Job summary
- Main area
- Neonatal Nursing
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 7
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 214-W&C-7348038
- Employer
- Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- King's Mill Hospital
- Town
- Sutton In Ashfield
- Salary
- £47,810 - £54,710 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/08/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Neonatal Ward Sister
NHS AfC: Band 7
Thank you for your interest in this role, we would be delighted to welcome you to Sherwood Forest Hospitals.
Sherwood is nationally recognised as being an excellent place to work and deliver care. We are rightly proud of the 5,500 colleagues who work here and know that happy colleagues deliver better care.
Our teams work in a supportive, inclusive environment, which nurtures wellbeing and has opportunities for development and progression. We do not just care for our patients, we also care for you.
We would love you to join us.
Job overview
Are you ready to lead with compassion, purpose, and vision?
We have a unique opportunity for a passionate and motivated individual to join our Neonatal Unit as a Ward Leader. This is your chance to be part of a dedicated team focused on delivering the best possible outcomes for preterm and sick term babies.
This is a dynamic and rewarding position where you will:
- Lead and inspire the multidisciplinary team on the Neonatal Unit
- Coordinate services around neonatal care, ensuring safe, modern, and family-centred care
- Deliver high-quality, evidence-based inpatient care for preterm and sick term babies
- Contribute to the development and implementation of local and national neonatal strategies
- Work collaboratively across the wider health community to support integrated care pathways
If you don’t yet have formal team management experience, don’t worry — we’ll provide training and mentorship to help you grow into the role.
This is more than just a job — it’s a chance to shape the future of neonatal care at Sherwood Forest Hospitals.
Main duties of the job
To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.
Working for our organisation
We are an award-winning NHS Foundation Trust working alongside health and social care colleagues across the county to provide acute and community healthcare services to more than 420,000 people across Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, and parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.
We put the patient at the heart of everything that we do and it is our aim to make sure that every patient is treated as we would want a member of our own family to be treated. At the same time, we expect our staff to be caring, kind and courteous to each other and to look out for each other. We believe that we are truly a clinically-led organisation.
We are proud that our Trust colleagues have voted us the best acute Trust to work for in the East Midlands for seven years running in the National NHS Staff Survey, while the Care Quality Commission has rated our Trust as ‘outstanding’ for care and our King’s Mill Hospital as the only ‘outstanding’ NHS-run hospital in the East Midlands.
Not all of our roles are eligible for visa sponsorship. To find out which roles are eligible, please refer to the shortage occupation list found here:
Skilled Worker visa: eligible healthcare and education jobs - GOV.UK
Home Office guidance has changed as of 9th April. Anyone that requires switching visa type may not be eligible for sponsorship even if the role is on the shortage occupation list.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.
Person specification
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Knowledgeable practitioner in Neonatal nursing.
- Ability to apply evidence-based practice
- Knowledge of clinical governance and commitment to develop a team.
- Understanding of information governance and confidentiality
- Understanding of equality and diversity issues and how this affects patients, visitors, and staff
- Awareness and understanding of currently neonatal issues across the east midlands neonatal network
- Excellent communication and time management skills
- Ability to change, manage and motivate others
- Demonstrable involvement in leadership, teaching and mentorship
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of change management
- Evidence of multiagency and regional working
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered with the NMC
- RSCN, RN Child, Midwife or RN Adult
- 1 st Level Degree
- Recognised teaching qualification or experience (ENB 998, SLIP or equivalent)
- Diploma or Degree in Qualified in Speciality (neonates) or equivalent course
- Evidence of having completed relevant further study or trained relevant to the post. (New-born Life Support – NLS)
Desirable criteria
- Masters degree in nursing or health related subject
- NVQ 3 Assessor
- Management or Leadership qualification
- Experience / knowledge of recruitment and retention, appraisal, sickness and absence management
Experience
Essential criteria
- Band 6 level experience in a neonatal unit Or extensive post registration experience in neonatal care
- Neonatal Advanced life support training (NLS)
- Ability to manage staff and manage a change in service
- Ability to prioritise and meet deadlines effectively
- Ability to manage own and other peoples time effectively.
- Highly developed communication skills in verbal written format and able to keep legible records and ability to listen
Desirable criteria
- Community Experience
- Knowledge of staff appraisal
- Understanding of HR policies and processes
- Experience of managing conflict
- Strong leadership skills
- Evidence of practice or policy change arising from audit
- Evidence of practice development
Contractual
Essential criteria
- Good understanding of IT and systems
- Occupational Health Clearance
- Ability to work in a hospital environment flexibility within the 24 hours rota period
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Sarah Jenkins
- Job title
- Matron Children and Young People
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01623 622515
- Additional information
Rachael Giles
Deputy Divisional Director Nursing W&C
01623 622515 ext3024
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