Deputy Ward Sister/Charge Nurse

Job overview

Join our dynamic team as a Band 6 deputy Sister/Charge Nurse in the Children and Young People’s Emergency Department at one of the UK’s largest paediatric trauma centres. This senior leadership role offers the chance to lead a skilled nursing team in a fast-paced environment, caring for children and young people with acute illness, injury, major trauma, mental health concerns, and life-threatening emergencies.

You will provide visible clinical leadership, support patient flow, ensure compliance with policies, and drive quality improvement and service development initiatives. Mentoring, supervising, and developing staff is key, alongside maintaining governance, safety standards, and operational efficiency.

We offer professional development opportunities to enhance leadership, management, and advanced clinical skills. Nottingham Children’s Hospital holds ANCC Pathway to Excellence accreditation—the only children’s hospital in Europe with this distinction—reflecting our commitment to staff engagement, excellence, and innovation. If you are an experienced paediatric emergency nurse with a passion for leadership and high-quality care, we welcome your application.

Advert

As Deputy Charge Nurse in the CYPED, you will provide senior clinical and operational leadership to ensure safe, effective, and compassionate care. You will maintain high standards of nursing practice, patient safety, and quality across the department.

You will lead the delivery of evidence-based care, working with the wider MDT to identify challenges affecting care quality and develop action plans to address gaps. Patient pathways and experiences will be regularly evaluated to ensure effectiveness and satisfaction.

Acting as the senior clinical point of contact, you will manage deteriorating patients, safeguarding concerns, and complex or high-risk cases. You will oversee patient flow, triage, and resource allocation to support timely and efficient care delivery and help achieve national and local performance standards.

You will supervise, support, and mentor the nursing workforce, promoting professional development, competence, and wellbeing. In partnership with the senior leadership team, you will manage staffing, shift coordination, sickness management, and maintain appropriate senior nurse presence.

The role includes supporting audits, quality improvement, and service development initiatives, ensuring learning is embedded and improvements sustained. You will also provide guidance and reassurance to patients, families, and staff, representing the patient and family voice in decision-making.

The post requires working a full range of shifts, including nights and weekends.

Working for our organisation

With over 19,000 staff, we are one of the biggest employers in the city with a central role in supporting the health and wellbeing of our local population. We play a leading role in research, education and innovation.

Come and join our wonderful team at NUH. We are big believers in diversity and welcome new ideas to help develop our team in order to deliver world class healthcare to the vast patient populations we serve. With endless personal development opportunities available, at NUH we will endeavour to turn your job into a career!

We particularly welcome applications from people who identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, or Disabled, as we are striving to be better represented at NUH

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Band 6 deputy Charge Nurse provides senior clinical and managerial leadership within the Children and Young People’s Emergency Department, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective, and patient-centred care in a highly complex and fast-paced environment.

Clinically, the post holder will act as a visible senior leader, providing expert clinical guidance and supervision to the nursing team. They will be clinically competent in the assessment and treatment of children and young people presenting with a wide range of injuries and illnesses, including major trauma. The Band 6 will be trauma trained and skilled in advanced clinical interventions, including intravenous medication administration, Entonox use, plastering and immobilisation, and ECG acquisition and interpretation appropriate to role. They will take responsibility for coordinating nursing care and supporting complex clinical decision-making to ensure high standards of care and patient safety.

The Band 6 will act as a senior point of escalation for deteriorating patients, safeguarding concerns, and high-risk or complex cases, working collaboratively with the multidisciplinary team to ensure timely intervention. They will promote and maintain adherence to paediatric emergency care standards, Trust policies, and evidence-based best practice.

Operationally, the Band 6 will support the senior leadership team in the day-to-day management of the department, including staffing coordination, shift planning, sickness management, and maintaining minimum senior staffing levels across all shifts. They will oversee patient flow, triage processes, and resource allocation to optimise waiting times, throughput, and overall departmental efficiency.

