Tissue Viability Nurse

Northampton General Hospital Nhs Trust; Northampton, Kettering; On-site; GBP 34,000 - 46,000; Full time

Job summary

The Tissue Viability Nurse at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust is a specialist Band 6 role supporting tissue viability services across University Hospitals Northamptonshire. The post holder collaborates with the Tissue Viability Specialist Nurse, ward teams, and quality leads to promote skin integrity and wound care.

You will contribute to audits, quality improvement, education, and clinical governance, travel between Kettering General Hospital and NGH as required, and provide expert

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse with active NMC registration.
• Experience in tissue viability or wound care preferred.
• Ability to lead quality improvement initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Support quality monitoring and reporting across NGH/KGH.
• Lead education and training for tissue viability staff.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to drive improvements.
• Develop and implement quality assurance and audit actions.
• Travel between Kettering and Northampton hospitals as required.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Quality improvement

Education & training

Communication

Education

Nursing degree (RN)

NMC registration

Job description

Job summary

The Tissue Viability Nurse is a specialist Band 6 role responsible for supporting the delivery of high-quality, safe, and effective tissue viability services across University Hospitals Northamptonshire (UHN). The post holder works closely with the Tissue Viability Specialist Nurse, Tissue Viability Matron, ward teams, and quality leads to promote excellence in skin integrity, pressure ulcer prevention, wound management, and overall patient safety.

The role focuses on monitoring and improving clinical quality standards, supporting the implementation of evidence-based practice, and contributing to quality improvement initiatives across both Northampton General Hospital and Kettering General Hospital. The post holder will help develop a culture of continuous learning, ensuring that lessons learned from audits, incidents, and quality reviews are translated into improvements in patient care.

The Tissue Viability Nurse will provide expert advice, education, and support to clinical teams, helping staff develop the knowledge and skills required to deliver high standards of tissue viability care. The role involves collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to identify risks, support quality assurance, service improvements, and promote best practice throughout the Trust.

The post holder will contribute to clinical governance, staff development, audit, and quality improvement programmes.

Main duties of the job

The role combines specialist tissue viability expertise, quality improvement, patient safety, education, and clinical leadership, working across UHN to improve standards of care, reduce harm, and support staff in delivering excellent patient outcomes.

About us

We recognise that AI tools can support application writing; however, candidates are asked to keep their use to a minimum. Responses should reflect your own experience, skills and knowledge, as over-reliance on AI-generated content may result in generic answers that do not accurately represent your abilities.

University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) brings together Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust. As a group, we are committed to improving services for our communities through collaboration, modernising care delivery and striving for excellence. Working together enables us to share expertise, strengthen services and create greater opportunities, and there may be a requirement to work across sites depending on service needs.

Our Excellence Values are Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Integrity and Courage. UHN welcomes applications from all backgrounds and is committed to an inclusive working environment. We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and hold the Gold Award under the Employer Recognition Scheme. Candidates who identify as members of the Armed Forces community and meet the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview.

Job responsibilities

Leadership

• To support the monitoring of quality within KGH/NGH. Ensuring robust processes are in place, carrying out joint visits, taking action to rectify any issues identified and providing quality monitoring reports.
• To encourage an open learning culture throughout the Trust for the purposes of continuous quality improvement.
• Escalate concerns and issues when appropriate to the Tissue Viability Lead Nurse.
• To prepare and assist in the review of reports and information to raise concerns around quality issues within KGH/NGH and related risks with the Divisional Heads of Nursing, Matrons and Ward Leaders.
• To support the delivery at ward level of Ward Accreditation quality standards.
• Provide high quality and innovative teaching opportunities, ensuring periodic reviews to meet current quality and safety priorities for nursing.
• To develop a suitable learning environment, ensuring relevant educational material is available on all wards.
• Travel between the Kettering and Northampton Hospital sites and other sites where required.

Clinical and professional

• To maintain personal standards of conduct and behaviour consistent with the Trust Values and Behaviours framework and the NMC code.
• Develop the role by using evidence-based practice and continuously improve own knowledge, following revalidation guidelines.
• Act as a role model and mentor for staff, ensuring that own practice demonstrates current clinical knowledge and expertise in acute adult nursing.
• To maintain effective working relations with colleagues at all levels
• Maintain professional registration and practice through the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) revalidation process.
• Identify own development needs in line with service requirements through the Trust annual appraisal process.

