Area Nurse - Central West

NHS Blood and Transplant; Gloucester, Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

A public health organization is seeking an Area Nurse to lead and motivate Healthcare Assistants on donation teams across the Central West area. The role involves overseeing donor eligibility assessments while ensuring high standards of care. Ideal candidates will have clinical leadership experience and a valid driving license. Support and training will be provided to develop your skills. A strong commitment to patient safety and donor satisfaction is essential. The position requires flexibility with hours, including weekends and some travel across locations.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

NHS pension scheme

Payments for unsociable hours

Qualifications

• Must maintain Nursing and Midwifery Council registration.
• Experience of initiating professional development in others.
• Knowledge in risk management and patient safety.

Responsibilities

• Lead clinical assessments of donor eligibility.
• Ensure high standards in donor care and clinical operations.
• Manage blood collection sessions efficiently.
• Train and support team members in their roles.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Coaching and mentoring

Patient safety initiatives

Knowledge of clinical audit

Information Technology skills

Education

Registered Nurse Adult

Continuous professional development evidence

Valid driving licence

Tools

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Job description

As an Area Nurse in this autonomous role, you will lead and motivate a team of Healthcare Assistants, on donation teams across the Central West area, consisting of Bristol, Bath, Gloucester, and Worcester.

You will use your clinical judgement to make safe decisions about suitability and ensure your teams deliver a high standard of care that enables us to meet our regulatory and governance requirements. We need your leadership and management skills to ensure that patients receive safe blood and blood products, and our donors feel safe and cared for.

No prior specialist knowledge is required for this band 6 role, we value what you bring. If you are able to work independently, lead with compassion and resilience, excited by the prospect of enabling change in a fast-moving environment, then this is the job for you. We will provide all the training and support you will need with excellent learning and development opportunities and career progression.

The shift pattern is 8 days per fortnight totalling 75hours. This will include regular weekend and Bank Holiday working. Shifts areapproximately 9.5 hours long. The earliest shift time could be 07:30 with a finish time of approximately 16:40. On a late shift you could start at 10:30and finish at approximately 21:15.

As this is an area role, you will be travelling regularlyacross the area but you will be based at either Bristol Filton, Gloucester, or BristolEmerald Park to be agreed at interview.

Main duties of the job

Using your clinical experience and knowledge, you will lead your team to ensure both the safety of our donors and the supply of safe blood products to patients. Your responsibilities will include:

• Overseeing the clinical assessment of donor eligibility and leading on all aspects of donor care.
• Accountability for the effective delivery of both operational and clinical standards of care and donor experience.
• Leading and promoting the behaviours required to deliver an excellent donation experience, ensuring high donor satisfaction and retention.
• Training your team, with support, to ensure both your own and their competence is maintained.
• Efficient management of blood donor sessions, maximising productivity as well as maintaining standards of care and donor satisfaction.
• Making sure your NMC Revalidation delivers improvements in practice.

You will be required to work variable hours in order to lead at different blood collection sessions across a defined geographical area, which will include working evenings, weekends, overnight stays when required and bank holidays (appropriate notice will be given). Night shifts are not required in this role.

About us

It takes all types of people to deliver the kind of service that saves and improves lives. At NHS Blood and Transplant, you'll join a team of more than 6,000 people who are making a genuine difference to communities, families, friends, relatives and more across the UK. We play a unique and special role in the NHS by helping people do something extraordinary- donate blood, blood products, organs, tissues, or stem cells to save someone in need.

Our three core values are what set us apart. They guide and inspire everything we do.By being caring, expertly meeting the needs of our patients and our people, and accepting nothing less than the best quality, we can do extraordinary work and help our people to do something extraordinary in their career, too. Three small words, one big difference - Caring, Expert and Quality. Together we'll save and improve more lives than ever.

You will join us on our journey to create an inclusive workplace and aim to reflect the diverse communities we work with, and we positively encourage applications from all sectors of the community.

Job responsibilities

What we offer you:

• No night shifts.
• Payments for unsociable hours, overtime, meal and driving allowances where applicable.
• NHSBT promotes flexible working opportunities where the role allows.
• 27 days per year plus 8 bank/public holiday. Pro rata if part-time. Leave increases to 29 days after 5 years service and 33 days after 10 years service.
• An NHS career pathway we've fostered a culture of continuous learning where colleagues are well-led, engaged, and encouraged to grow. We support you in reaching your full potential, both in your current role and future career. Our Thrive program embodies our commitment to learning and development, offering a wide range of activities to support your personal and professional growth. Its open to everyone at NHSBT, ensuring you have the resources to succeed and shine in your role.
• NHS pension scheme. The NHS Pension Scheme is a defined benefit scheme (not dependent on investment returns) Further details and outline of benefits can be found at: www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pensions

Please view the attached recruitment profile which is a summary of the detailed Job Description and Person Specification for the full personal attributes we require for the role. You will need to demonstrate these throughout the recruitment process.

This vacancy will close at 23:59 on Sunday 1 February 2026.

Interviews are anticipated to be held on Tuesday 10 February 2026, subject to confirmation.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse with current Nursing and Midwifery Council registration (which must be maintained) as Registered Nurse Adult.
• Required to maintain registration, adhering to requirements of revalidation.
• Evidence of continuous professional development
• Possession of a valid driving licence allowing you to drive in the UK.

Experience

• Demonstrates clinical leadership and understands the principles of best practice, delivering a high quality of care.
• Experience of initiating and supporting the professional development of others, providing coaching and mentoring.
• Knowledge of clinical audit and research.
• Experience of working to organisational targets would be desirable.
• Experience of supporting service delivery improvement and change in practice would be desirable.
• Knowledge of patient safety initiatives and risk management.
• Experience of working with Information Technology such as hand-held devices and Microsoft Office packages (Word, Excel and PowerPoint).

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.