Charge Nurse

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust; St Albans; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health trust in St Albans is seeking a compassionate Charge Nurse to join a supportive team. In this pivotal role, you will lead the delivery of high standards of clinical care for individuals with complex mental health needs. You will coordinate shifts, mentor junior staff, and promote a culture of recovery-focused practice. The ideal candidate will possess an RMN/RLDN qualification and have experience in clinical settings. Join us to make a difference and thrive in a rewarding environment.

Qualifications

• Act as a clinical expert in your service area, providing guidance.
• Maintain clinical standards under Team Leader's direction.
• Supervise and mentor newly qualified nurses and junior staff.

Responsibilities

• Lead recovery-focused care planning for service users.
• Coordinate shift operations and staffing.
• Promote recovery-focused practice and service excellence.

Skills

Clinical expertise

Leadership

Teamwork

Communication

Risk assessment

Education

RMN/RLDN or Dip/Bsc (Hons) in Mental Health/Learning Disability Nursing

ENB 998 / Preceptorship and Mentorship

Job description

As our new Charge Nurse, you will be welcomed into a safe and supportive staff team who empower and encourage one another to be the best version of ourselves—for the benefit of those we care for. At The Beacon, we provide person-centred, recovery-focused inpatient rehabilitation for individuals with complex and enduring mental health needs. As Charge Nurse, you will play a pivotal role in leading this care, ensuring high standards of clinical practice and fostering a culture of safety, compassion, and continuous improvement. This opportunity is perfect for someone seeking a new challenge in a dynamic and fulfilling environment where no two days are the same. Under the direction of the Team Leader, you will provide comprehensive professional and effective leadership, as well as clinical advice and expertise. You will oversee shift coordination, support junior staff, and contribute to multidisciplinary care planning. Working hours involve shifts, including nights, weekends, and bank holidays. Our service‑users are our number one priority, and the multidisciplinary team is committed to creating a safe, supportive environment in which we can deliver the best quality bespoke care. Candidates looking to work within an outstanding trust will benefit from a well‑established support programme across HPFT and the local system, including an enhanced induction programme, training, and pastoral care.

• Act as a clinical expert in your service area, providing guidance and support to ensure high standards of care and evidence-based practice.
• Identify and assess the individual care needs of allocated service users, contributing to personalised, recovery-focused care planning.
• Maintain clinical standards and team systems under the direction of the Team Leader, ensuring safe, effective, and compassionate service delivery.
• Coordinate shift operations, ensuring appropriate staffing, continuity of care, and timely escalation of concerns.
• Support, supervise, and mentor newly qualified nurses, students, and junior staff, fostering a positive and inclusive learning environment.
• Lead on innovations and quality improvement initiatives, promoting a culture of continuous development, safety, and service excellence.
• Contribute to multidisciplinary care planning, working collaboratively with colleagues across disciplines to deliver holistic care.
• Represent the unit in the absence of the Team Leader, demonstrating confident leadership, sound clinical judgment, and effective decision‑making.
• Promote recovery‑focused practice, ensuring that service users are actively involved in their care and supported to achieve their goals.
• Uphold and model HPFT values, contributing to a supportive team culture that prioritises dignity, respect, and person‑centred care. Would you like to join a hardworking, compassionate team dedicated to providing the highest standard of care to our service users? RMN/RLDN or Dip/Bsc (Hons) in Mental Health/Learning Disability Nursing ENB 998 / Preceptorship and Mentorship. ENB, Evidence of post registration experience.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of working in other clinical settings.
• Ability to communicate effectively within a multiprofessional team.
• Confidence to work autonomously and use own initiative, and make decisions in complex situations.
• Ability to provide and receive complex, sensitive or contentious information, where persuasive, motivational, negotiating, training, empathic or reassuring skills are required.
• Ability to deal with distressing circumstances and challenging behaviour.
• Experience of risk assessment and management.
• Ability to cope with an unpredictable work pattern and frequent interruptions.
• Understanding of legal framework MHA, MCA, DoL, safeguarding and social factors involved in care.
• Supervision skills.

Additional Desirable Criteria

• Specific clinical skills applicable e.g. brief therapy, cognitive therapy and anxiety management.

• Implementing quality improvement initiatives and must have appropriate UK professional registration.

As part of our innovative, recovery-focused team, you will play a key role in delivering exceptional care and supporting individuals on their journey toward independence. At The Beacon, we provide person‑centred, recovery‑focused inpatient rehabilitation for people with complex and enduring mental health needs—empowering them to rebuild confidence, develop new skills, and thrive through multidisciplinary care, therapeutic interventions, and personalised recovery planning.

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is an outstanding organisation with ambitions to match. We are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of ‘Outstanding’ from the Care Quality Commission, and our aim is to be the leading provider of mental health and specialist learning disability services in the country. Our family of over 4000 staff provide health and social care for over 400,000 people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. We also deliver a range of nationally commissioned specialist services including Tier 4 services for children and young people, perinatal services, plus medium and low secure learning disabilities services. The care we provide makes a fantastic difference to the lives of our service users, their families and carers – everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout: Our Trust values are: Welcoming. Kind. Positive. Respectful. Professional. These values are at the core of who we are, everything we do, and how we do it! Would you like to be part of the HPFT family? Would you like work with us to ensure our service users live the fullest lives possible they can? Would you like to be supported in your career to be the best that you can be? Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) is rated by the Care Quality Commission as an Outstanding provider of mental health and learning disability services. In 2021, we won the prestigious Health Service Journal award for Mental Health Trust of the Year, with the judges saying they were “blown away” by our people's achievements and that everything they saw “sings and hums”. This year, our staff rated us the 4^th best mental health and learning disability trust to work for out of all 52 trusts in the country. Our staff tell us that they are proud to be part of the HPFT team, proud of the standard of care we provide and proud that service users are our top priority. Our people tell us they feel supported through a great development, wellbeing and work‑life balance offer and a highly compassionate, values‑driven culture. We are equally proud of our staff, who live our values of being welcoming, kind, positive, respectful and professional.