Clinical Nurse Specialist - Paediatric Cleft

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, flexible, motivated and dynamic nurse to join CleftNet.East, the Eastern Region Cleft Lip and Palate Service, as a Band 7 Clinical Nurse Specialist.

CleftNet.East provides specialist care across the East of England, supporting children, young people and their families throughout their cleft journey. Our care pathway begins during the antenatal period for some families and continues into adulthood, making this a varied, challenging and rewarding specialist nursing role.

Our ethos of child-centred, holistic and family-focused care, alongside strong multidisciplinary collaboration, drives our service. You will work closely with colleagues across Cleft, Maternity and Children’s Services, as well as professional colleagues within regional hospitals and community services.

This role provides an excellent opportunity to develop and use specialist nursing skills across a range of environments, including family homes, postnatal wards, neonatal units, children’s wards and outpatient clinics across the region. The role also provides opportunities to engage and network with cleft professionals nationally and participate in audit, research and quality improvement at both local and national level. A strong commitment to improving patient experience and patient-reported outcomes is essential.

Main duties of the job

Previous experience within cleft nursing is desirable but not essential. We recognise that specialist cleft skills can be developed and will provide a comprehensive, individually tailored training programme and ongoing clinical supervision.

We are particularly interested in applicants with experience caring for babies and children with complex health needs. Experience in infant feeding, airway and respiratory assessment, post-operative nursing management, health visiting or community nursing would be highly beneficial.

The successful candidate will have strong leadership and organisational skills, sound clinical judgement and the ability to prioritise and manage a complex caseload across a large geographical area.

At times, you will work across the region as a lone worker. Therefore, a good understanding of health, safety and risk management, together with the ability to work independently and make appropriate clinical decisions, is essential.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached Applicant Information Pack (combined Job Description and Person Specification) for key duties and responsibilities.

This vacancy will close at midnight on 27th October 2026.

Interviews are due to be held on 4th November 2026.

All appointments with a start date on or after 1 October 2026 will be subject to a 12-week probationary period. This provides a structured and supportive period to help you settle into your role, with regular reviews and feedback.

As there is a 12-week probationary period, successful candidates are expected to have the Right to Work for a period of at least 6 months from the proposed start date. Immigration and Right to Work status will be discussed with successful candidates at conditional offer. CUH will not offer sponsorship to candidates that have applied for a fee waiver.

Due to Home Office immigration rules, a full-time permanent vacancy cannot be filled by individuals on a student visa. Therefore, please be advised that if you are a student visa holder, we will not be able to offer you a full-time permanent contract unless you have: - applied for a Graduate visa - or you will have successfully completed your course and have applied for a Graduate visa before the anticipated start date of your employment

Benefits to you

At Cambridge University Hospitals, we want to do all we can to support good working days. We offer development opportunities and a wide range of benefits, including on-site leisure facilities, shopping concourse and day nurseries. Our good work programme currently includes providing reduced cost Stagecoach bus travel to and from Cambridge University Hospital site. Park and Ride bus journeys between Babraham Road and Trumpington sites are free, as is the route to and from Cambridge train station and our hospitals. We also subsidise the cost of parking on site for eligible staff.

On CUH campus, hot food is available 24/7 and at a reduced cost for colleagues. Recently we launched the first of our staff pod break spaces. Located in the Deakin Centre, we have a purpose-created colleague-only café, with free tea and coffee, a break space and private outside area for colleagues to rest, refuel and recharge. Just one of the ways we are working hard to support good working days at CUH.

CUH is committed to assisting employees in achieving a good work-life balance irrespective of role or personal circumstances. Flexible arrangements may include, but are not limited to, part-time working, job-share, term-time working and flexible start and finish times. Please note if you would like to discuss the required hours of this role further, you should approach the contact given. In some cases, alternative working hours will be considered.

We welcome applications from the Armed Forces.

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.