PICU Education Lead

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust; Southampton; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

An exciting opportunity at University Hospital Southampton for an experienced Education Lead in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. Responsible for leading education, promoting care quality, and inspiring nursing staff in a dynamic healthcare setting. Ideal for a passionate professional committed to excellence in pediatric care and education.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Comprehensive training and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Registered children's nurse with extensive experience in PICU.
• Ability to inspire and motivate a team of nursing staff.
• Commitment to pediatric patient safety and quality improvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage education for the PICU nursing team.
• Ensure staff are trained and equipped for excellent patient care.
• Promote and support staff development and education.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Mentorship

Clinical judgment

Collaboration

Education

Postgraduate diploma in mentoring/coaching/education

Master's degree in relevant practice area

Job description

This post is only open to internal applicants.

Main area Child Health Grade Band 7 Contract Permanent Hours

• Full time
• Part time
• Flexible working

37.5 hours per week Job ref 188-SNM010725

Site University Hospital Southampton Town Southampton Salary £47,810.00-£54,710.00 Per Annum (PA) Pro Rata Closing 11/07/2025 23:59 Interview date 22/07/2025

Job overview

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to offer a fantastic opportunity to work with us.

Please see below for detailed job description of the role.

Main duties of the job

Southampton Children’s Hospital is a major centre for specialist paediatric services and is part of one of the largest teaching trusts in the country. We are now looking for a compassionate, experienced and motivated Education Lead for our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at UHS. PICU is a large and dynamic, award-winning critical care unit and provides respiratory and cardiac ECMO and runs a paediatric critical care retrieval service. It is central to the provision of tertiary specialist children’s care at Southampton Children’s Hospital which is a paediatric major trauma centre and delivers a complete range of paediatric specialist services including oncology, cardiology and cardiac surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, nephrology and respiratory medicine.

You will be responsible in leading education for a 15 bedded Level 3 tertiary team. The unit covers Thames Valley & Wessex Region that accepts children from 0-16 years requiring intensive care for single through to multi system failure.

Importantly, you will live and breathe our values, working with your immediate teams and wider leaders within the organisation to promote, engage and support staff development and education building clinical expertise and innovation. You will inspire, develop and support every one of us to live our values; Patients First, Always Improving, Working Together.

Working for our organisation

University Hospital Southampton is one of England's largest acute teaching Trusts, offering a wide range of learning and development opportunities to support your career aspirations.

Located on the south coast with an international airport and direct rail links to London, Southampton offers an ideal setting to live and work, with the New Forest, South Downs and Jurassic Coast.

We believe that using technology wisely shows strong time management and commitment to innovation. However, personalizing your recruitment application to highlight your unique skills and experiences is crucial. Relying too heavily on generic, AI-generated content instead of drawing from your own strengths and accomplishments may lead to your application being rejected if multiple candidates present identical or similar information.

At UHS we’re committed to providing a flexible working environment where possible. Whether you are balancing family, study, or your wellbeing with your career, we want to support you so you can help our patients.

At UHS, we proudly champion individuality, recognizing that outstanding care is only possible with a diverse, inclusive team. We’re committed to creating an anti-racist, anti-discriminatory environment where everyone feels valued, safe, and empowered to make a meaningful impact in our communities. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences to join us in building a healthcare community where everyone can belong, thrive, and contribute.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As the Education Lead for Southampton Children’s Hospital PICU, you will play a critical role in ensuring the highest quality care is provided to our young patients and their families. You will lead and manage education for the team of nurses and healthcare professionals to ensure they are trained and equipped to provide excellent care to our patients.

The ideal candidate will be a registered children’s nurse and will have:

Extensive experience in paediatric nursing, including several years in an PICU/critical care setting and a PICU course qualification is essential.
Strong leadership and management skills, ability to inspire and motivate a team of nursing staff
Excellent communication skills, with ability to work collaboratively with MDT and patients and their families.
Ability to manage resources and education opportunities effectively and appropriately
Strong clinical skills, with the ability to make sound clinical judgments and decisions in a fast-paced high-pressure environment whilst supporting staff in their development
Commitment to paediatric patient safety, quality improvement and evidence-based practice
Ability to provide mentorship and support to nursing staff, including training development and performance management.

You will be expected to provide innovative leadership working towards the Trust values of:

Patients First
Always Improving
Working Together

Person specification

Qualifications, knowledge and experience

• Professional requirements e.g. Registered Nurse or Registered Professional or Non-registered support worker etc.
• Highly developed specialist professional knowledge acquired through master's level education or equivalent experience Previous Band 7 experience
• Mentoring/coaching/education qualification to postgraduate diploma level or equivalent evidence of supporting learners in practice.
• Evidence of ongoing professional development
• Significant experience within relevant field
• Experience of educating others in a formal or informal setting
• Broad awareness of trust initiatives/pressures
• Further education at a master's degree level in relevant practice area
• Previous Band 7 experience
• Mentoring/coaching/education qualification to postgraduate diploma level or equivalent evidence of supporting learners in practice. Further evidence of speciality competence

Please be advised that this vacancy may close earlier than stated if we receive a large number of applications. We will not accept any applications or queries via agencies, under any circumstances.

Getting to work should be as easy as possible and that’s why we have introduced the UHS travel promise – a commitment from the Trust that we will provide reasonable travel options for every member of staff. Every member of staff can apply for a permit to use our park & ride facility. Eligibility for on-site parking is dependent on the nature and requirement of the role. All staff can also access a range of discounted benefits relating to travel including reduced price bus tickets, purchase of salary sacrifice bikes and ultra-low emission cars.

Our commitment to equality

Equality remains at the centre of our policymaking, service delivery, and employment practice, giving all employees equal opportunity to develop, apply for promotions, and have working arrangements that enable them to achieve a manageable work-life balance.

UHS actively promotes a work environment free from harassment and discrimination and provides training for managers and staff to ensure this happens. We also closely monitor recruitment activity, training, development, and employment practices to ensure equality of practice with regard to race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability, marital status and age.

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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.