Sister/Charge Nurse Cardiology

NHS; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Cambridge is seeking a Sister/Charge Nurse in Cardiology to lead the nursing team in a fast-paced environment. The ideal candidate will have experience in managing cardiac care and possess strong leadership skills. This role emphasizes compassionate patient care and collaboration within a multidisciplinary team, offering excellent development opportunities and the chance to make a significant impact on patient outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience in cardiology unit or acute medical department.
• Demonstrable competence in leadership and management.
• Ability to manage complex care plans in collaboration with teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Cardiology Ward with a focus on patient care.
• Ensure safety and compliance with statutory requirements.
• Manage team and oversee care quality for complex patients.

Skills

Team-working

Communication

Leadership

Compassionate care

Risk management

Education

Professional adult nursing qualification

Registered with Nursing and Midwifery Council

Accredited cardiac module or equivalent

Job description

Sister/Charge Nurse Cardiology

The closing date is 10 December 2025

We have an exciting opportunity to lead the Cardiology Ward on 3 South, 3 North East and Coronary Care Unit at Royal Papworth Hospital.

We are looking for an individual who is motivated to make a real difference with a caring and compassionate attitude, excellent team‑working, communication and leadership skills. Patients are our focus and ensuring their comfort and providing quality care along with the well‑being and professional development of our workforce. This is at the forefront of our thinking and we constantly work to develop the services we offer to the people we care for. Cardiology at Royal Papworth Hospital provides academically led specialist services to the region for Cardiac intervention treatment. The Cardiac ward is fast paced and is the region’s PPCI centre, so no two days are ever the same. If you have passion and are flexible in your approach to the clinical specialist area of Cardiology ensuring safe and effective staffing, acting as a professional role‑model providing direct and indirect clinical care, teaching and leading we would value your interest in joining our team. Applicants will be expected to lead and facilitate delivery of the high‑quality person‑centred approach to care delivery and develop programmes of care as part of the wider multi‑disciplinary teams, in line with local and national targets.

Main duties of the job

The ward currently has 53 beds commissioned and a 6 bedded Coronary Care Unit. Within the Coronary Care Unit, you will be expected to care for acutely unwell patients such as post Myocardial Infarction who require interventions such as Intra‑Aortic Balloon Pump and CPAP. The nursing dependency of the patients is diverse with direct transfers from the regional general hospitals and emergency pathways running through our department and as such is dependent on the clinical skills of trained and motivated nurses.

You will need to have experience in managing risks across the immediate and wider working environment and make appropriate decisions autonomously ensuring statutory requirements are met in relation to patient safety incident response framework.

We have a superb and supportive team of dedicated nurses and support staff. Our staff are focused on providing the highest standards of patient care, upholding our Trust values of Compassion, Excellence and Collaboration. We are keen to recruit a leader to join our team who will share our vision, enthusiasm and pride in the care we deliver. We have good development opportunities at Royal Papworth.

if you have applied for this role within the previous three months then please contact Steven Thurston ([e-mail]) before applying.

About us

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the UK’s leading heart and lung hospital, delivering care to more than 50,000 patients a year in its new state‑of‑the‑art hospital in Cambridge. We perform the most heart and/or lung transplants in the UK and carried out the UK’s first successful heart transplant in 1979. It also offers emergency heart attack treatment, sleep centre care and is one of just five centres nationally for those in severe respiratory failure.

Based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe, the Trust is at the heart of treatments of the future. Royal Papworth became the first hospital trust in the country to be rated outstanding in all five areas assessed by the Care Quality Commission – a rating it still holds today. The Trust holds its values of compassion, excellence & collaboration at its core, and all colleagues joining the team are expected to uphold these in their day‑to‑day roles & interactions. Royal Papworth is proud of its diverse workforce and encourages people to embrace their individuality.

The Trust values difference and welcomes all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. Providing they meet the minimum post criteria, applicants with disabilities will be offered an interview.

