Job summary
The post holder must be an experienced critical care nurse with detailed knowledge and skills to act as a positive role model through the provision of effective professional leadership and demonstration of competent, accountable clinical practice. The post holder must be competent to work under emergency situations within the MDT and able to prioritise their skill set for the needs of the patient needs.

The post holder will be instrumental in the development of the current Acute Kidney Injury service and the implementation of the inpatient PICC line provision service at Southport Hospital.

An Enhanced DBS Certificate with Adults' Barred Lists is required for this post.

Main duties of the job

• Perform autonomous comprehensive assessments of critically ill patients, plan, implement and evaluate care delivery according to changing health needs and varying levels of complexity.
• Provide appropriate care of level 2 and 3 patients delivering treatment and monitoring in ward areas/departments if admission into critical care is not available or inappropriate.
• Work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies to ensure patients critical care needs are met.
• Co-ordinate & maintain effective communications between critical care, and other ward/departments, managing conflicting views where necessary.
• Effective management of complications, which may occur during and/or post insertion of VADs including; blood stream and exit site infection, thrombus, arterial puncture, nerve damage, malposition/migration of VAD tip, fracture/sever, occlusion and withdrawal occlusion.
• Autonomous decision making regarding the clinical priorities of those patients referred to the PICC/Midline referral service including chemotherapy, OPAT and TPN
• Delegated responsibility for supervision and education of new PICC/line inserters of the team and other inserters within the trust prior to sign off from MET lead.
• CPR / Advanced Life Support Provider as part of the cardiac arrest team.
• Initiating sepsis screening to detect early signs of sepsis in patients allowing prompt treatment and decisive medical management within the first hour of red flag sepsis.

About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our services:

Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Job responsibilities
Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.

Advertising date: 15th September 2026
Closing date: 30th September 2026
Shortlisting date: W/C 5th October 2026
Proposed Interview date: W/C 19th October 2026

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Qualifications
Essential

• Registered Nurse
• First level Nursing Degree
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Intermediate Life Support
• ALS/ILS/ALERT course or equivalent
• Advanced Life Support (or working towards)
• Clinical assessment level 6 (or working towards)

Desirable

• Post reg qualification (Management of deteriorating patient or clinical examination/assessment and diagnostics) Level 6

Knowledge & Experience
Essential

• Must be able to demonstrate excellent communication and negotiation skills.
• Able to demonstrate knowledge of NMC professional standards for practice contained within the code
• Research awareness and commitment to evidence-based practice
• Experience of clinical risk assessment & management of identified risk
• Understanding key features of Clinical governance
• Liaise with MDT members
• Demonstrate organisational leadership skills
• Ability to organise/prioritise workload
• Relevant skills in relation to risk management
• Able to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team
• Evidence of good sound clinical knowledge and judgement in acute situations
• Experience of providing and receiving complex, sensitive information

Other
Essential

• Periods of strenuous activity EG Cardiac compressions
• Frequent sitting or standing in a restricted position; occasional moderate effort for several short period.
• Continuous concentration as dealing with acute situations
• Decision making and time management in line with the deteriorating patient and escalation plan.
• Frequent concentration required for drug calculation and administration
• Dealing with frequent interruptions and competing demands
• Occasional distressing / highly distressing or emotional circumstances. Deals with patient complaints, conveys unwelcome news, complaints, concerns arising from incident communicated to patients and relatives
• May come into contact with Human bodily fluids
• Working in ward environment providing direct clinical care

Skills
Essential

• Venepuncture Competency
• Cannulation Competency
• Ability to communicate effectively (written, verbal and non-verbal communication) with patients/relatives and carers and all members of the multi-disciplinary team
• Excellent Interpersonal skills with the ability to network and build relationships at all levels
• Excellent organisational skills - prioritise and coordinate own workload
• Ability to de-escalate and escalate complex situations
• Ability to act as a change agent
• Computer literacy e.g., experience of electronic patient record

Desirable

• Porta Cath Competency
• Cortrack & Bridle Competency
• Arterial Blood Gas Competency

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).

Employer details
Employer name
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Address
Southport Hospital
Town Lane
Southport
PR8 6PN
United Kingdom

Employer's website
https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Critical care outreach lead
Charlotte Barton
Charlotte.barton@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk
01704704226