NHS Blood and Transplant
Sister / Charge Nurse
The closing date is 22 November 2026

Job summary
As a Sister/Charge Nurse, you will lead donor-facing teams and blood collection activities to deliver a safe, high-quality donation experience.

You will play a vital role in ensuring donor and patient safety, maintaining regulatory compliance, and achieving operational targets while promoting excellent standards of care. As a visible clinical leader, you will support, motivate and develop colleagues, oversee donor eligibility and care, manage clinical risks, and drive continuous improvement.

Working closely with multidisciplinary teams, you will champion NHS Blood and Transplants values, ensuring every donor receives a compassionate, professional and positive experience while helping to save and improve lives through the collection of safe blood products.

Main duties of the job

• Lead donor-facing teams and blood collection activities to ensure a safe, effective and positive donation experience.
• Provide visible clinical leadership, setting clear expectations and supporting teams to achieve operational and quality objectives.
• Act as the expert in donor eligibility, donor care and the management of adverse donation events.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, policies, standard operating procedures and clinical governance processes.
• Monitor performance, analyse clinical data, identify areas for improvement and support delivery of key performance indicators.
• Investigate incidents, complaints and quality concerns, implementing corrective actions and sharing learning with colleagues.
• Coach, mentor and develop staff, delivering training and supporting ongoing competency assessments and professional development.
• Promote service improvements, support change initiatives and contribute to audit, research and innovation activities.
• Manage session resources, stock, equipment and workforce deployment to maximise productivity and donor safety.
• Deputise for the Senior Sister/Senior Charge Nurse/Donor Centre Manager when required.

Your working hours will be:
On a shift basis but, the normal hours for this role are 4 days per fortnight. Early shifts start at 07:30am and finish 17:30pm. Late shifts start at approximately 10:30am and finish 20:30pm, this will be roughly 9 and half hour days.

About us
It takes all types of people to deliver the kind of service that saves and improves lives. At NHS Blood and Transplant, you will join a team of more than 6,000 people who are making a genuine difference to communities, families, friends, relatives and more across the UK.

We play a unique and special role in the NHS by helping people do something extraordinary - donate blood, blood products, organs, tissues, or stem cells to save someone in need.

Our three core values are what set us apart. They guide and inspire everything we do.

By being caring, expertly meeting the needs of our patients and our people, and accepting nothing less than the best quality, we can do extraordinary work and help our people to do something extraordinary in their career, too. Three small words, one big difference - Caring, Expert and Quality. Together we will save and improve more lives than ever.

You will join us on our journey to create an inclusive workplace and aim to reflect the diverse communities we work with, and we positively encourage applications from all sectors of the community.

Details
Date posted: 11 November 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 6
Salary: £39,959 to £48,117 a year
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Part-time
Reference number: 009653
Job locations: NHSBT, Basildon Wilbur House, Basildon, SS13 1EH

What we offer

• Flexible working options where the role allows.
• Generous annual leave: 27 days annual leave (pro rata for part-time) plus Bank Holidays, increasing to 29 days after 5 years' service and to 33 days after 10 years.
• Inclusive pension scheme: the NHS Pension Scheme is a defined benefit scheme (not dependent on investment returns).
• Supportive learning culture, including the Thrive programme open to everyone at NHSBT.
• Health and wellbeing support, including occupational health, employee assistance programme and wellbeing resources.

Next steps
This vacancy will close at 23:59pm on Sunday 22nd November 2026. The assessment process for this role will include a single interview. Interviews are anticipated to be held on the week commencing 7th December 2026, subject to confirmation.
For informal enquiries please contact Callum Green, Recruitment Coordinator at callum.green@nhsbt.nhs.uk.

Person Specification
Qualifications (Essential)

• Registered Nurse with current Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) registration (Part 1 Adult/General, Level 1 or 2).
• Evidence of ongoing professional development and commitment to continued learning.
• Experience of managing clinical environments within a regulatory framework such as Blood Safety and Quality Regulations (BSQR) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).
• Knowledge and understanding of BSQR and GMP requirements.
• Valid UK driving licence.

Experience (Essential)

• Substantial management and leadership experience within a clinical environment.
• Experience of leading and implementing change, while motivating and supporting teams to deliver high standards of care.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to influence, negotiate and build effective working relationships.
• Strong analytical, decision-making and problem-solving skills, with experience of risk management, performance management and clinical governance.
• Experience of mentoring, coaching and developing colleagues, alongside a commitment to continuous learning and improvement.

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.

Employer details
Employer name: NHS Blood and Transplant
Website: https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/
Contact: Recruitment Coordinator, Callum Green, callum.green@nhsbt.nhs.uk