Job overview

Frome Ward is a busy 35-bedded acute surgical ward caring for both emergency and elective patients across a range of specialties including General Surgery, Colorectal, Upper Gastrointestinal (UGI) Surgery, and Urology. 

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced registered nurse with excellent leadership skills to play a key role in delivering high-quality, safe, and compassionate care to surgical patients. Working as a Ward Sister requires exceptional communication, collaborative working, and the ability to innovate and adapt to meet the needs of both patients and staff, ensuring safety and quality remain at the centre of everything we do.

As Ward Sister, you will provide day-to-day leadership to the nursing team, acting as a visible role model and clinical expert. You will be responsible for creating a positive ward culture, empowering staff to achieve their full potential, and ensuring that patients receive high-quality, evidence-based care. Adopting a highly visible and accessible approach, you will support patients, relatives, carers, and members of the multidisciplinary team, demonstrating compassionate leadership and professionalism at all times.

Working closely with medical colleagues and partner agencies, you will ensure care is delivered safely, promptly, and appropriately. You will promote proactive discharge planning, optimise patient flow, and support patients to achieve maximum independence throughout their admission.

Main duties of the job

You will provide clinical and operational leadership to the ward team, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective, and patient-centred care. You will work collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation, embodying the Trust's CARE values and contributing to a positive and supportive working environment.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Providing visible leadership and expert clinical guidance to the ward team.
• Ensuring patients receive high-quality, evidence-based care tailored to their individual needs.
• Promoting patient safety, quality improvement, and excellence in patient experience.
• Managing patient flow, bed capacity, and discharge planning to support effective use of resources.
• Supporting, developing, and mentoring junior staff, acting as a role model for professional practice.
• Leading workforce planning and ensuring safe staffing levels are maintained at all times.
• Working collaboratively with the multidisciplinary team to deliver coordinated and seamless care.
• Driving continuous service improvement and supporting compliance with Trust standards, governance requirements, and national best practice.

About You

We are looking for an inspiring leader who is passionate about delivering outstanding surgical care and developing others. You will be a registered nurse with current NMC registration and significant post-registration experience, ideally within an acute surgical setting. 

Working for our organisation

About us

Wye Valley NHS Trust is a member of an NHS Foundation Group with South Warwickshire University NHS FT, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust and Worcestershire Acute NHS Hospitals Trust.

Located on the border with Wales in the shadow of the Black Mountains, we provide acute and community services across Herefordshire and into parts of Powys and run Hereford County Hospital and the community hospitals in Bromyard, Leominster and Ross-on-Wye.

We are a progressive and forward looking trust with ambitious plans to improve quality and integrate patient pathways through close collaborative working with our partners to deliver the quality of care wed want for our family and friends.

More than 3,000 people work for the Trust they tell us its a great place to work, blending the busyness of a DGH with the benefits of working in a beautiful rural and unspoilt county like Herefordshire.

We can offer a great work-life balance and have a fine tradition of working with staff to help them achieve their full potential.

Russell Hardy, Trust Chairman: “The strength of the Trust is its amazing staff; a great place to work, a great place to develop your career and a great place to reach your potential.”

Our values -Care, Accountability, Respect and Excellence - are at the heart of all we do. We believe in providing the right care in the right place at the right time.