Clinical Practice Lead - Trauma and Orthopaedics

St. Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Knowsley; On-site; GBP 43,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

St. Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking a theatre leader responsible for day-to-day professional practice and the development of clinical training for theatre staff in Orthopaedics.

The post emphasises safe, high-quality patient care within a learning environment. The role supports the Operational Lead to improve services and achieves key performance indicators, with duties spanning elective and trauma theatres and the introduction of new technologies.

Qualifications

• Essential criteria include NMC/HCPC registration.
• Educated to degree level or demonstrable equivalent experience.
• Postgraduate qualification in mentorship or equivalent experience.
• Excellent IT and communication skills are required.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day supervision, leadership and staff development to ensure safe, cost-effective, high-quality clinical care.
• Support operational lead in promoting trust values and achieving departmental targets.
• Lead clinical practice and training for theatre staff in Orthopaedics, elective and trauma, including new technologies.
• Contribute to service improvement and key performance indicators for the surgical division.
• Engage in audits and development activities, including teaching and research.
• Be available to work across Whiston and St Helens sites, with weekends, on-call, and possible night duties.

Skills

IT skills

Excellent communication skills

Theatre/Clinical leadership

Mentorship/education delivery

Education

Degree level education

Postgraduate mentorship qualification

Job description

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

The post holder will take day to day professional responsibility and be accountable for leading and developing clinical practice and training programmes for theatre staff ensuring safe delivery of quality patient care.

To support theatre staff in achieving demonstrable delivery of safe, cost effective clinical care within a high quality learning environment. The post holder will be responsible for leading clinical practice and training staff new to the Orthopaedic speciality in both Elective and Trauma, and also in the use of any new technologies that are introduced.

The role encompasses supporting the Operational Lead in achieving improvement in services and key performance indicators for the Surgical Division/Trust.

The role is Clinical but will have Educational/Developmental responsibilities including, but not limited to, skills training, audit and research.

Please note the JD and PS are subject to AfC review

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.

Main duties of the job

• The day-to-day supervision, leadership and development of staff ensuring the delivery of a safe, cost effective and quality clinical care
• Supporting the operational lead in promoting and implementing the trust values of: We are Kind, We are Open, We are Inclusive and the trust vision of Five-star patient care as per Trust strategy and the delivery of the departmental/Trust targets.
• Contributing to achieving improvement in services and key performance indicators for the surgical division
• Actively participating in clinical and Infection prevention audits across the theatre department with development and implementation of action plans
• The post holder will be required to work across both Whiston and St Helens sites and must be flexible, working weekends and having an on-call commitment, with a possible rotation to night duty
• Successful applicants will require an enhance disclosure form the criminal records bureau.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

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. 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

Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.

Advertising date: 4th September 2026

Closing date: 18th September 2026

Shortlisting date: 21st September 2026

Proposed Interview date: TBC

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• NMC/HCPC registration
• Educated to degree level or able to demonstrate equivalent experience
• Post graduate qualification in mentorship or equivalent experience

Desirable criteria

• Post graduate certificate in leadership
• North West Simulation Education Network Educational qualification or equivalent experience

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Clinical experience within a surgical environment in theatres
• Knowledge and expertise of Surgical speciality/specialities as a scrub practitioner

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge and experience of other surgical specialities

Skills

Essential criteria

• IT skills
• Excellent communication skills

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