Nurse Team Leader - Pre-operative Assessment

East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust (Enherts-TR); United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 40,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust is recruiting two Nurse Team Leaders for the Pre-operative Assessment service in Stevenage. The role involves leading nurse-led clinics, managing patient caseloads, and developing the POA team while focusing on reduced operation cancellations and improved patient experience.

The post requires a Registered Adult Nurse with strong leadership and mentoring skills.

Qualifications

• Registered Adult Nurse on part 1 or part 2 of the NMC register.
• Evidence of ongoing professional development and commitment to lifelong learning.
• Hold an NMC approved mentoring qualification.
• Degree or working towards.
• Leadership or Management Qualification or willingness to work towards.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Pre-operative Assessment (POA) service, ensuring high-quality nursing care.
• Conduct nurse-led clinics and autonomously manage patient caseload.
• Support and develop the POA team including students and junior staff.
• Promote safe, effective care across the patient surgical pathway.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring qualification

Communication

Teaching and supervision

Budget management

Recruitment and selection

Staff development

Education

1st level Nursing qualification / Degree or working towards

Leadership/Management qualification or willingness to work towards

Job description

Nurse Team Leader - Pre-operative Assessment

NHS AfC: Band 6

Main area ATCC Surgery, Pre-operative Assessment Service Grade NHS AfC: Band 6 Contract Fixed term: 12 months (End Date: 28.11.2027) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 361-PLN-8223206

Site Lister Hospital Town Stevenage Salary £39,959 - £48,117 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 02/10/2026 23:59 Interview date 21/10/2026

Here at East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust
Our mission is:
Providing high-quality, compassionate care for our communities

Our vision to 2030 is:
To be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service

Our values - We want our staff to believe in, demonstrate and live our values in everything we do. Our values are:

Include
We value the diversity and experience of our community colleagues and partners, creating relationships and climates that provide an opportunity to share, collaborate and grow together.

Respect
We create a safe environment where we are curious of the lived experience of others, seek out best practice and are open to listening and hearing new ideas.

Improve
We are committed to consistently delivering excellent services and continuously looking to improve through a creative workforce that feels empowered to act in service of our shared purpose.

Job overview

We are recruiting two Nurse Team Leaders into our Pre-operative Assessment service, who shares our vision to be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients.

The role of a Preoperative Assessment practitioner is that of an advocate who identifies the patients’ needs and risk factors that may affect their surgical experience.

We are dedicated to the reduction of cancelled operations on the day of surgery through ensuring that patients are comprehensively optimised prior to their surgical procedure.

We focus on improving the patient’s experience before, during and after their admission by meeting their individual needs.

The assessment, identification and subsequent management of risks related to surgery can also be directly related to the reduction of complication rates and mortality.

Our service operates Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 18:00, and on Saturdays at Lister Hospital from 08:00 to 13:00.

*Please note that the required hours for this role are Monday to Friday, 08:00–18:00 at both Lister and QEII. On Saturdays, the hours are 08:00–13:00 at Lister. Cross-site working is expected.*

At the heart of everything we do are our core values:Include,Respect, andImprove. We encourage you to embrace these values throughout the recruitment process and in your role with us.

Main duties of the job

This exciting opportunity will see you making a real difference in our patients' lives and the standard of quality healthcare delivered.

The successful candidate must be a conscientious individual, preferably with good POA experience but not essential as full training will be given.

You will join and be part of a progressive, innovative team that keeps the patient at the heart of everything we do.

After your POA training and induction, you will conduct Nurse-led clinics and autonomously manage your patient caseload. Therefore, you should have a flexible approach to working and a willingness to learn and develop continuously.

In addition, strong customer care skills and effective communication with all stakeholders are fundamental.

You will act as a role model and demonstrate a desire and willingness to contribute and actively be involved in further developing the POA service as well as the team, student nurses and ODPs who join us on clinical placements.

In return, you will be working within a committed team of hardworking nurses with a high level of professionalism to holistically assess the individual care needs of patients to ensure they are managed safely and effectively throughout their surgical pathway.

Working for our organisation

At East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust, we are proud of the range of general and specialist services we provide and our 6,000 or so dedicated staff ensure our patients get the best care. Our ability to be flexible and innovative in the way in which we work and deliver our services to our catchment has never been more important than it is now.

We run the following hospitals:

• The Lister Hospital, Stevenage
• New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII), Welwyn Garden City
• Hertford County, Hertford

We have ambitious plans to become an outstanding, patient-led Trust where dedicated staff provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients. We continue to undergo significant transformation and our staff and patients are at the heart of delivering this ambitious agenda.

We are committed to a positive work life balance for our employees. This means that any employee is entitled to seek to work flexible working patterns and we are committed to listen and consider all requests. Such requests, of course, have to be made and considered formally, and will need to be balanced against service needs, but our starting point will always be to find ways to support making them happen.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification applicant pack for further detailed information regarding this role.

