Matron - Paediatrics

Mid And South Essex Nhs Foundation Trust; Basildon; On-site; GBP 49,000 - 66,000; Full time

Job summary

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust invites applications for a Paediatric Matron to lead across our Paediatric Inpatient Unit, Children's Emergency Department, Paediatric Assessment Unit and Paediatric Outpatient Department.

You will provide visible professional and operational leadership, ensure safety and patient experience, and work with multidisciplinary teams to drive service improvement in line with national standards. Fixed-term 4 months, Band 8a, Basildon area.

Qualifications

• Hold current NMC registration as RN Child or RSCN.
• Educated to Degree level and have a Management Qualification.
• Experience as Lead Nurse/Matron with budget management.
• Demonstrates strong leadership and decision-making skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide visible professional nursing leadership across paediatric services, ensuring the highest standards of clinical care, patient experience, safety and service delivery.
• Oversee staffing, capacity management and patient flow 24/7, ensuring safe, effective paediatric services.
• Manage delegated budgets and resources effectively, contributing to Cost Improvement Programmes (CIPs) while maintaining high-quality patient care.
• Lead on clinical governance, audit, quality improvement, policy development and compliance with national standards.

Skills

Leadership

Budget management

Audits & research

Staff development

Education

Degree level

Management qualification

Job description

Job summary

Paediatric Matron

Are you an inspiring and experienced paediatric nurse leader with a passion for delivering outstanding care for children and young people? We are seeking an exceptional Paediatric Matron to provide visible leadership across our Paediatric Inpatient Unit, Children's Emergency Department, Paediatric Assessment Unit and Paediatric Outpatient Department.

This is a pivotal leadership role within the Paediatric Directorate, offering the opportunity to influence and shape services while ensuring the highest standards of nursing care, patient safety and patient experience are consistently achieved.

As a highly visible and accessible clinical leader, you will provide professional, operational and strategic leadership to nursing teams, supporting staff to deliver compassionate, evidence-based care and achieve excellence in clinical practice. You will work collaboratively with multidisciplinary colleagues to drive quality improvement, service development and innovation, ensuring children, young people and their families receive the very best care.

We are looking for a credible and compassionate leader who is committed to empowering teams, developing staff and championing continuous improvement. If you are passionate about paediatric care and ready to lead services that make a real difference to children and families across Mid and South Essex, we would love to hear from you. Join us and help shape the future of paediatric services.

Main duties of the job

• Provide visible, professional nursing leadership across paediatric services, ensuring the highest standards of clinical care, patient experience, safety and service delivery.
• Be professionally accountable for nursing standards and influence the non-clinical aspects of care delivery, including nutrition, cleanliness, patient welfare and the overall care environment.
• Lead and support Senior Sisters, fostering a culture of excellence, accountability, continuous improvement and staff wellbeing across all clinical areas.
• Work as a key member of the Clinical Service Unit Management Team, overseeing safe operational delivery, capacity management, patient flow, discharge planning and workforce deployment.
• Ensure appropriate staffing levels and skill mix are maintained 24/7, supporting safe, effective and responsive paediatric services.
• Manage delegated budgets and resources effectively, contributing to Cost Improvement Programmes (CIPs) while maintaining high-quality patient care and achieving divisional objectives.
• Lead on clinical governance, audit, quality improvement, policy development and compliance with national standards, including CQC and CNST requirements, ensuring learning from incidents and complaints is embedded into practice.
• Drive the implementation of the Nursing and Midwifery Strategy, promoting professional development, education, shared governance and staff empowerment while supporting multidisciplinary collaboration and service innovation.

About us

Our ambition is to deliver excellent local and specialist services, to improve the health and well being of our patients, and provide a vibrant place for staff to develop, innovate and build careers.

We aim to make the most of our skills and experiences so we can become the best we can be. As one organisation we will recruit the finest and retain more specialist staff due to more employment opportunities across our Trust.

Details

Date posted: 07 September 2026

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 8a

Salary: £57,528 a year
Per Annum (Pro Rata for Part Time)

Contract: Fixed term

Duration: 4 months

Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time

Reference number: 390-WAC-BA-6930

Job locations: Basildon, Nethermayne, Basildon, SS16 5NL, United Kingdom

Job description

For more information on this varied and rewarding role, please see the attached Job Description. We look forward to your application! Please be aware that we reserve the right to close the vacancy early should a high number of applications be received.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Hold current NMC registration as RN Child or RSCN
• Recent evidence of CPD
• Educated to Degree level
• Management Qualification

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• Budget Management
• Previous experience as Lead Nurse/Matron
• Participated in audit and research

Communication skills

Essential

• Demonstrates strong leadership skills with proven ability to make sound clinical and operational decisions

Personal and People Development

Essential

• Aware of current professional nursing issues and government charters relevant to role
• Understanding of the modern NHS and current national and local priorities within children's and young people's healthcare

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab). From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).