Senior Sister/Charge Nurse for Neonatal Optimisation

Senior Sister/Charge Nurse for Neonatal Optimisation

The closing date is 25 January 2026.

This is an exciting opportunity to take a leading role in shaping neonatal care as part of a passionate multi disciplinary team. You'll be driving forward Element 5 of the Saving Babies' Lives Care Bundle Version 3, which focuses on reducing preterm births and optimising outcomes for babies born prematurely.

As the Neonatal Nursing Lead, you'll champion best practice across the neonatal pathway, ensuring all aspects of Element 5 are delivered with precision and compassion. You'll work collaboratively with colleagues across disciplines, developing action plans, leading quality improvement initiatives, and using data to drive meaningful change. Your expertise will help improve compliance, enhance care, and support families during critical moments.

This role blends clinical leadership with innovation. You'll analyse data, lead educational sessions, and build networks to share learning and inspire progress. As a local subject matter expert, your voice will help shape the future of neonatal care.

If you're ready to lead with purpose, influence outcomes, and make a lasting impact on the lives of babies and their families, we'd love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

You will act as the named Neonatal Nurse for perinatal optimisation. In this role you will undertake audits, QI projects and staff education around the neonatal elements of perinatal optimisation.

You will be responsible for formulating regular reports for varying audiences at local, regional and national level.

You will work closely with the named Neonatologist, Obstetrician and Midwife for preterm perinatal optimisation to ensure compliance with element 5 and to improve the outcomes for preterm infants.

This role is a cross site role and you will be expected to work on both the tertiary Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital and the Special Care Baby Unit at Bedford Hospital.

About us

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarise yourself with all requirements of the job.

Job responsibilities

The post holder will:

• Act as the Neonatal Nurse Lead for preterm perinatal optimisation across the trust
• Explore more efficient and effective ways of providing a high standard of family centred care and utilisation of resources.
• Pilot clinical programmes.
• Where necessary work clinically to support unit activity and promote perinatal preterm optimisation activity.
• In conjunction with the MDT develop a mechanism for setting goals and benchmarking standards of care, develop tools to improve the quality of the service and co ordinate clinical services across the ward/dept.
• Guide and support staff in their professional development and clinical competence; identify development opportunities, develop programmes to facilitate the identified opportunities, and work in the clinical area with individuals.
• Guide and support staff in the monitoring and assessment for all learners in the clinical area.
• Review and manage the performance of all staff: identify educational and other needs, annual IPR and objectives.
• Design and deliver an education programme in relation to preterm optimisation.
• Support systems for sharing good practice within the department, trust, region and nation wide.
• Participate in staff orientation and preceptorship programmes to deliver education in relation to perinatal optimisation.

Audit and Quality Improvement

• Participate in the quality improvement project for perinatal optimisation; lead on elements delivered by neonatal services for all units in the trust.
• Formulate QI projects and action plans as required.
• Design and carry out audits in relation to optimisation.
• Participate in local, regional, national and international optimisation forums.
• Lead MDT investigations into missed optimisation steps.
• Promote, encourage and participate in research, audit and studies related to the area of practice.
• Implement unit teaching programmes.
• Work in conjunction with regional and national teams on the implementation of perinatal optimisation programmes, e.g. BAPM optimisation toolkit.
• Where any clinical trials are undertaken in relation to optimisation elements work collaboratively with research team in the undertaking of this research.

Person Specification Qualifications

• RN or RM
• Degree level qualification or equivalent
• Neonatal Qualified in Speciality
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Master's degree in health care or research

Experience

• Experience in neonatal intensive care
• Experience of shift management
• Experience in participating in clinical audits
• Experience of safeguarding children managements and processes
• Participated in quality improvement projects
• Experience of audit and data analysis
• Previous experience of project management

Personal Skills

• Ability to manage own caseload.
• Teaching and assessing skills.
• Acute clinical skills.

Communication

• Good inter-personal and communication skills, including clear, concise written skills.
• Lead by example and motivate others.

Personal Characteristics

• To be able to prioritise and meet the demands of the department.
• Organised and forward thinking.
• Able to work under pressure.
• Ability to work on multiple sites.

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.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust