Specialist Palliative Care Support Sister

NHS; Tees Valley; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 34,000; Part time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in England seeks a Specialist Palliative Care Support Sister to provide essential support to patients with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. The role involves maintaining communication between acute and community care, offering specialized advice, and participating in leadership development. Candidates need to be an NMC Registered Nurse with relevant experience in palliative care. This position offers a fixed-term contract with 15 hours per week.

Benefits

Leadership training opportunities

Professional development programs

Qualifications

• Relevant post-registration experience, at band 5 or above, in cancer, palliative/end of life care.
• Evidence of implementation of Evidence Based Practice.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist support to patients with cancer and other life limiting illnesses.
• Work to maintain links between acute sector and primary care teams.
• Manage patient care transitions smoothly.

Skills

Demonstrable knowledge in Palliative/End of life care

Excellent communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills

Analytical and judgemental skills

Change management

Ability to work autonomously

Education

NMC Registered Nurse (Adult) Registration

Recognised teaching certificate

Evidence of master's level learning or prepared to work towards

Tools

Advanced Communication Skills training

Counselling qualification

Job description

Specialist Palliative Care Support Sister

The closing date is 15 October 2025

15 hours per week available - Secondment cover/fixed term

The post holder will provide specialist support to patients with cancer and other life limiting illnesses. The post holder will be an integral part of the team working within the Trust. They will act as the first point of contact for patients and all members of the multi professional team who have need to access the Specialist Palliative Care service. They will undertake a range of duties to ensure the effective delivery of care, including delivering specialist advice and on-going support to their client group.

As part of the role a professional development plan will be developed to support the post-holders progression using a recognised competency framework which will enable the post holder to function within all the dimensions of the role. This will enable development in areas such as leadership, education and the ability to contribute to the strategic direction of palliative care within the Trust. The post holder will be mentored and supported by the Band 7 specialist nurses and will carry a supervised patient caseload.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work to maintain established links between the acute sector and the primary care teams in order to ensure a smooth transition of patient care from the acute sector into the community and vice versa. This will include liaising with services within the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and with other key partners.

Although the post is primarily within the Acute setting the post holder will be expected to rotate throughout the service, both acute and community, as need requires. The post holder would also be required to work weekends and bank holidays on a rotational basis in line with a 7 day service.

About us

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust offers leadership and improvement training to all new staff. This training programme has been designed to support our leaders in developing their understanding of leadership and management skills. You will be expected to attend the following training sessions:

• Your Leadership Impact
• Leading your Team to Success
• Leading Into the Future
• Service Improvement for Beginners
• Developing your Service Improvement Skills
• Lean Practitioner

The leadership and improvement programme aims to:

• Explore leadership within the NHS; promote Trust values and behaviour
• Develop your leadership effectiveness and skill
• Equip staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to lead and complete service improvements within the scope of your role.

After you complete these six and a half days of training you will be able to explore further leadership and improvement training opportunities. We also offer a range of additional in-house and externally provided courses and bitesize programmes through our Leadership and Improvement Team.

Job responsibilities

Please see the full job description and person specification document(s) for main responsibilities of the role.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Training

• NMC Registered Nurse (Adult) Registration
• Hold a record of continuous professional development.
• Recognised teaching certificate
• Evidence of Palliative/End of Life education or similar
• Evidence of master's level learning or prepared to work towards
• Advanced Communication Skills training
• Counselling qualification
• Non-medical prescribing qualification or willing to work towards

Knowledge & Skills

• Demonstrable knowledge in the area of Palliative/End of life care
• Knowledge of clinical governance
• Knowledge of National and Local Guidelines and standards in cancer and non cancer life limiting conditions and palliative and end of life care
• Analytical and judgemental skills
• Specialist problem solving and assessment skills
• Excellent communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills
• Excellent organisational skills and time management skills
• Ability to work under pressure
• Ability to work autonomously or as a member of a team, as well as part of the wider multidisciplinary team
• Good teaching, assessment and presentation skills
• Good IT, report writing and presentational skills
• Ability to motivate self and others
• Change management

Experience

• Relevant post-registration experience, at band 5 or above, in cancer, palliative/end of life care or chronic disease management
• Current teaching experience
• Evidence of implementation of Evidence Based Practice
• Experience or involvement of audits
• Leadership and Management experience
• Involvement in facilitating innovative practice
• Counselling experience
• Involvement in Research

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.

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust