Theatre Team Leader

Mersey And West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Nhs Trust; Southampton; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking an experienced Theatre Team Leader to provide visible clinical leadership in Trauma and Orthopaedic Theatre. You will coordinate daily theatre operations, develop staff, ensure safe patient care and drive continuous service improvement.

Applicants must have UK experience and be ready to commence immediately or soon. This role is ideal for an experienced Scrub Nurse or ODP with a passion for trauma and orthopaedics.

Qualifications

• Registered General Nurse or Operating Department Practitioner with current NMC/HCPC Registration.
• Evidence of post registration study/development.
• Recognised teaching qualification, or equivalent experience.
• Recognised leadership qualification/training, or equivalent experience.
• Knowledge of Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults procedures.
• UK registration in good standing.
• Evidence of quality improvement in patient care.

Responsibilities

• Provide effective clinical and operational leadership to the Trauma and Orthopaedic Theatre team, ensuring the delivery of safe, high-quality patient care.
• Coordinate the day-to-day running of trauma theatre services, ensuring efficient patient flow and use of resources.
• Act as a clinical role model, maintaining high standards of professional practice and compliance with policies and national standards.
• Lead, support and develop a multidisciplinary team through supervision and performance management.
• Ensure availability and safe use of specialist trauma and orthopaedic equipment and instrumentation.
• Collaborate with surgeons, anaesthetists, ward teams and other departments to deliver elective and emergency trauma services.
• Monitor patient safety, infection prevention, documentation and clinical governance; implement improvements.
• Participate in service development, quality improvement projects, audits and evidence-based practice.
• Support workforce planning, rota management, recruitment, induction and staff training.
• Promote a positive, inclusive, patient-centred culture and excellent patient experience and staff wellbeing.

Skills

Leadership

Staff development

Clinical leadership

Team coordination

Infection control

Education

NMC/HCPC registration

Post-registration development

Teaching qualification

Leadership qualification/training

UK registration

Job description

Job summary

Permanent - Full Time

We are seeking an experienced, motivated, and dynamic registered practitioner to join our Trauma and Orthopaedic Theatre team as a Theatre Team Leader. The successful candidate will provide visible clinical leadership, coordinate the daily running of trauma theatre services, and support the delivery of safe, high-quality patient care.

Working closely with the multidisciplinary team, you will be responsible for leading and developing staff, ensuring efficient utilisation of theatre resources, maintaining clinical standards, and driving continuous service improvement. You will play a key role in supporting staff development, promoting a positive team culture, and ensuring compliance with governance, safety, and infection prevention standards.

Due to current service demands, we are only able to consider applicants who have relevant UK experience. Candidates must also be available to commence employment immediately or within a very short timeframe. We regret that we cannot progress applications that do not meet these essential requirements.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Scrub Nurse or ODP with a passion for trauma and orthopaedics to further develop their leadership skills within a busy and rewarding theatre environment.

Main duties of the job

• Provide effective clinical and operational leadership to the Trauma and Orthopaedic Theatre team, ensuring the delivery of safe, high-quality patient care.
• Coordinate the day-to-day running of trauma theatre services, ensuring efficient patient flow, effective use of resources, and achievement of performance targets.
• Act as a clinical role model, maintaining high standards of professional practice and ensuring compliance with policies, procedures, and national standards.
• Lead, support, and develop a multidisciplinary team through supervision, appraisal, mentorship, and performance management.
• Ensure the availability and safe use of specialist trauma and orthopaedic equipment, implants, and instrumentation.
• Work collaboratively with surgeons, anaesthetists, ward teams, and other departments to ensure the smooth delivery of elective and emergency trauma services.
• Monitor standards of patient safety, infection prevention and control, documentation, and clinical governance, taking action where improvements are required.
• Participate in service development initiatives, quality improvement projects, audits, and the implementation of evidence-based practice.
• Support workforce planning, rota management, recruitment, induction, and staff training to maintain a skilled and competent workforce.
• Promote a positive, inclusive, and patient-centred culture, ensuring excellent patient experience and staff wellbeing.

About us

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our services:

Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Job responsibilities

Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.

Advertising date: 16th September 2026

Closing date: 2nd October 2026

Shortlisting date: 5th October 2026

Proposed Interview date: 12th October 2026

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered General Nurse or Operating Department Practitioner, with current NMC/HCPC Registration
• Evidence of post registration study/development
• Recognised teaching qualification, or equivalent experience
• Recognised leadership qualification/training, or equivalent experience
• Knowledge of clinical skills required to undertake the role
• Knowledge of current professional & clinical issues
• Knowledge of Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults procedures
• Substantial years post registration experience
• Knowledge of clinical skills required to undertake the role
• Experience and evidence of quality improvement in patient care
• Knowledge and experience of Robotic Surgery
• Excellent time management, record management and organisational skills
• Ability to work autonomously and as part of a multi-disciplinary team

Other

Essential

• Motivated individual, commitment to personal & professional development.

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

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