From a governance and quality perspective, the Band 6 team will oversee the management of complaints and compliments, ensuring timely responses, learning, and feedback to staff and families. They will review and manage Datix incident reports, leading investigations where appropriate and ensuring action plans are implemented and monitored. The post holder will support and contribute to clinical audit, quality improvement initiatives, and compliance with governance and safety standards, embedding learning into practice.

The Band 6 will also play a key role in staff development, mentoring and supporting junior nurses and students, fostering a culture of learning, reflection, and professional development. They will contribute to appraisal, return-to-work processes, and ongoing competency assessment, supporting staff wellbeing and performance.

Throughout all aspects of the role, the Band 6 deputy Charge Nurse will demonstrate compassion, professionalism, and strong leadership, acting as an advocate for children, young people, and their families. They will work within a collaborative and supportive multidisciplinary environment, leading by example and contributing to continuous improvement in patient care and outcomes.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Come and join our wonderful team at NUH. We are big believers in diversity and welcome new ideas to help develop our team in order to deliver world class healthcare to the vast patient populations we serve. With endless personal development opportunities available, at the NUH we will endeavour to turn your job into a career!

We particularly welcome applications from people who identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, or Disabled, as we are striving to be better represented at NUH.

Applicants are kindly requested to refrain from using AI at any stage during the recruitment process.

Closing Dates: Please submit your application form as soon as possible to avoid disappointment; we reserve the right to close vacancies prior to the published closing date if we receive a sufficient number of completed application forms.

Communication: All communication related to your application will be via the email address you have provided. Please ensure you check your email account including your junk email regularly.

Easy read application: If you have a disability and find online job applications difficult, you can use an easy read application form instead.

To get this form, please email [email protected] and ask for an easy read application.

NUH are now able to offer application completion support and interview preparation support. Please follow the link to book onto our sessions: Support for NUH Job Applications

If you are aged 16 or 17 and applying for a role that is more than 20 hours a week, please be aware that you will be asked to commence an Apprenticeship within the Trust alongside your role, as long as there is a suitable apprenticeship standard available. This is in line with the current guidance in England that whilst young people under the age of 18 can leave school (on the last Friday in June) they must then do one of the following:

• Stay in full-time education, for example at a college
• Start an Apprenticeship
• Spend 20 hours of more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training

For more details visit; School leaving age - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Salary: The quoted salary will be on a pro rata basis for part time workers.

Disability Confidence: All applicants who have declared a disability and who meet the essential criteria for the post will be shortlisted.

At Risk of redundancy: NHS employees within the East Midlands who are ‘at risk’ of redundancy will be given a preferential interview where they meet the essential criteria of the person specification.

International Recruitment: If you are applying for a role with us from outside of the UK then please read the guidance on applying for a health or social care job in the UK from abroad.

ID and Right to work checks: NUH authenticate ID and right to work documentation including passports and driving licenses through a system called Trust ID. NUH will scan your ID and right to work documentation in to the Trust ID system at your face to face ID appointment. The system will run a check against the key security features within your documentation. The system will provide us with an outcome of your check which will be stored securely on your personal file along with all other pre-employment check documentation.

Consent:

• Transfer of information: If I have previous NHS service - I consent to the transfer of my Electronic Staff Record (ESR) data between this and other NHS Trusts. I also consent to the Occupational Health Department confidentially accessing my occupational health records from my current or previous employer in order to check the status of my vaccinations, immunisations s and screening tests as relevant to the post. I understand this is an automated process and the information will only be used for these purposes prior to me taking up the position at NUH.
• Disclosure and Barring Service: Your post maybe subject to a DBS check which incur a cost dependent on the level of check required (£49.50 for enhanced and £21.50 for standard). I agree to reimburse Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust the cost of a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check if it is required (by deduction from first month’s pay). Should I decide to withdraw from my job offer, I agree to reimburse Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust the cost of the DBS check undertaken by cheque or other agreed method.

• For more information about our organisation and the career opportunities available, please visit our website and/or follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook