Job Description

Working as a partnership, both Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this.

The vision for our single corporate services is to:

• Be an employer of choice for corporate talent, attracting and retaining people who share our values for excellence in care and welcome the opportunity to benefit from the broad range of flexible career and development opportunities we can offer.
• Improve efficiency through simplified and standardised policies, processes, and systems, drawing on the best from both Trusts.
• Do things once and reduce any duplication on transactional tasks giving corporate staff the ability to focus on higher value and more diverse activities.
• Co-invest in the latest digital solutions and standardise our approach, meaning we do things once for both organisations.
• Improve learning and development opportunities and sharing best practice, upskilling both Trusts.
• Co-locate teams in purpose-built facilities on the Island and in Portsmouth to enable closer working and sharing.
• Build resilience for individuals and our teams.

The single corporate service is delivered across both organisation. You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.

Specialist Nurse Palliative Care, Band 6

Band 6: £39,959 - £48.117

Hours: 30

Contract: - Maternity leaver cover 9 - 12 Months

Location: Queen Alexandra Hospital, Southwick Hill Road, Cosham, Portsmouth, PO6 3LY, Portsmouth

Specialist Nurse Palliative Care, Band 6 Maternity Leave Cover

We have an exciting opportunity for a 0.8 WTE band 6 Specialist Nurse in Palliative Care in the Hospital Palliative Care Team at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust. This is a maternity leave cover post and secondments will be considered.

We are looking for a registered nurse with 5 years post registration experience including 2 years working in a specialist palliative/end of life care setting. A band 6 development post will be considered, for candidates who do not completely meet the person specification, and all successful candidates will be supported in their development. We highly recommend interested applicants contact us to discuss the role especially if you do not meet the person specification.

The Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) Hospital Palliative and End of Life Care Team (HPCT) provide a Trust wide service for all adults aged 18 years and above: 0830 – 1630, 365 days a year. Out of hours telephone advice is provided by our specialist palliative care provider.

Reporting to the Senior Clinical Nurse Specialist, (accountable to the Nurse Consultant, and working with the Hospital Palliative and End of Life Care team members),the post holder will work as an integral part of the hospital palliative care team to provide specialist palliative and end of life care advice and management for patients (and their families) with life shortening illnesses, and to the multi-professional teams to enable timely and effective care. This includes those with malignant and non-malignant diagnoses.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a high level of expertise/potential within palliative care, can work independently and within a team, and demonstrate skills in teaching, audit and service development. They will provide support and education for colleagues and work in close collaboration with multidisciplinary teams across the hospital and community to ensure patients receive the highest standard of clinical care and a seamless service

This post will contribute to and implement the Trust Clinical Strategy: End of Life Workstream, and act as a professional role model for nursing across the Trust and to colleagues outside of the organisation. They will work closely with the local Integrated Care System, hospice, and palliative care providers including medical consultant colleagues.

Informal visits and discussions are strongly recommended.

If you do not meet the person specification - talk to us as we are open to a development post.

Applications via Smart Recruiters – go to Share Point - My Development – Vacancies at PHU

Internal Applicants Only

Key Contacts:

Sarah Russell, Nurse Consultant, Bleep 1433, Ext 6132, sarah.russell48@nhs.net

Jill Cronen, Senior Clinical Nurse Specialist, Bleep 2232, jill.cronen@nhs.net

Melissa Tolson, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Bleep 1370. melissa.tolson1@nhs.net

Or any member of the hospital palliative care team via Ext 6132.

Closing Date Friday 17th April 2026

Interview Date: Friday 24th April 2026 (venue to be confirmed)

Please refer to the for further details

Qualifications

Essential

• Current Registered Nurse with NMC
• Other post registration qualifications relevant to specialist palliative and end of life care
• Evidence of continuous professional development
• Proven clinical leadership skills.
• 5 years post registration experience including 2 years working in a specialist palliative/end of life care setting
• Knowledge of the pathology of disease processes in life limiting illnesses.
• Knowledge and understanding of the management of complex symptom control.
• Knowledge and understanding of the Mental Capacity Act.
• Good communication skills both verbal and written.
• Advanced person-centred assessment skills for the health and wellbeing of patients with a life limiting diagnosis.
• Principles of clinical supervision and reflective practice.
• Excellent organisational skills

Desirable

• Nursing degree (level 6)
• Advanced symptom control or palliative care qualification or courses
• Advanced communication skills training or similar
• Experience of design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of clinical informal and formal teaching
• Teaching qualification
• Local, regional, and national agendas relating to Palliative and End of Life Care e.g., Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care, Five Priorities for Care in Dying, Specialist Level Palliative Care Service Specification, Integrated Care Board strategy.
• Underpinning knowledge of palliative/end of life care tools which improve patient care e.g., outcome measures, prognostication indicators, symptom assessment tools.
• Understanding of the clinical governance pathway
• Principles of research and audit.
• Effective mentoring and coaching skills

Additional Information

The single corporate service is delivered across both organisation. You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veterans status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.