Person specification

Qualifications/Training

• Registered Adult Nurse on part 1 or part 12 of the NMC register
• Evidence of ongoing professional development and commitment to lifelong learning
• Ability to produce professional portfolio
• Hold an NMC approved mentoring qualification.
• Degree or working towards
• Leadership or Management Qualification or willingness to work towards

Previous Experience

• Significant post registration experience in relevant area(s) of practice
• Evidence of working on own initiative
• Experience of strong leadership and coaching skills
• Experience of audit and research skills
• Experience and knowledge of budget management
• Experience in teaching and supervision
• Experience of recruitment and selection
• Experience of managing staff related personnel issues

Skills

• Evidence of advanced communication skills and ability to engage and promote good working relationships at all levels
• Ability to communicate in a variety of settings with patients of varying levels of understanding
• Demonstrates motivation and commitment to providing high quality patient centered nursing care and patient education
• Demonstrates advanced planning and organisational skills
• Adaptable, Flexibility, Collaborative team worker
• Demonstrates initiative and ability to work independently, able to problem solve and prioritise own and others work
• Ability to exercise tact and discretion and deal with sensitive issues
• Demonstrates understanding of efficient and effective use of resources
• Ability to use own judgement and a willingness to follow instruction and guidance when necessary.
• Shows appropriate professional and personal boundaries
• Ability to work within set time constraints to fulfill deadlines and meet the needs of patients, service and organisation
• Willingness to undertake on the job training appropriate to the role
• Act as a clinical role model, mentor assessor and support for learners
• Competent in the use of IT systems and knowledge of and using an EPR database system or equivalent
• Demonstrates excellent critical thinking problem-solving skills, with the ability to think laterally
• Evidence of reflective practice used to set professional development ambitions

Knowledge

• Able to demonstrate understanding of current developments in the NHS and their implications for leadership and quality care for patients/service users
• Awareness of health and safety legislation and strategies for maintaining a safe environment for patients, staff, and visitors
• Awareness of safeguarding responsibilities and escalation processes
• Detailed understanding of Pre-operative Assessment role, purpose, and pathways
• Understanding of Confidentiality & Data Protection

Other Requirements

• Experience and evidence of engagement around equality, diversity and inclusion issues in relation to policy, service development and service delivery in respect of both services to users and the management of staff
• Role model our Trust values every day
• Ability to work well within a multidisciplinary team and promote team unity
• Ability to travel between sites

When you apply...

Please note we do not offer visa sponsorship for roles unless clearly stated in our adverts. This means even if you have the right to work currently but will require a new sponsorship to work for our Trust your application will not be considered.

Vacancies may close earlier than the advertised closing date where a high volume of applications are received. We therefore encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid missing out on the opportunity to join the Trust or develop your career with us.

While we recognise that AI can support in drafting an application, you are encouraged to clearly demonstrate your personal skills, experience and behaviours that align with the role, and this is usually best done in your own words. We reserve the right to review all applications for the use of AI tools and where this is inconsistent with our values and standards of behaviour your application may be rejected

All correspondence relating to vacancies will be via the e-mail address you have provided on your application form. Some servers automatically send e-mails to your junk mail so please check as well as your inbox.

We are committed to fair, transparent and ethical recruitment. We will never ask applicants to pay fees at any stage of the recruitment process. All vacancies are advertised on our Trust Careers webpage and NHS Jobs, with applications managed through TRAC. We will only contact applicants through our official recruitment channels and Trust contact details.

Secondments/Fixed term

Where a vacancy is advertised as a temporary position, the duration will be specified in the advert. If the vacancy becomes permanent towards the end of the specified duration, the successful applicant may not be required to re-apply and can be slotted into the role on a permanent basis if appropriate.

If you are an internal applicant applying for a temporary working arrangement, please see the attached notes on secondments.

Committed to our Community

East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion for all job applicants, staff, patients and the wider community. We want to create a workforce which represents the communities we serve. We are on a journey to become a more inclusive organisation and we welcome applications from everyone regardless of their background. In particular we encourage applications from candidates with disabilities, and candidates from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds who are currently under-represented in various parts of our workforce .

We understand the importance of balancing work and home life. We are committed to support flexible working for our staff wherever possible and all our employees are given the opportunity to discuss potential for flexible working.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and achieved our status in 2019.

We will remove barriers that prospective candidates might face at any stage of our recruitment process. If you have a disability and would like the advert in an alternative format, or would like to talk about how we can adjust the interview process to best support you, please contact us by emailing [e-mail]

We are also proud to support our UK armed forces by supporting Reservists, Cadet Instructors, Veterans and military spouses/partners into employment and offering supportive policies that value their contribution to the community and to our Trust.

We are committed to being a carer-friendly environment, addressing the complex needs of families with caring responsibilities. In partnership with Carers in Hertfordshire, all our working carers have access to support from recruitment. We are also a member of Carers UK, providing resources to make balancing work and caring easier. Our approach is inclusive, recognizing diverse challenges and creating a supportive environment where carers feel valued.

King's Trust Support

If you’re aged between 16 and 30 years-old, you can get FREE employability support from The King’s Trust. The King’s Trust will help build your CV and cover letter, offer advice and top tips for future interviews and support you with research about working in the NHS. Please contact Enquiries.H&[e-mail] for support.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.