Communication

• To have highly developed communication skills, acting as a facilitator and mediator when required.
• To challenge existing practices, facilitating discussions on alternatives, and advising on different ways of working.
• Able to communicate sensitively with highly complex information about performance or change with a high level of sensitivity and diplomacy.
• To maintain effective communication and supportive links with other members of the quality team.
• To develop and maintain strong links with wards and departments to ensure timely reporting and implementation of any required actions.
• To provide advice and participate in other aspects of the Quality Assurance Teams work as directed by line manager.
• Attend agreed sessions with clinical teams to facilitate quality improvement work.
• Work in partnership and support the Matrons, Ward Sisters, and their clinical teams.
• Work closely with the Quality Governance team and contribute to the development and improvement of resources to support teams in quality improvement work by reflecting on good practice and shared learning.
• Demonstrate the ability to promote positive relationships with all stakeholders within the organisation.
• Deploy effective communication strategies to ensure that information and knowledge is imparted sensitively according to needs of clinical teams.

Analytical and Judgement

• Through analysis of a range of information, identify risks to the delivery of quality patient care in departments and wards, escalating to the Tissue Viability CNS/Matron.

Planning and Organisation

• To ensure that personal time is managed effectively to ensure that patient experience and safety concerns remain paramount.
• Prioritise own workload and organises own work effectively to meet these priorities and reduce risks to quality.
• To develop project plans which take account of conflicting priorities and are responsive to internal and external constraints.
• To assist in the development and implementation of a programme of Quality Assurance through participation in Ward Accreditation.
• Contribute to the development of quality and patient experience strategies and the development and implementation of improvement programs.
• Demonstrate the ability to co-ordinate, monitor and assess own workload.
• To deputise for the Lead Nurse for Tissue Viability on occasions.
• To attend meetings on behalf of the Lead Nurse for Tissue Viability on occasions and as required. To include Practice Development Forum, Clinical Leadership Senate, and other meetings as required.

Patient Care

• Support the Quality Assurance Visits undertaken with the Quality team and Ward Accreditation teams.
• Work to support successful quality improvement initiative in the Trust.
• To assist in linking all aspects of patient safety, e.g., linking SIs with safeguarding children/adult, medicines management and health and safety processes
• To support the implementation of patient safety issues including lessons learnt and trend analysis into the sisters, Matrons and Divisional Heads of Nursing to ensure teams learn from these incidents.

Quality Improvement

• To promote and support innovative practice and ensure relevant research findings are incorporated into practice.
• To undertake and ensure that all nursing staff participate in the implementation and audit of standards of care as required.
• To ensure that practice is evidence based and promotes nursing ownership of change, within the guidelines of unit policies and procedures.
• To support the Lead Nurse for Tissue Viability in the planning and implementation of activities arising from Trust strategies.
• To ensure good working relationships exist with own team environment and promote effective communication between all members of the multi-disciplinary patient care team, other wards/departments, and persons/ organisations external to the Trust.
• Develop and maintain organisational and managerial skills required to facilitate sessions.
• Facilitate, support, and empower clinical teams in the development of standards and appropriate use of resources when implementing improvements.
• Ensure the environment is conducive to supporting the transfer of knowledge and skills to clinical teams.
• Deliver training sessions and local presentations to Matrons, Ward Sisters, and clinical teams.

Person Specification

Education, Training and Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse / Midwife / AHP
• Post registration degree qualification or equivalent experience

Desirable

• Teaching/Mentoring qualification
• Management or leadership qualification

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• Experience of development and leadership of change in clinical practice
• Experience in acting as a clinical supervisor and mentor to others

Desirable

• Experience in the delivery of improvement programmes
• Previous experience in developing standards, guidelines and policies
• Previous experience in audit and evaluation

Skills

Essential

• The ability, using influencing skills, motivational and interpersonal skills, to develop and maintain professional relationships and communication with people on complex matters, issues and ideas and/or in complex situations
• The ability to influence a sustainable culture that improves quality and experience for all patients
• The ability to work in partnership with others to develop, take forward and evaluate direction, policies and strategies
• The ability to test and review new models, concepts, and practices
• Maintains the quality in own work and encourages others to do the same
• Demonstrate a passion for improving care for patients through effective leadership
• Demonstrate resilience in the face of complex issues
• Ability to treat all employee and other hospital information confidentially
• Recognition of factors in maintaining own and others health, safety and security
• Supportive of equality and values diversity

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

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