Staff Nurse - Paediatric ICU

Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust seeks a Staff Nurse for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Addenbrooke's Hospital. The role involves caring for critically ill children, planning and evaluating care plans, and supporting student and junior staff through supervision and teaching.

The unit offers comprehensive induction, access to in-house courses for High Dependency and Intensive Care, a strong career progression ethos, and links to the forthcoming Cambridge

Qualifications

• First level registration RSCN/RN(Child) (Part 8 or 15) or RN with paediatric experience
• Child Protection training
• Advanced level child protection training
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Teaching/mentorship qualifications (Practice Supervisor/Assessor)

Responsibilities

• Provide safe and effective care to critically ill children on PICU.
• Plan, implement and evaluate care with supervision as required.
• Participate in supervision and teaching of junior staff and students.

Skills

Paediatric nursing

Family communication

Research & audit

Education

RSCN/RN(Child) Part 8/15

RN with paediatric experience

Child protection training

Advanced child protection training

CPD evidence

Mentorship/Practice Supervisor course

Job description

Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Staff Nurse - Paediatric ICU

The closing date is 15 November 2026

When you join the team on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital, you are rewarding yourself with opportunities unavailable to you in most areas. The only PICU covering the East of England, we look after children requiring a higher level of care than can be provided locally, across a range of medical and surgical specialities.

As well as being part of the Regional Trauma Centre, Children's Services at Addenbrooke's caters for a range of specialities including neurosurgery, oncology and plastic surgery, with our support. This results in a wide variety of patients across age-range and treatment.

Many children make their way to us via a specialist Children's Transport Service, including PaNDR (Paediatric and Neonatal Decision, support and Retrieval service), which operates out of Addenbrooke's, and with whom we work in partnership.

There is a comprehensive induction pathway for new staff, supported by our own Practice Development team, and further along you will be offered the chance to undertake the relevant courses, run in-house, for High Dependency and Intensive Care nursing. We have excellent facilities in which to practise your skills and support your development. Career progression is an expectation here.

Excitingly, planning for the new Cambridge Children's Hospital is well under way.

Informal contact welcomed.

About us

Come Nurse with us...

Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest teaching Trusts in the country. It comprises Addenbrooke's Hospital and the Rosie Hospital. We provide accessible high-quality healthcare for the local people of Cambridge and regional and national specialist services. It's a great place to nurse, work and live.

You will work on a vibrant hospital campus with a friendly community feel; we have excellent facilities to practise your skills and abilities to support your career pathway and development. Our values of Together - Safe, Kind, Excellent support the delivery of outstanding care. We have a fully electronic patient record system that is improving health-care quality; this is transforming services, improving patient safety and clinical outcomes.

Why choose CUH?

• Our values and reputation for outstanding care
• Opportunities to experience a range of specialities
• Career and development opportunities
• Preceptorship and mentoring programmes delivered by a dedicated clinical education support team
• Research experience and opportunities
• Lovely location and quality of life
• Excellent schools/colleges and transport links

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be responsible for competently providing safe and effective care, without supervision, to critically ill children requiring high dependency nursing intervention, Level 1 Dependency, and care to the Level 2 and Level 3 Dependency patients under the supervision of a registered nurse who is qualified in specialty. They will assess care needs; plan, implement and evaluate programmes of care. They will participate in the supervision and teaching of unqualified and qualified staff, including students.

We have Our Trust values of Together - Safe, Kind, and Excellent to support the delivery of outstanding care. Our ethos of child centred care and multi-professional collaboration drives our service, alongside a commitment to family focused teamwork. We believe in supporting our patients, their families and our staff, and we offer a diverse range of dedicated psychosocial and clinical support services for all groups.

Job responsibilities

All appointments with a start date on or after 1 October 2026 will be subject to a 12-week probationary period. This provides a structured and supportive period to help you settle into your role, with regular reviews and feedback.

As there is a 12-week probationary period, successful candidates are expected to have the Right to Work for a period of at least 6 months from the proposed start date. Immigration and Right to Work status will be discussed with successful candidates at conditional offer. CUH will not offer sponsorship to candidates that have applied for a fee waiver.

Due to Home Office immigration rules, a full-time permanent vacancy cannot be filled by individuals on a student visa. Therefore, please be advised that if you are a student visa holder, we will not be able to offer you a full-time permanent contract unless you have:

• - applied for a Graduate visa- or you will have successfully completed your course and have applied for a Graduate visa before the anticipated start date of your employment.

This vacancy will close once 50 Applications Reached

Interviews will be held on the 23 Nov 2026

Benefits to you

At Cambridge University Hospitals, we want to do all we can to support good working days. We offer development opportunities and a wide range of benefits, including on-site leisure facilities, shopping concourse and day nurseries. Our good work programme currently includes providing reduced cost Stagecoach bus travel to and from Cambridge University Hospital site. Park and Ride bus journeys between Babraham Road and Trumpington sites are free, as is the route to and from Cambridge train station and our hospitals. We also subsidise the cost of parking on site for eligible staff.

On CUH campus, hot food is available 24/7 and at a reduced cost for colleagues. Recently we launched the first of our staff pod break spaces. Located in the Deakin Centre, we have a purpose-created colleague-only caf, with free tea and coffee, a break space and private outside area for colleagues to rest, refuel and recharge. Just one of the ways we are working hard to support good working days at CUH.

CUH is committed to assisting employees in achieving a good work-life balance irrespective of role or personal circumstances. Flexible arrangements may include, but are not limited to, part-time working, job-share, term-time working and flexible start and finish times.

Please note if you would like to discuss the required hours of this role further, you should approach the contact given. In some cases, alternative working hours will be considered.

We welcome applications from the Armed Forces.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• oFirst level registration RSCN/RN(Child) (part 8 or 15) or First level registration in Adult Nursing (RN) and significant experience in paediatric nursing
• oChild Protection training
• oAdvanced level child protection training
• oEvidence of continuing professional development
• oRelevant teaching and assessing course/ mentorship course/Qualification as Practice Supervisor/Assessor

Experience

• oExperience of delivering evidenced based nursing care without supervision, to children in an acute hospital setting
• oEvidence of experience in high dependency or critical care areas
• oNHS Experience

Knowledge

• oAwareness of professional issues
• oEvidence of up-to-date paediatric nursing skills and knowledge.
• oCurrent knowledge of research developments in paediatric nursing

Skills

• oCompetent to care for children and their families in a safe and effective manner without direct supervision
• oAdvocate of paediatric nursing
• oEvidence of participation in research and audit projects

Additional Requirements

• oTo be willing to undertake training as Practice Supervisor/Assessor as required by your Line Manager.
• oThe ability to understand and behave at all times, towards patients, visitors and colleagues according to the Trust values of safe, kind and excellent. This behaviour is outlined on the final page of this person specification.
• oEvidence of effective communication skills
• oEvidence of a forward-thinking work philosophy

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.

Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust