Lead Nurse Critical Care

Go back University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) Lead Nurse Critical Care

The closing date is 15 July 2025

Are you a dynamic and experienced critical care nurse ready to take the next step in your career? Join our forward-thinking team as a Lead Nurse for Critical Care and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of high-acuity nursing care in adult critical care at UHBW.

Critical care in UHBW consists of a 4 bedded intensive care unit (ICU) in Weston General Hospital, 32 bedded general ICU in Bristol Royal Infirmary and a 23 bedded cardiac ICU in the Bristol Heart Institute. The Lead Nurse for critical care oversees all adult critical care units, leading the way in developing the service further, building on its strengths with continuous improvement and innovation. The Lead Nurse uses clinical and leadership expertise to positively and sustainably influence the delivery of quality patient care, acting as a champion for the service within the Trust, the network, the region and beyond.

As Lead Nurse for Critical Care, you will be part of the divisional leadership team and will provide line management and professional accountability to the critical care matrons and the acute pain lead nurses. You will need a keen appreciation of how to ensure high standards of patient care, motivate complex and diverse teams, and articulate a genuine, achievable, ambitious vision for the future of critical care. You should understand the critical care speciality and the systems within which it functions, to meaningfully and productively engage with staff, patients and their families.

Main duties of the job

As a lead clinician, the post holder will work across Critical care UHBW (Bristol and Weston sites), to strengthen the input into improving clinical care and outcomes for critical care patients in a variety of clinical settings. The post holder will support the Director of Nursing in ensuring that patients receive high quality, compassionate patient centred care within the resources available within critical care services. Working closely with the Clinical Director, Assistant General Manager and Deputy Divisional Director for Critical Care Services, the post holder will support and, where appropriate, lead service development. The post holder will lead cross divisional projects that enhance both patient and staff experience. They will provide clinical expertise and be a health educator, teacher and resource for multi-disciplinary teams. They will work across organisation and professional boundaries to bring about improvements in care and treatment outcomes. The post holder will line manage the Critical Care Matrons for General Intensive Care at Bristol, Intensive Care Unit Matron for Weston ICU, and Acute Pain Lead Nurses at Bristol and Weston, with professional leadership for the Cardiac Intensive Care Matron. The current clinical project in development that will require oversight and direction from the post holder is the introduction of ECMO to UHBW Critical Care.

About us

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) is one of the largest acute Trusts in the country, bringing together a combined workforce of over 13,000 staff and over 100 different clinical services across 10 different sites, serving a core population of more than 500,000 people across South West England. UHBW has been rated by the CQC as 'Good' overall and our staff are proud to deliver excellent care to the people of Bristol, Weston and beyond. As a forward- thinking multi-award winning Trust and a digital exemplar committed to improving patient care, our world-leading research and innovations are having a positive local and global impact. Our hospitals are spread across Bristol and Weston, join us and you can enjoy the very best of both worlds; city living within a stone's throw of the countryside or beside the seaside, both with easy access to all that the South West has to offer. UHBW is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application in order to ensure we're meeting our pledge.

Job responsibilities

For a more detailed job description, main responsibilities, and Person Specification, please refer to the job description document attached to this vacancy.

In addition to the leadership role in the specialist area, the clinical lead will support and work with the Divisional Management Team and Chief Nurse team, focusing on the corporate strategic professional agenda. This may involve working on corporate professional issues and will involve acting as a clinical expert and senior role model. Depending upon experience and interests, it is anticipated that the post holder will spend part of the week working directly with clinical teams in a critical care services patient facing role.

Person Specification Knowlegde and Experience

• Extensive knowledge and experience of caring for critical care services patients in a variety of settings
• Extensive leadership and clinical operational management experience within a complex service provider organisation
• Experience of managing/supporting major change projects and of delivering clinical services operationally during periods of change
• Demonstrable understanding of quality and risk management
• Familiar with relevant clinical guidelines (e.g. NICE, National/international professional bodies)
• Experience of developing business cases

Skills and Abilities

• Expert verbal and written communication skills - individual, departmental and multidisciplinary levels
• Able to build rapport and clinical credibility with senior clinical and management teams
• Excellent team, interpersonal, leadership and organisational skills
• Able to collaborate constructively with internal and external partners to create conditions for successful partnership working
• Demonstrable evidence of problem solving, strategic leadership and decision-making skills
• Ability to work independently or as part of a team as required
• Confident, assertive and self-aware
• Able to inspire and motivate colleagues
• Strong report writing and presentation skills

Qualifications and Training

• Current professional registration
• Health related higher degree (MSc/MA) or working towards
• Evidence of advanced specialist education in relevant field
• Teaching qualification
• Tenacious, demonstrates high level of drive, enthusiasm, and stamina to achieve goals and see things through
• Works effectively in a highly complex and continually changing environment
• Thrives when required to work to demanding timetables
• Ability to travel to sites throughout the Division
• Capacity to work flexibly to the needs of the role
• Able to undertake the full remit of the role

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.

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW)