Here at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, we are proud to provide expert, compassionate care for our local population. We are ranked as the third in the country for research, embedding education and training across the organisation. Our main hub is the Queen Alexandra Hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals on the south coast employing over 8,700 staff.

Our patients come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes our hospital stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for getting it right for patients, colleagues, and our community, you will find a home at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

An exciting opportunity exists to join as a Band 7 Senior Sister/Charge Nurse working clinically and also within the Practice Education team based on Critical Care, the department based at Queen Alexandra Hospital has been judged Outstanding by the CQC in all domains. 

Currently two very busy state of the art Critical Care Units provide 24 beds for level 2 and 3 care for a varied case mix of patients and a plan is in place to add a third Unit.  The latest technology is utilised to support care in a paperless environment and our third generation of a clinical information system is about to be launched.

Care for our patients, their family and our staff are always the top priority.  We always aim to respond to our patients wishes as flexibly as we can and this has led to several initiatives.  If possible we take our long term patients out to the garden, we have pets visit and we have taken appropriate ventilated patients to hydrotherapy.  For staff we have a very active well-being group with sessions such as mindfulness and pet visits.  Excitingly we have just appointed a psychologist and we have restorative supervision and PNAs. Once established in the role there is the potential opportunity to rotate into the Outreach Team, Follow up Clinic, Research and Training posts.

This responsibility is only available for an individual who can demonstrate the distinctive professional and personal skills and knowledge required.  A positive attitude, outstanding communication ability, exceptional interpersonal skills, initiative and dynamism are imperative. Clinical acumen, leadership excellence, managerial performance and the ability to be an impeccable role model, exemplifying our values, are the requirements.  

At least 3 years recent experience as a Band 6 nurse in Critical Care, a degree, a post basic Critical Care level 6 course (or equivalent), mentorship and teaching experience are essential.  Paediatric nursing skills, ALS, management qualification and evidence of additional professional interest are desirable.  Primarily you must demonstrate a passion to join our friendly, hardworking and excellent multidisciplinary team.

The post holders are required to provide strong nursing leadership to promote clinical excellence and use their experience to assure safe and effective patient care within Critical Care on any shift within the 24 hour day.  They are also responsible for assertive shift management in the dynamic and complex Critical Care environment which provides care for adults and children, often needing to balance competing priorities.  They need to co-ordinate care for patients requiring critical care both on the Critical Care Units but also in other areas of the Trust.  The post holder will lead a team of clinical nurses and are responsible for their performance review, learning objectives and development ensuring safe and effective staffing.  The post holder will contribute to the departments strategy and its realisation within the Units including participating in multidisciplinary management groups.

Qualifications and Experience

• Current RN +/- RN, registration with NMC and any other relevant post registration qualifications.
• BSc Degree in relevant field (Desirable - Masters degree and evidence of working towards).
• Significant demonstrable experience within specialty with evidence of professional development.
• Post Reg. qualifications for specialty area.
• Leadership development programme.
• Teaching qualification /experience and mentorship course.
• Evidence of team leadership and change management with relevant management/leadership course.
• Managing resources and contributing to departmental budget.
• Evidence of developing policy, guidelines and managing resources.

Skills and Knowledge

• Clinically competent.
• Clinical decision making skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Effective leadership and team building skills.
• Organisational skills and forward planning.
• Flexibility.
• Able to support development of others.
• Coaching and mentoring skills.
• Critical appraisal skills.
• Strong customer service skills.
• IT literate.
• Understanding of the principles and application of effective budgetary management. 
• Understanding of the principles and application of effective staff / HR management .
• Understanding of the theory and application of Clinical Governance. 
• Demonstrable experience of effective management and supervision of staff and taking charge of ward /unit.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most. 

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.