Specialist Nurse - Respiratory Virtual Ward | Barts Health NHS Trust

Barts Health NHS Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 31,000 - 41,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent NHS healthcare provider in Greater London is seeking a Nurse to join their virtual ward team focused on chronic respiratory care. This role involves patient assessments, leading service improvements, and providing comprehensive care both in the hospital and community. Candidates should have experience with respiratory patients and a Band 6 or 7 qualification. This position offers professional development within a supportive environment.

Benefits

Professional development opportunities

Supportive team environment

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse working at Band 6 or 7 with experience in respiratory care.
• Ability to perform home visits and conduct patient assessments.
• Experience in leading service improvement and supporting junior staff.

Responsibilities

• Care for patients living with chronic respiratory disease.
• Lead service improvement exercises.
• Triage referrals and provide patient flow oversight.
• Perform home visits post-discharge.
• Identify patients needing follow-up from the Community Virtual Ward.

Skills

Advanced nursing knowledge

Practical skills in patient care

Triage and assessment skills

Ability to create self-management plans

Experience with chronic respiratory patients

Education

Nursing degree

Band 6 or 7 level qualification

Job description

Overview

This post will join our new virtual ward team of nurses, therapists and consultants and deliver the Newham University Hospital’s Virtual respiratory ward, expediting discharge of patients with chronic respiratory disease. The role will deliver person‑centred care, comprehensive respiratory assessment of adults with chronic respiratory disease, both within the hospital and within Newham community.

This post will be of interest to Nurses who are working at Band 6 or 7 level with acute or chronic respiratory patients, who wish to progress and apply their expertise in an expanding and developing service. You will be supported in your development within an expert team. The team includes doctors, specialist nurses and therapists who care for patients with chronic respiratory disease from attendance to hospital through to care at home via early supported discharge or admission avoidance processes. Our vision is for the people of Newham to experience well‑coordinated care and support in the most appropriate setting, which is truly person‑centred and helps them to maintain their independence. The Virtual Ward service will be available 7 days a week.

Responsibilities

• To draw on advanced nursing knowledge and practical skills to care for patients living with chronic respiratory disease.
• To lead on service improvement exercises and support junior staff and other professionals in gaining competence and confidence in respiratory patient management.
• Triage referrals to ensure that correct patients are recruited to the service and feed back to referrers if inappropriate.
• Provide a day to day oversight of the expected patient flow in the Community Virtual Ward in relation to timelines and service expectations.
• Perform home visits at appropriate times after a patient’s discharge from the acute setting. To work closely with other respiratory teams as required.
• To work closely with the respiratory wards and medical areas of Newham Hospital and the Respiratory MDT within these acute sites – to identify potential patients that require follow up with the Community Virtual Ward/ Supported Discharge service.
• To identify and create individualised self‑management plans with patients, to improve patient’s ability to manage their own condition and also communicate this plan to their GP’s and any other services as appropriate.
• Undertake autonomous patient assessments and plan appropriate clinical interventions in the community setting.

About the organisation

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world‑class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.

Our vision is to be a high‑performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm‑free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

Additional information

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

Although this position is a 12 months fixed‑term contract, the actual contract duration will be adjusted to account for the time taken to advertise the post, complete the hiring process, and finalise pre‑employment checks. This means the contract will begin when the candidate starts the role and may be slightly shorter than 12 months.

This advert closes on Thursday 9 Oct 2025