Paediatric Ward Manager

Merseywestlancs; Ormskirk; Remote; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous pension scheme

Unsocial hours payments

27 days annual leave (pro rata)

Job summary

Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust is seeking a Paediatric Ward Manager (Band 7) to lead the Children’s Ward at Ormskirk Hospital. This full-time role focuses on leadership, development, quality improvement, and safe, high-quality care for children aged 0–16, across a 24/7 operation.

The post emphasizes accountability for staffing, budgets, and clinical governance, in collaboration with the Paediatric Matron and other managers.

Qualifications

• Registered Children’s Nurse with current NMC registration.
• Demonstrated continued professional development is essential.
• Leadership training or qualification or equivalent experience is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and management to nursing and support staff for the Children’s Ward.
• Lead development and monitoring of care plans and patient records.
• Coordinate with Paediatric Matron and other managers to ensure safe ward operation.
• Manage ward/department budget and resources.
• Ensure compliance with NMC Code and professional guidelines.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Organisational

Staff management

Clinical governance

Electronic patient record

Education

Registered Children’s Nurse

Current NMC Registration

Leadership training or qualification

Evidence of continued professional development

Job description

We want talented and enthusiastic people from all backgrounds to join #TeamMWL, with us you can learn, grow and develop yourself and your career, realising your true ambitions and aspirations.

Whatever you’re looking for in your career, you’ll find it here at MWL.

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

Paediatric Ward Manager - Ormskirk

Band 7, Full Time

Due to the promotion of the current Ward Manager, an exciting opportunity has arisen for a permanent Ward Manager on our Children’s Ward at Ormskirk Hospital.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated leader to manage our Children’s Ward which includes 17 inpatient beds, 4 day case beds and a 6 bed Assessment and Observation Unit, caring for children from 0 - 16 years.

You will be responsible and accountable for the leadership, development quality improvement and management of services within the Children’s Ward ensuring the provision of safe, efficient and quality of care to children, young people and their families across a 24 hour period, 7 days a week.

You will work closely with the Paediatric Matron and other Paediatric Managers to ensure the safe running of the Department.

Main duties of the job

Responsible for providing leadership and management to nursing and support team and associated staff to ensure effective running of ward/department.

Provide leadership, specialist advice and support working with nursing teams to ensure appropriate assessment of patients needs, development of care plans, implementation of care plans and maintenance of associated records.

Liaise with other agencies in planning programmes of care and/or health and education programmes

Responsible for ward/department budget management

To work within the NMC Code and professional nursing guidance

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 see Job Description and Person Specification attached.

Advertising Date: 15th October 2026

Closing Date: 29th October 2026

Shortlisting Date: 30th October 2026

Proposed Interview date: 10th November 2026

Please note this vacancy may close early if a high number of applications is reached.

Qualifications

• Registered Children’s Nurse. Degree / Diploma Level
• Current NMC Registration
• Evidence of continued professional development
• Leadership training or qulification or equivalent experience

Knowledge and Experiece

• Able to demonstrate knowledge of NMCprofessional standards for practice contained within the code
• Experience of managing teams
• Experience of service development, such as clinical pathway management
• Substantial experience of working in a clinical environment
• Understanding of budget management within the NHS at departmental level
• Experience of involvement in relevant research/audit to underpin evidence-based practice
• Understand key features of clinical governance and risk

Skills

• Current up to date and relevant clinical skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Excellent organisational and management skills
• Able to act as a leader, effectively managing staff in the department
• Accountable for own professional actions
• Ability to network and build relationships at all levels act as a change agent
• Computer literacy eg experience of electronic patient record

Other

• Frequent sitting or standing in a restricted position; occasional moderate effort for several short period.
• Walks, stands most of shift; occasionally moves, occasional manoeuvres patients.
• Frequent concentration, work pattern unpredictable Concentration for patient clinical work
• Dealing with frequent interruptions and competing demands
• Occasional highly distressing or emotional circumstances. Deals with patient complaints, conveys unwelcome news, management of complaints/concerns arising from incidents, communicating to patients and relatives
• Working in ward environment providing direct clinical care
• Potential blood or body fluids exposure

Values

• We are kind
• We are open
• We are inclusive

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.

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 [e-mail]

We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans 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.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please click here to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

eVisa Update

For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.

Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.

Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:

• Understand how to generate an eVisa share code

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

• generous pension scheme
• unsocial hours payments (where applicable)
• 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata)
• access to a range of NHS discounts
• Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

You will be expected to undertake the Trusts' commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.

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.