Children's Hospice Nurse - Band 6 in London

We exist to help babies, children and young people with life‐limiting or life‐threatening conditions, and their families, make the most of every day. Our mission is to enable those we support to enjoy life as children, not patients; as families, not just as carers. Because everyone deserves to live life as themselves, beyond their condition or circumstances. We do this by listening to families. We know one size doesn’t fit all, so we cater our services to each individual person we support. We can do this from the point of diagnosis.

Our help is available wherever it is needed. Our expert staff and trained volunteers can provide support in a family's home, in the community, or at our state‐of‐the‐art building, The Ark, in Barnet. We work in collaboration with key NHS Trusts and other care providers to deliver the very best support to children and families. We have created a space where children with complex needs are accepted as they are, safe to play, explore, express themselves and build confidence.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We’re expanding our team and are looking for more Nurses to join your charity. You’ll be joining an award‐winning, certified Outstanding team, who do all they can to empower children and families to experience as much life as possible.

As a member of the Noah’s Ark Nurse and Specialist Care team, you’ll be encouraged to put the experience of children and families at the heart of all you do. As well as understanding their care needs, you’ll get to know what’s important to each child you support - whether it’s knowing what their favourite song to listen to is, how they like to play, or what soothes them when they are sad - at Noah’s Ark it’s so important that each child is treated as an individual. You’ll focus on what children can do, rather than their limitations, and will support them to experience things they may never have thought possible.

And by providing care for children, either at our state‐of‐the‐art building, The Ark, or out in the community, you’ll be allowing parents and carers to take some time for themselves. The hours of care you’ll provide will make a huge difference, allowing them to live life outside of their child’s condition. By creating this time, you’ll be creating choice - something which can feel impossible for the families we support.

You’ll join our experienced nursing team to help provide a 24/7, on‐call symptom assessment/management service for babies, children and young people in The Ark and out in the community. Your commitment to children and families will continue through to end‐of‐life care. You’ll be a guiding reassuring presence for families elevating anxiety and worry and working with other healthcare professionals to create as much comfort as possible. You’ll be providing essential symptom management to help to bring comfort, as well as giving the choice of preferred place of care and preferred place of death.

During this time, you’ll continue to treat each child and family as an individual by taking the time to understand what is important to them. You’ll help to create memories to enable as good a death as possible.

A natural and experienced leader, you’ll deliver high quality and effective training to other members of the team and family members. You’ll provide direct line management support to Band 5 Nurses and Band 3 & 4 Specialist Carers.

With excellent clinical and communication skills, you’ll either be an experienced Band 5 Nurse with palliative care experience, ready to take a step upwards in your career, or a Band 6 Nurse already working in the palliative care sector or have previous palliative care experience. You’ll have at least one year’s experience caring for children with complex care needs. You’ll have experience managing a nursing team, or experience of supporting students, junior staff nurses or support workers.

You’ll be able to work collaboratively, experienced in leading a multi‐skilled team, or can demonstrate experience of leadership with the support from a lead nurse. Aside from experience, we look for individuals who share our core values of kindness, excellence and courage. We’ll support you to go above and beyond to be there for the children and families we support - we ask that you share this mission with us.

You’ll thrive working autonomously, confident in your ability to deliver care on your own out in the community. You’ll know the value of collaboration, and will work closely with your team members, other healthcare professionals and the families you support to provide the very best care. Creativity and play will be central to your approach to care, with the ability to build long‐term relationships with the children and families you care for.