Job summary
We're looking for aspiring leaders and clinically credible nurses to join our dedicated team in Suffolk as a Charge Nurse on Southgate Ward!

This role is a great opportunity for you to develop your leadership skills and progress your nursing career.

We are looking for a registered mental health nurse with great clinical expertise who is ready to move from staff nurse to charge nurse, or who already has experience to share in this field.

Whilst experience in working in inpatients would make you perfectly suited to this role, we are really open to welcoming people from clinical backgrounds who have experience in other areas of mental health. But we would like individuals to be well motivated, have good interpersonal skills, personal resilience, and an enthusiasm for working with acutely unwell adults and their families whilst they are going through a difficult and stressful period in their lives, in terms of their mental health and well-being.

We also offer great training opportunities to support staff development.

Main duties of the job
We will look to support you to develop your skills in a variety of ways, including through leadership courses, mentorship as well as formal recognised qualifications too.

It can be a challenging environment at times, so we need clinicians with a positive attitude, compassion, resilience, and a hands-on approach. It is vital that the clinician is reflective around issues of power and difference, see the importance of working across systems, and can do that effectively.

If you have the drive to provide excellent care, can demonstrate high quality clinical skills and are willing to go the extra mile to help make a difference to people's lives then we would love to hear from you.

This post does require full PMA fitness (full training will be given) and to be able to work shifts including nights and weekends over a 7 day period.

About us
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly, and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established nursing networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you'll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We are close to London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops, and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

We can accommodate some flexible working in line with the service need.

Benefits included with this role are:

• NHS pension
• a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
• career progression
• starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
• staff physiotherapy service
• gym membership
• NHS discounts and many more

Job responsibilities
As Charge Nurse, you will be expected to take responsibility for supporting your care team, working within governance processes to support the implementation of individualised and responsive care.

You will work supportively and collaboratively with the Clinical Team Leader and Clinical Nurse Specialist in ensuring the effective management of the ward in all respects, environmental, financial, and clinical.

Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!

Recruitment premium
This post attracts a recruitment premium of £3,000 (pro-rata for part time roles). This is a one off payment with half paid on appointment and half paid after the completion of a satisfactory probation period (6 months). The premium is taxable. Please note that should you leave employment, or choose to move to an alternative post within the Trust that does not attract this recruitment premium, you will be required to reimburse all or some of it, as follows: 100% of the value of the premium in the first 12 months; 50% of the value of the premium in the period 12 months to 2 years following appointment. Please note this recruitment premium is for external applicants only. Not applicable to newly qualified applicants.

Person specification
Qualifications

• Essential: Registered Mental Health Nurse; Completion of the preceptorship
• Desirable: Leadership / Management Training

Experience

• Essential: Relevant post registration experience in a mental health setting
• Desirable: Management/Leadership of junior staff

Skills

• Desirable: Ability to supervise others

Knowledge

• Essential: Understanding of issues surrounding confidentiality
• Desirable: Awareness of security and its impact and willingness to expand knowledge on it; Working knowledge / application of the Mental Health Act 1983

Other

• Essential: The ability to undertake Breakaway and Physical Intervention training; Flexibility of duty and hours over a 24hr 7 day a week period; Ability to travel

Disclosure and Barring Service Check: 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.

Certificate of Sponsorship: 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. 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.

UK Registration: Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see the NHS Careers website.

Employer details
Employer name: Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust
Address: Wedgwood House, West Suffolk Hospital, Hardwick Lane, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 2QZ, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx

Contact
For questions about the job, contact: Ward Manager Jack Matthews, Jack.Matthews@nsft.nhs.uk

Details
Date posted: 10 November 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 6
Salary: £39,959 to £48,117 a year gross per annum / pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time
Reference number: 246-WSU7735917-E
Job locations: Wedgwood House, West Suffolk Hospital, Hardwick Lane, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 2QZ, United Kingdom

Supporting documents: Privacy notice: Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust's privacy notice