Sister/Charge Nurse Band 6 - ITU/HDU/POCCU

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has occurred to recruit a Band 6 Sister/Charge Nurse for Critical Care.

We are looking for a highly motivated, energetic, experienced Critical nurse to join our high performing Team, recognised nationally for their outstanding provision of patient care.

You will be given the opportunity to learn and develop management skills supported by Nationally Recognised Critical Care Competency Framework.

Critical care qualification is essential.

Due to current service demands, we are only able to consider applicants who have relevant UK experience. Candidates must also be available to commence employment immediately or within a very short timeframe. We regret that we cannot progress applications that do not meet these essential requirements.

Main duties of the job

• You wil be enthausiatic, motivated and commited to driving forward positively to enhance patient experience, whilst being adaptable to a changing environment that prides itself on quality and efficiency.

• To provide leadership, management and Team development, contributing to setting goals and benchmarking standards of care.
• You must be dedicated and experienced within Critical Care, having the ability to multi task and proritise your workload and that of your team .
• On a shift to shift basis supervise and coordinate effective planning, delivery, evaluation and monitoring of care within Critical Care.

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 see Job Description and Person Specification attached.

Advertising Date: 2nd October 2026

Closing Date: 15th October 2026

Shortlisting Date: 23rd October 2026

Proposed Interview date: TBC

Please note this vacancy may close early if a high number of applications is reached.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse Diploma / degree level or equivalent experience
• Current NMC Registration
• Evidence of continuous professional development
• Leadership training or qualification (minimum Level 3 ILM or equivalent) or working towards

Knowledge

Essential

• Able to demonstrate knowledge of NMC professional standards for practice contained within the code
• Experience of leading a team in a clinical environment
• Research awareness and commitment to evidence based practice
• Experience of clinical risk assessment & management of identified risk
• Understanding key features of Clinical governance
• Knowledge of audit & audit procedures

Skills

Essential

• Up to date clinical skills in order to ensure quality of services being provided by ward
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent organisational skills - prioritise and coordinate own workload
• Able to act as a leader, effectively managing staff in the department
• Ability to act as a change agent
• Ability to co-ordinate & liaise with MDT members
• Computer literacy eg experience of electronic patient record

Other

Essential

• Frequent sitting or standing in a restricted position; occasional moderate effort for several short period.
• Frequent concentration, work pattern unpredictable Concentration for patient clinical work
• Occasional distressing / highly distressing or emotional circumstances. Deals with patient complaints, conveys unwelcome news, complaints, concerns arising from incident communicated to patients and relatives.
• Working in ward environment providing direct clinical care
• Potential blood or body fluids exposure