Registered Staff Nurse - Spinal Injuries Unit

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Registered Staff Nurse - Spinal Injuries Unit

NHS AfC: Band 5

Main area Spinal Injuries Grade NHS AfC: Band 5 Contract 11 months (Fixed Term until 30th September 2027 (maternity leave cover)) Hours

• Full time
• Part time

36 hours per week (Rotational 11.5hr pattern including nights & weekends) Job ref 409-8268642

Site Southport Hospital Town Southport Salary £32,073 - £39,043 per annum pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 23/09/2026 23:59 Interview date 29/09/2026

The Northwest Regional Spinal Injuries Centre (NWRSIC) based at Southport District General Hospital is looking to recruit a Registered Nurse to join an award winning, multi-professional team. If you are a forward-thinking , dynamic, & enthusiastic nurse who is interested in developing a career with patients requiring global rehabilitation following spinal cord injury, the NWRSIC could be the place for you.

Your role will involve providing an holistic approach to delivering goal-centred & outcome focused care & enablement for patients with a variety of abilities due to spinal cord lesion. There will be opportunity to develop skills in caring for patients requiring respiratory support & intervention, as well as helping patients achieve their rehabilitation goals.

Working pattern: based on an 11.5-hour rotational shift pattern throughout the 7-day period including day & night duty. There will also be an opportunity to work shorter shifts to ensure an even balance across the roster whilst facilitating patient care.

Part-time hours will also be considered as the Trust supports flexible working patterns and work / life balance.

*Previous applicants within the past 3 months need not apply*

Interviews will take place on 29th September, 2026

Main duties of the job

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.

• To assist in the setting & monitoring of standards of nursing care within the department.
• To encourage the participation of the patient’s carer(s) in the assessment of care needs.
• To encourage the involvement of the patient in the management & evaluation of care.
• To advocate patient involvement so that care can be reflected as individualised.
• To initiate & participate in the promotion of health education.
• To liaise with all disciplines involved with direct care so that all facets of patient care are assessed, planned, implemented & evaluated.
• To maintain effective communication, keeping the person in charge that has continuing responsibility informed of changes affecting patients & staff.
• To ensure that patient care is delivered as & when required, within the Scope of Professional Practice & Code of Professional Conduct.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 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, freeing up space for more unwell patients. 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

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

• Provides and receives complex information, communicating sensitively and confidentially
• information relating to patients/clients (for example, care plan discussions with patients).
• Communicates in a compassionate and empathetic manner, using persuasion and
• Ability to recognise barriers to communication, and ability to modify communication style as
• and when required.
• Ability to effectively communicate whilst providing training to students.
• Demonstrate effective communications skills with the wider MDT team.
• Maintain appropriate levels of training for clinical skills as needed within scope of practice.
• To maintain safe custody of drugs, ensuring that checking, witnessing and administration
• procedures are compatible with statutory and trust requirements.
• In the absence of Sister/Charge Nurse effectively respond to complaints/concerns and
• escalate as required.
• To ensure clinical incident/near misses are managed and reported and escalated in a
• To be part of the multidisciplinary team decision making, acting when required as the
• patients advocate in order to support the patient’s pathway.
• Work within the organisational policy, standard operating procedures and guidelines.
• To undertake risk assessments and implement risk reducing measures. To report and
• escalate to the Line Manager any deficiencies in the arrangements for minimizing risk.
• Ensure that privacy, dignity and safety of individuals is maintained at all times.
• To actively participate in the effective and efficient use of the ward/departmental resources and equipment, including stock management and care and maintenance of equipment.
• Handles patient’s valuables, ensuring safe storage and transportation.
• Sign off agency timesheets in order to verify and record the hours worked.
• Liaise with the Roster Coordinator to ensure your personal roster is balanced within the roster period.

TEACHING & TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES

• To deputise in the absence of the Sister / Charge Nurse.
• To manage own time and that of others, through delegations to ensure high quality service
• To act as assessor/supervisor for junior staff and students.
• To participate in the setting of yearly personal and professional objectives for self.
• Support the department’s appraisal process for junior staff, by providing feedback.
• To be flexible in the delivery of safe staffing across the Trust and participate in redeployment requirements within scope of practice.

RESEARCH & AUDIT

• To contribute to the collection of data for research and audit purposes.
• To identify audit topics relevant to the ward/department.
• To critically evaluate research before applying to clinic practice in order to enhance patient care.
• To identify areas for self-development, areas of interest and training requirements within
• individual personal performance planning and development review.
• To maintain a professional portfolio and reflective diary for developmental purposes and
• Support the rest of the team by recognising own and promoting self-help and wellbeing.
• Develop a culture of learning and innovation, developing high quality learning environments.
• Adopt a reflective approach to own practice with a view to continually improve.

Person specification

Qualifications

• 1st Level Registered Nurse (degree/diploma)
• Current NMC registration
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Knowledge & Experience

• Able to demonstrate knowledge of NMC professional standards for practice contained within the code.
• Experience of working in a clinical environment
• Understand requirements for NMC professional Revalidation
• Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team
• An understanding of national, regional, and local NHS issues
• Experience of providing and receiving complex, sensitive information

Skills & Abilities

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to network and build relationships at all levels.
• Effectively prioritises and co-ordinates own workload.
• Ability to de-escalate complex situations
• Ability to communicate effectively (written, verbal and non-verbal communication) with patients/relatives and carers and all members of the multi-disciplinary team.
• Awareness of the need for confidentiality at all times
• Computer literacy e.g. experience of electronic patient record

Other

• Frequent moderate effort for several short periods of time such as manual handling of patients and equipment
• Frequent concentration required for drug calculation and Administration
• Dealing with frequent interruptions and competing demands
• Ability to work within highly distressing or emotional circumstances e.g. end of life care.
• Ability to communicate distressing information.
• Ability to communicate in a challenging environment
• Able to carry out direct clinical care as required on ward or department
• Potential blood or body fluids exposure.

Our Values

• We are Kind
• We are Open
• We are Inclusive

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact Recruitment@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please click here to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

eVisa Update
For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.
Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.
Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:

• Understand how to generate an eVisa share code

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

You will be expected to undertake the Trusts' commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name Kim Lucey Job title Senior Sister Email address kim.lucey@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk Telephone number 01704 704345 Additional information

Please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier that stated, should a sufficient number of applications be received, you are therefore advised to apply at your earliest convenience

Previous applicants within past 3 months need not apply