Sister/Charge Nurse - Critical care

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust; Slough; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 46,000; Full time

Job summary

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced Band 6 Nurse in Charge for the Wexham Park ICU. You will lead the nursing team, coordinate admissions/transfers, and deliver safe, patient-centred critical care for a 16-bed unit.

The role offers leadership development, ILS training, and opportunities to contribute to service improvement while supporting colleagues across the unit.

Qualifications

• Essential criteria: RGN with ENB100 or equivalent critical care module.
• Mandatory: Current NMC registration.
• Desirable: ENB 998 Teaching and assessing course or equivalent Mentorship preparation.

Responsibilities

• Lead nursing assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation across shifts.
• Act as clinical role model with advanced critical care practice.
• Develop standards of care based on evidence.

Skills

Leadership

Critical care

Team coordination

Teaching & mentoring

Education

RGN with ENB100/critical care module

NMC registration

ENB 998 Teaching/assessing course

Job description

Job Overview

We are seeking experienced and motivated Critical Care Nurses who have previously worked at a Band 6 Nurse in Charge (NIC) level within an Intensive Care Unit.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the dedicated team at Wexham Park Hospital Critical Care Unit, a 16-bed adult general ICU/HDU providing high-quality, compassionate care to a diverse range of acute medical and surgical patients.

As a senior member of the team, you will play a pivotal role in coordinating the delivery of safe, effective, and patient-centred care while supporting and developing colleagues within the critical care environment.

This Band 6 position offers a professionally rewarding and clinically stimulating role with extensive opportunities for learning, leadership development and career progression. Our structured leadership pathway includes participation in the Aspiring Clinical Leadership Programme, Immediate Life Support (ILS) training, team leader responsibilities with mentoring opportunities, bedside clinical teaching rotations, involvement in appraisals, and contributions to service improvement and key departmental projects.

If you are passionate about delivering clinical excellence, enjoy the challenges and rewards of critical care nursing, and are looking to further develop your leadership career within a supportive and welcoming team, Wexham Park ICU is the ideal place to take your next step.

Main duties of the job

Main duties for this role include but are not limited to:

• Taking leadership of the responsibility for the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of patient care within the nursing team on a shift to shift basis, responding in an advisory capacity to acute changes in patient condition.
• To act as a credible clinical role model promoting a patient‑centered approach to care, demonstrating advanced clinical practice skills and theoretical knowledge in caring for the complex needs of the critically ill patient.
• To develop standards of patient care based on sound research findings.
• To undertake the audit and evaluation of nursing care within the unit.
• To make a specialist contribution to teaching of nurses and other health care professionals, demonstrating collaborative working and understanding of the practice development strategy.
• Demonstrate a sound knowledge of infection control standards and promote these within the unit environment.
• Provide legible and comprehensive patient records to agreed Trust and NMC standards and guidelines.
• To deal with, in conjunction with the Senior Nursing Team, untoward incidents, complaints and team/staff issues. Actioning plans to prevent reoccurrence.
• To take on the role of Critical care Nurse in Charge, co‑coordinating admissions, transfers and workload within the unit.

Working for our organisation

Applications from candidates requiring Skilled Worker sponsorship are welcomed. Sponsorship may be available for applicants currently based in the UK who meet the relevant UKVI requirements and eligibility criteria.

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is committed to being an inclusive and disability confident employer and has been awarded the Gold for the Armed Forces Employment Recognition Scheme. We provide first class development opportunities for all staff and have a wide range of professional, management and leadership, and clinical skills training available.

Here at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, we know how important it is to have a healthy work life balance; this benefits not only individuals but the patients we care for too.

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service and its users.

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Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

For a full list of responsibilities and tasks associated with this role, please refer to the job description/person specification attached to this vacancy.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• RGN level 1 ENB100/equivalent critical care module
• Current NMC registration
• ENB 998 Teaching and assessing course or equivalent Mentorship preparation course.

Desirable criteria

• ILS & ALS

Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant critical care experience
• Experience as a Band 6 or in a leadership role

Desirable criteria

• Experience as a charge nurse in critical care

Skills and Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Competent in co‑ordinating the care of a group of patients requiring a variety of levels of organ support, monitoring, treatment e.g. IPPV, PiCCO, CCO, CVVHalities
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to manage difficult / stressful situations effectively
• Able to prioritise workload (self and others) and meet deadlines
• Leadership and influencing skills

Special Requirements

Essential criteria

• To work in other areas of the department when required e.g. PACU
• Able to work flexible shifts, weekends and bank holidays as required

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) is proud of its strong reputation, record of achievement and ambition for the future. We serve a population of over 900,000 people across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and South Buckinghamshire, and remain committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our communities.

Our new organisational strategy – FHFT 2030 – sets out our ambition to be the best place to receive care and the best place to work in the NHS. Underpinned by our Trust values – Committed to Excellence, Working Together, Facing the Future, and being a modern, compassionate, Healthcare Organisation – we are creating a culture where our people can thrive and patients always come first.

We continue to invest heavily in our services and facilities. This includes the development of a new hospital at Frimley Park, major expansion of diagnostics and inpatient capacity, and the continued transformation of services across our sites. We have already delivered a brand-new £100m state‑of‑the‑art Heatherwood Hospital, a £49m Emergency Assessment Centre at Wexham Park, and a £10m upgrade to maternity services.

We are also committed to sustainability and the NHS Net Zero ambition. Our new hospital and estate developments are being designed to be environmentally responsible, energy efficient, and future‑proofed, featuring on‑site renewables energy and intelligent energy systems. Through our green plan, we are embedding sustainable practices across all areas of care and operations, ensuring we reduce our environmental impact while improving population health and wellbeing. Our staff are key to helps us deliver on our ambition and to ensure sustainability is a core component of care delivery and our operations.

Alongside estates’ investments, we are embedding a strong focus on digital innovation and quality improvement. Our electronic patient record (Epic), launched in 2024, is already enabling safer, more connected, and more effective care for patients, while giving staff the tools they need to do their best work. Our electronic patient record also supports safe and effective digitised care pathways, savings time and carbon, whilst delivering excellent quality of care.

Everything we do is guided by our values, shaping how we care for patients, support colleagues, and build a sustainable future for healthcare together.