Are you looking for a stimulating role looking after children in need of intensive care and building powerful relationships with them and their families? Are you proud of your meticulous attention to detail, sharp powers of observation and are blessed with stamina and endurance?
If this sounds like you then working in one of our highly advanced Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) may just be the job for you.
Acting as a staunch advocate for our young patients, we are looking for compassionate nurses who would describe themselves as self-assured, determined and forward-thinking to join our internationally renowned children’s services at the Great North Children’s Hospital and the Freeman Hospital’s Children’s Heart Unit.
Our PICU nurses are honoured to provide outstanding care to young patients admitted with serious, life-threatening conditions. Core duties include closing monitoring and assessment of patient statuses, administering complex medications or treatments, and responding rapidly to unpredictable changes in conditions.
Every patient will be at a different stage of development with complex treatment plans tailored specific to them. Our young patients are often in life critical, therefore PICU nursing demands high concentration levels and a fastidious approach. We are looking for nurses who take pride in their methodical approach – they must carry out all of their tasks with extra care and diligence.
Patients in PICUs are cared for using advanced life-support equipment and having a keen interest in technology and innovation, as we continually strive to find the treatments of tomorrow, is beneficial.
Our nurses are encouraged to use their own initiative and instincts, working autonomously where appropriate, and there are nurse led practices such as weaning from ventilation which is quite unusual in this specialist field.
Taking care of you
Caring for children with serious illnesses or severe injuries can be emotionally demanding. You will undoubtedly encounter difficult situations and witness the impact on your patients and their families. However, the rewards reaped from helping young patients make a full recovery are second to none and even when delivering bad news, by encouraging families to navigate difficult times with optimism can have a really positive impact.
Our ethos revolves around our patients who remain at the heart of everything we do, in line with the trust’s Vision and Values, yet we are very mindful that nursing is extremely challenging, especially right now. We recognise the importance of supporting staff and their wellbeing, and endeavour to provide a safe and supportive environment to enable our teams to develop and grow, as well as learning how to tap into and build personal endurance and resilience.
Restorative supervision
Within our Cardiac PICU we have embraced a restorative supervision model through our Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA). By listening to understand the challenges and demands of fellow team members our ambition is to lead support to deliver quality improvement initiatives in response.
You will also have access to a confidential counsellor service that is available very timely through referral or drop-in sessions on the unit.
Recognising the need for a breakout area we have also just opened our staff wellbeing room which is a quality space for reflection.
All new staff take part in our comprehensive induction pathway supported by our own Practice Development team, with a chance to rotate across both general and cardiothoracic PICUs during their supernumerary period to enhance learning opportunities.
Further along we offer the chance to undertake relevant courses for high dependency and intensive care nursing with opportunities to work collaboratively with the NECTAR (North East and Cumbria Transport and Retrieval Team) and Assist Teams. There are also hybrid roles across our Research and Education teams.
Our PICUs benefit from high end preceptorship programmes and a hugely supportive senior nursing team. Study days are held regularly on the unit, and here are a number of link groups and specialist roles to ensure continuous learning and development in areas such as ventilation, ECMO and bereavement.
Providing outstanding care requires an effective, multi-disciplinary approach. You will work alongside a large, highly skilled team of intensivists, surgeons, allied health professionals, pharmacists and many more.
We have many nursing specialists and opportunities for career progression are in abundance.
We have many opportunities for career progression into more senior roles in education, specialist nursing and practitioner level through permanent or secondment routes.
The future is bright
We have hugely exciting times ahead with an ambitious plan to co-locate our children’s congenital heart services alongside the Great North Children’s Hospital which will strengthen our children’s critical care in Newcastle and making it one of the largest co-located PICUs in the country.
Join us
If this sounds like a role you would relish and would like more information or to arrange an informal visit then please contact:
Great North Children’s Hospital
Matron Charlie Hill Tel: 0191 2448822 or [email protected]
Freeman Hospital
Matron Rachel Patterson Tel: 0191 2448479 or [email protected]
About us
The Great North Children’s Hospital (GNCH) is one of the largest children’s hospitals in the UK, and offers one of the widest ranges of children’s healthcare in the country. Our many specialists have the experience and knowledge to deal with a full range of childhood illnesses and injuries.
The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle, can provide you with opportunities unavailable to you in most areas. The only PICU covering the North 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, the Great North Hospital 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.
The Freeman Hospital is the centre for children’s cardiac services, providing Supra-regional cardiac and thoracic surgical services for the UK and Ireland. This service has a world-renowned record in cardiac transplant, ECMO and assist devices.
Specialist care is provided to children undergoing complex, routine and emergency cardiothoracic surgery. Cardiac Services is a speciality with many opportunities to gain and develop new skills and experience. Facilities at Freeman Hospital include a PICU and an 18 bedded ward incorporating a 6 bedded HDU.
We are open to recruit a small number of adult trained nurses with transferable critical care skills
