Theatre Practitioner

Elht; Blackburn; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking a Band 6 Theatre Practitioner for Royal Blackburn Hospital. This role requires experienced practitioners in scrub or anaesthetic/recovery roles and offers cross-site work across Blackburn and Burnley as needed.

The post is based at Royal Blackburn Hospital with weekend and night shifts. Commitment to high‑quality patient care, leadership, and a proactive approach to team development is essential.

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse or ODP with current registration and up-to-date training.
• Experience in elective theatre scrub/anaesthetic or recovery roles.
• Willingness to work cross-site and on-call shifts.
• Proven leadership and ability to manage a theatre team.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert care in theatre, maintain a safe environment.
• Act as scrub/circulating nurse or anaesthetic/recovery nurse as qualified.
• Coordinate theatre unit activities and lead by example.
• Maintain accurate documentation and engage in service improvements.

Skills

Excel

SharePoint

Teams

Outlook

Audits

Education

Registered Nurse / ODP

Degree in health studies

Teaching certificate or equivalent

Scrub / anaesthetics or recovery qualification

Leadership/management training

Tools

Excel

SharePoint

Teams

Outlook

Audit reports

Job description

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Main area Surgical & Anaes Services Grade NHS AfC: Band 6 Contract Permanent Hours

• Full time
• Part time

37.5 hours per week (nights, weekends lates oncalls) Job ref 435-S191-26

Site ROYAL BLACKBURN HOSPITAL Town BLACKBURN Salary £39,959 - £48,117 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 03/11/2026 23:59

At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 600,000 people across East Lancashire and the surrounding area. We employ over 9,500 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work.

Job overview

We have the exciting opportunity for promotion to a Band 6 role which has arisen. We would invite all enthusiastic, committed, hardworking, and highly motivated, Registered Nurse’s or Operating Department Practitioner’s to join our family of dedicated Theatre Practitioners.

This Band 6 role is aimed at experienced Theatre practioners,who are already competent in their specialised theatre role (scrub / A &R )

Your base for the role will predominantly be at The Royal Blackburn Hospital. However cross site working will be an expectation, as the service need occurs.

Main duties of the job

We have 11 theatres at the Royal Blackburn site and 17 at Burnley General and together we carry out a wide range of both elective and emergency surgery through many specialities including: Gynaecology, obstetrics, ophthalmology, general surgery, vascular, colorectal, HPB, Urology, orthopaedics, trauma, ENT, maxillofacial including Robotic assisted Surgery, and a 24 hour emergency service on both sites.

Working for our organisation

ELHT already has the largest and most comprehensive programme of robot assisted surgery in the northwest, with the region’s leading surgeons removing head and neck, urological and colorectal cancers at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital.

The Trust has 3 Robot systems - 2 at RBH and 1 at BGH

The extra capacity will also allow ELHT to perform more robot assisted surgery which will eventually include Hepato-biliary cancers.

Our aim is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care, by putting safety and quality at the heart of all we do.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We require a committed, motivated, hardworking individuals to work in our theatres. You will be required to show flexibility in your approach to the role and have excellent time management and communication skills.

We also expect all applicants to be dedicated to their role and enhance their knowledge and skills.

This post does include participation in weekend and late shifts.

Duties Include; providing expert standards of care to patients, maintaining a safe environment for all, completing accurate and clear electronic and written documentation, acting as scrub / circulating nurse and or act as anaesthetic / recovery nurse depending on qualification and experience when clinical. Co-ordination of the theatre unit on a day to day basis. Exercise strong and effective leadership acting as an exemplary role model for the unit.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse - 1st or ODP 752, Level 3/Certificate of Higher Education or Diploma Teaching/Assessing Qualification: 998/7307/mentorship
• Actively seeks to develop own knowledge, skills and ability
• Proven evidence of up to date training
• Degree in health associated studies. Teaching certificate or equivalent experience. Further qualification in scrub, anaesthetics or recovery.
• Management/leadership
• Willingness to undertake future study for own professional development and service needs

Experience

• Expert experience in Elective Scrub or Anaesthetic/Recovery
• Proven ability to lead a Theatre team
• Wider knowledge in multiple surgical specialties.
• Knowledge of finance and budgets.

Work Skills

• Knowledge of professional issues
• Ability to handle conflict
• Able to motivate, engage and develop the multi-disciplinary team. Demonstrate role modelling behaviours. Demonstrate quality and sustainability experience.
• Able to prioritise workload
• Be proficient with Excel spread sheets, sharepoint, teams, outlook and audit reports.
• Clear and accurate record keeping

Flexibility

• Able to work the hours required by the service.
• Able to adapt to the changing needs of the service
• Able to work across both sites, Burnley General Hospital and Blackburn Hospital as the service need requires

People Skills

• Proven ability to work effectively within a team.
• Demonstrate a sympathetic/sensitive approach to patients and colleagues
• Advocate a positive attitude and show you are able to use your own initiative and demonstrate problem solving
• Have an understanding of team building

The cost for an Enhanced DBS, is £45.90 and for a Basic & Standard, this is £24.90 this cost includes a £4.90 admin fee.

Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS)

If the role you are applying for is identified as either controlled or regulated activity as defined in in the Safeguarding vulnerable Groups Act (2006) any offer of employment is provisional upon a satisfactory DBS check being obtained.

The healthcare sector is exempted from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

In line with other NHS organisations in the North West Region, the Trust is now passing the charge for undertaking a DBS check on to candidates in the event they are successfully appointed into the post for which they have applied. Candidates can choose whether to pay this over 1-3 months as a deduction from the monthly salary. However, if you are applying for a post as a BANK worker, the payment must be made in full at the time of employment checks. By applying for this vacancy you are agreeing to this undertaking in the event you are successfully appointed.

This cost is not applicable for a Volunteer post

The Trust is an equal opportunities employer, committed to improving the working lives of our staff and operates a 'Zero Tolerance' policy to aggression, violence, bullying and harassment. In addition, our aim is to help protect children and vulnerable adults by providing a first-class service to the recruitment of people into positions of trust.

We aim to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve.

We welcome applications from everyone irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, disability or social background.

We especially welcome applications from members of our black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, as we have identified that ELHT has an under-representation of BAME employees. Appointments will be made on merit.

Applicants who have a disability and meet the essential criteria for the job will be interviewed if you indicate you wish to be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme.

If you require a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process please make the recruitment services team aware as soon as possible. By telephone [phone] or email [e-mail] write to Employment Services, Parkview Offices, Haslingden Road, Blackburn, BB2 3HH

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.