Job summary
Our Neonatal Unit is looking for a highly motivated, enthusiastic individual to join our friendly and well established Neonatal team as a Band 5 ultimately progressing to a QIS Band 6 Deputy Sister/Deputy Charge Nurse.

The post holder will be expected to undertake the Foundation course and Neonatal QIS course if not previously completed.

The post holder will be responsible for the assessment of care needs and the development, implementation and evaluation of care required for the sick neonate and their family. In addition the post holder will participate in the day to day management of the Local Neonatal Unit and Transitional Care Unit, providing support and leadership in the absence of a Clinical Sister.

Main duties of the job
We are a Level 2 Local Neonatal Unit, with 16 cots providing care for up to 2 Intensive Care, 6 High Dependency, 8 Special Care neonates and 4 Transitional Care.

This role requires a passionate, highly motivated and experienced nurse with excellent communication skills who wishes to continue to develop their clinical and leadership skills.

In this role, you will provide clinical and professional leadership across the Neonatal Unit and Transitional Care, taking responsibility for delivering consistently high standards of care to all babies and families who access our service.

As a Neonatal Nurse you will be a role model providing support, sharing your knowledge and facilitating teaching and supervision to more junior members of staff and students.

As a team, we are committed to recruiting staff who uphold our values and can deliver excellent care by putting babies at the heart of everything we do, with an emphasis on working in partnership with families to provide the best possible experience and outcomes.

We are passionate about the care we give to babies and you will be well supported to further and enhance your clinical knowledge and expertise within our Trust

This post requires working both day and night shifts; therefore flexibility with working hours are essential.

About us
Please submit your application as soon as possible, as we reserve the right to close adverts once sufficient applications have been received.

We recognise that AI tools can support application writing; however, candidates are asked to keep their use to a minimum. Responses should reflect your own experience, skills and knowledge, as over-reliance on AI-generated content may result in generic answers that do not accurately represent your abilities.

University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) brings together Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust. As a group, we are committed to improving services for our communities through collaboration, modernising care delivery and striving for excellence. Working together enables us to share expertise, strengthen services and create greater opportunities, and there may be a requirement to work across sites depending on service needs.

Our Excellence Values are Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Integrity and Courage. UHN welcomes applications from all backgrounds and is committed to an inclusive working environment. We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and hold the Gold Award under the Employer Recognition Scheme. Candidates who identify as members of the Armed Forces community and meet the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview.

Job responsibilities
Clinical and Professional Leadership: Comply with the NMC Code and Trust policies, ensuring safe medicines management, accurate record keeping and safeguarding. Deliver holistic, evidence-based neonatal care across intensive, high dependency, special, and transitional care, involving families in assessment, planning and delivery. Act as a professional role model, coordinate multidisciplinary care and escalate risks promptly. Support admissions, discharges and accurate use of clinical IT systems.

Promote staff development, education, clinical supervision and effective assessment of learners. Support the Practice Development Nurse and Improvement Champions to embed best practice.

Quality Improvement: Promote patient safety, infection prevention and individualised care. Use audits, incidents and feedback to identify improvements, share outcomes and implement action plans. Encourage openness, accountability and evidence-based practice.

Management: Support the Senior Sisters and Matron with staffing, e-rostering, recruitment, performance reviews, complaints, incident investigations and attendance management. Promote effective communication, teamwork, staff wellbeing and a positive learning environment to improve patient safety and family experience.

Person Specification
Key Competencies/Personal Qualities and Attributes
Essential

• Passionate and committed to bring our Dedicated to Excellence values to life, improving the way we work with each other, particularly focusing on empowerment, equality diversity and inclusion of our staff, patients and service users
• Demonstrates a passion for improving care
• Ability to treat all employee and other hospital information confidentially
• Recognition of factors in maintaining own and others health, safety and security
• Supportive of equality and values diversity
• Flexible and adaptable
• Demonstrates an awareness for patient, dignity and respect.

Qualifications
Essential

• Registered Children's Nurse/Registered Adult Nurse
• Mentor qualification
• Neonatal High dependency and Intensive care course(QIS Course)
• Management or leadership qualification
• Master's degree or working towards

Desirable

• Post graduate degree
• Leadership course

Knowledge and experience
Essential

• Experience as a staff nurse in acute healthcare
• Experience of development and leadership of change in clinical practice
• Computer literacy
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Supervision of others
• Good knowledge of safeguarding
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Skills
Essential

• Able to make judgements based on evidence based practice
• The ability to develop and maintain communication with people on complex matters, issues and ideas and/or in complex situations
• The ability to develop a culture that improves quality
• The ability to effectively support staff to achieve their full potential through effective supervision and direction
• Hand/eye co-ordination e.g. for preparation of drugs
• Effective time management
• Ability to work under pressure
• Ability to use own initiative
• Effective communication written/verbal
• Ability to work effectively in a team.

Desirable

• The ability to work in partnership with and develop, take forward and evaluate direction, policies and strategies
• The ability to use data to inform changes required in care delivery and to effectively implement that change

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).