For a street view tour: https://royalpapworth.nhs.uk/virtual-tour

Job responsibilities

On this page you will find a Role Profile which provides information about the hospital and full details about the role. We recommend that you review this and refer to it as you complete your application. Please include how you will meet the Trust Values Compassion, Excellence and Collaboration. If you would like more information about the role or working at Royal Papworth Hospital, please get in touch with the contact for this role.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Professional adult nursing qualification and clinical knowledge acquired through training to diploma or degree level
• Post‑graduate learning or experience relevant to practice with demonstrable competence or specialist knowledge across the range of work procedures and practices, underpinned by theoretical knowledge or relevant practical experience.
• Registered with Nursing and Midwifery Council.
• Accredited cardiac module or equivalent.
• Evidence of training/development/experience in leadership and/or management.
• Student assessor.

Experience

• To have substantial clinical experience within a cardiology unit or an acute medical department.
• To use extensive clinical knowledge/expertise, to provide a high standard of skilled care to patients based on a full assessment of individual needs in co‑operation with the multi‑disciplinary team.
• To oversee the quality of care for complex patients with their potentially unpredictable care/treatment needs which may apply to single patient care and/or multiple patients across the clinical area.
• In collaboration with patients, family and the multi‑disciplinary team, use a range of communication, judgement and assessment skills to plan, deliver/implement and evaluate complex care plans based on the initial patient assessment process, with realistic nursing goals and participate in discharge planning.
• To be able to prioritise care based upon patient/service need in a busy clinical environment.
• To deliver patient care through appropriate delegation, responding to frequent changes in needs and/or environment. This will include staff rota management, complex discharge planning involving coordination with other healthcare professionals.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the education of patients, relatives and staff and, in collaboration with the ward/department manager, senior leadership and specialist teams, plan and implement programmes to meet those needs.
• To manage own patient workload in terms of prioritisation of needs escalating as required and supporting junior team members with their own escalation needs.
• To be able undertake complex nursing interventions for example: administering medications, catheter insertion, complex wound management.
• To be able to undertake frequent moving and handling tasks relating to patient care utilising mechanical aids with some tasks requiring moderate effort.
• The post holder will have exposure to bodily fluids (including as a result of surgical/medical intervention and in the delivery of activities of daily living) and will have frequent exposure to difficult or emotional circumstances.
• To be able effectively communicate complex, confidential, and/or sensitive condition related information through a range of interpersonal skills to patients, colleagues, and families (such as providing educational support, complex discharge planning).
• The post holder will be responsible for responding to and investigating clinical incidents, handling complaints, and managing patient feedback as part of the service, while ensuring the maintenance of patient key performance indicators (KPIs).
• To act in a professional manner and as a role model to other staff members, providing clinical supervision to all staff groups and disciplines as well as patients and their families.
• To understand the process of escalation within the Trust ensuring this is done promptly to ensure patient and staff safety and recognising and raising any safeguarding concerns.
• To plan and organise the running of the department including line management of staff within their teams overseeing safe staffing and a safe working environment, complex work planning requiring analysis, interpretation and comparison to understand the use of different options including allocating team members or activities based on individual situations to meet organisational requirements.
• To be a budget holder and authorised signatory for department/service.
• To regularly review, evaluate, make recommendations and lead on response to areas of practice and policies that would benefit from improvement.
• To be guided by Trust policies and procedures and knowing when to appropriately escalate and to act independently within the NMC Code of Conduct.
• To ensure link nurse roles (allocated areas of expertise) are undertaken, all necessary audits are completed as required and may occasionally participate in research and development.
• To maintain accurate electronic and/or manual clinical, patient and other records, as appropriate, ensuring that all documentation adheres to the Trust's standards.

Additional Criteria

• As well as being able to demonstrate examples of how they work in a way that is consistent with our values of compassion, excellence and collaboration the post holder will be able to clearly demonstrate a commitment to driving culture change through equality, diversity and inclusion.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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.