Paediatric Lead Respiratory Nurse

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced, dynamic, and inspirational Paediatric Lead Nurse, Band 8a, to lead our specialist Respiratory Nursing Service within a leading tertiary and regional centre.

This is a pivotal leadership role, providing strategic, clinical, and operational leadership across a highly specialised respiratory service caring for children and young people with some of the most complex respiratory conditions. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, you will ensure the delivery of outstanding, evidence-based care while driving innovation, service development, and excellence in patient experience.

As the Paediatric Lead Nurse for Respiratory Services, you will provide professional leadership across our specialist respiratory pathways, supporting children and families throughout their healthcare journey. You will oversee services caring for children with: Complex and difficult to manage asthma; Cystic fibrosis; Long Term Ventilation (LTV) and Complex respiratory and chest conditions

As a recognised regional centre, our service supports patients from across the wider region, providing highly specialised care alongside outreach, education, and collaborative working with local hospitals and community teams.

Main duties of the job

You will lead a highly skilled team of Band 7 Clinical Nurse Specialists, fostering a culture of clinical excellence, continuous improvement, compassionate leadership, and professional development. You will work closely with consultants, allied health professionals, operational managers, community providers, and commissioners to ensure services continue to evolve to meet the needs of children and their families.

You will need to be an exceptional paediatric nurse with expert clinical knowledge and outstanding leadership skills. You should have significant senior level experience within a paediatric respiratory nursing post.

This is an exciting time to join Cambridge University Hospital with the completion of the East of England Children’s Hospital in the next few years.

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 29th October 2026.

Interviews are due to be held on 16th 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.