conducting assessments and leading multi-professional services.
- Assist in differential diagnosis and support mental health triage referral management.
- Facilitate complex care meetings and aid in effective risk management.
- Coordinate safeguarding responsibilities for adults and children with multi-agency collaboration.
- Offer clinical supervision across multi-disciplinary teams.
- Conduct clinical audits and contribute to implementing improvement actions.
- Provide support for service redesign and quality improvement initiatives.
- Support senior nursing staff and oversee supervision of support workers and risk management.
- Assist in developing training programmes and staff competency frameworks.
- Act as a young carers champion through partnerships with social care and promote suicide awareness.
Clinical Lead – Specialist Community Mental Health Team
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
01.2021 - 01.2025
- Led service transformation under the Specialist Community Mental Health Framework
- Supported MDT practice with complex trauma, psychosis, bipolar disorder, ADHD/ASD, and personality disorders
- Oversaw medication audits and quality monitoring to ensure compliance and enhance patient safety
- Completed root cause analyses and rapid reviews to identify systemic improvements following incidents
- Led Duty of Candour initiatives for serious incidents
- Delivered complex case presentations and lessons-learned programmes to share insights and improve multidisciplinary practice
Clinical Lead – Mental Health Urgent Response Team
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Led rapid assessment and triage for urgent and emergency mental health presentations, improving response times for critical cases
- Ensured safe, timely clinical decision-making across A&E, community, and home settings, safeguarding patient welfare and continuity of care
- Maintained oversight of patient safety, quality, and escalation processes
- Provided clinical supervision to nurses, HCAs, social workers, and trainees, enhancing team competency and service delivery
ADHD Assessor
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Conduct full ADHD assessments using DSM-5 criteria and DIVA
- Complete assessments autonomously and present cases to MDT for diagnostic consensus
- Provide detailed diagnostic formulations including comorbidity analysis (ASD, mood disorders, psychosis, trauma, substance use)
- Collaborate with prescribing teams to support initiation and titration of ADHD medication
- Develop personalised recommendations for education, employment, lifestyle, and psychological support, enhancing client outcomes
- Work closely with autism services and neurodevelopmental hubs
- Deliver high-quality clinical reports, receiving positive feedback from multidisciplinary teams
- Promote consistency and reduce diagnostic overshadowing
- Provide consultation and second opinions for complex cases, improving diagnostic accuracy and client care
- Delivered support across various roles to meet organisational needs.
Education
Certificate of Higher Education - ADHD
UKAAN
London, ENG01-2026
Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN) - Mental Health
NMC
London, ENG2009
BSc (Hons) - Mental Health
Mental Health Nursing
Belfast, BFS01-2009
Skills
- ADHD assessment
- Patient assessment
- Service redesign
- Team collaboration
- Multi-agency coordination
- Stakeholder engagement
- Patient care
- Audit competency
- Respect for privacy
- Safeguarding vulnerable adults
- Personal hygiene support
- Time-management
- Decision making
- Patient education
- Duty delegation
- Medication Administration
- Active listening
- Effective communication
- Vital signs monitoring
- Patient care management
- Compassionate care
- Infection control procedures
- Diagnosis and treatment planning
- Mobility assistance
- Relationship-building
- First aid and safety
- Differential diagnosis
- Diagnostic formulation
- Neurodevelopmental comorbidity assessment
- Complex case triage
- Risk management
- Trauma-informed clinical interviewing
- Treatment recommendations
- Safeguarding
- Clinical report writing
- Service development
- Service transformation
- Clinical supervision
- MDT leadership
- Quality improvement
- Audit
- Emergency mental health assessment
- Urgent mental health assessment
- Multi-agency working
- Training and teaching
- Coaching
- Workforce development
- Policy development
- Mental health awareness
- Compassionate client care
- Record-keeping
- Patient assessment expertise
- Trauma management
- Pain management techniques
- Patient services
- Dementia familiarity
- Computer literacy
- Patient assessments
- Staff training
- Empathy and compassion
- Clinical leadership
- First aid knowledge
- Infection Control
- Client safety and first aid
- Communication proficiency
- Personal care planning
- Medication management
- Care plan management
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Healthcare quality improvement
- Health and Safety Compliance
- Nursing skills
- Time efficiency
- Informed decision making
- Administering medication
- First Aid certification
- Stress tolerance
- Clinical judgement
- Behavioural Management
- Clinical instruction
- Self-motivation
- Risk Assessment
- Infection control practices
- Health promotion and maintenance
- Negotiation expertise
- Strategic planning
- Medical support and equipment
- Critical-thinking
- Client documentation
- Empathetic communication
- Performance Management
- Pharmacology knowledge
- Project coordination
- BLS certification
- Leadership prowess
- Project Management
- Communication clarity
- Nutritional assessment
Additional Information
- I am honest, ethical and practice with the utmost respect for the service user and their relatives/carers. I will not judge or discrimanate. I am in a fortunate position to be allowed to make an impact/difference in peoples lives and this drives me to get up each day. I am not unrealistic about funding and wait times. I wish to help resolve this and allow service users to have assessments that impact their lives positivley to enable them to live to their optimum.
Current Role
Clinical Lead – Referral & Assessment Hub, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, 2025-01-01, Present, Lead a multi-professional service responsible for mental health triage, referral management, and assessment, Oversee service redesign, pathway optimisation, and quality improvement initiatives, Conduct clinical audits and implement improvement actions, Provide clinical supervision across MDT staff groups, Chair complex care meetings and support robust risk management, Hold adult and child safeguarding responsibilities with multi-agency coordination, Develop training programmes and staff competency frameworks, Young Carers Champion with strong partnership work with social care, Implement processes to minimise repeated storytelling and improve patient experience
Availability
Seeking remote ADHD assessment work with adults and/or children (CAMHS). Flexible clinic hours including weekdays, evenings, and most weekends to support out-of-hours service provision.
References
Sarah Carr, Clinical Manager, ADHD Team (GMMH NHS), Dr Ana Farah, Clinical Psychologist
Timeline
Clinical Lead – Referral & Assessment Hub
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
01.2025 - Current
Clinical Lead – Specialist Community Mental Health Team
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
01.2021 - 01.2025
Clinical Lead – Mental Health Urgent Response Team
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
ADHD Assessor
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Certificate of Higher Education - ADHD
UKAAN
Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN) - Mental Health
NMC
BSc (Hons) - Mental Health
Mental Health Nursing