Charge Nurse - Surgical Assessment Unit

Job overview

Are you an experienced surgical nurse looking to step into a pivotal leadership role?

We are incredibly excited to announce the opening of our brand-new, state-of-the-art Surgical Assessment Unit (SAU) at Charing Cross Hospital. This purpose-built unit will streamline the emergency surgical pathway, integrating closely with our Emergency Department and Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) pathways to deliver rapid assessments, diagnostics, and treatment without unnecessary admissions.

As a Band 6 Charge Nurse , you will be at the forefront of this new service launch. Working as a deputy to the Unit Matron, you will provide strong clinical leadership, supervise junior staff, and drive efficient patient flow through a fast-paced environment. This is a rare opportunity to shape a newly formed multidisciplinary team, build a collaborative culture from the ground up, and establish clinical excellence in acute surgical care.

We are currently recruiting for 1 full-time positions and 1 part-time position.

Informal visits are highly recommended. Please contact our Lead Nurse Simon Mackie at simon.mackie3@nhs.net.

Main duties of the job

• Clinical Excellence: Oversee the safe triage, assessment, stabilization, and care planning of acute surgical patients presenting with varied conditions (Colorectal, general Surgery, Urology, Plastics and ENT).
• Shift Leadership: Act as the regular shift coordinator ("taking charge"), ensuring safe staffing levels, coordinating admissions/discharges, and managing real-time patient flow.
• Team Development: Facilitate in mentoring, preceptoring, and auditing the practice of Band 5 staff nurses, healthcare assistants and student nurses.
• Interdisciplinary work:: Act as the core liaison between emergency doctors, surgical registrars, consultants, and diagnostic teams to maintain swift turnaround times.
• Quality & Safety: Ensure nursing practices strictly comply with Trust and NMC guidelines, maintaining very high standards of infection control, documentation, and patient safety.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required.

For both overviews please view the Job Description attachment with the job advert.

Applicant requirements

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.