Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Palliative Care and End of life Lead Nurse

The closing date is 27 July 2025

Job summary

Are you an experienced and compassionate palliative care nurse ready to take on a key leadership role at the heart of a dynamic, forward-thinking Trust?

We are delighted to offer asubstantive opportunityfor aPalliative and End of Life Lead Nurseto join us at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. This pivotal role is ideal for a passionate and motivated professional with a strong background in palliative and end of life care, who is ready to drive meaningful change and deliver outstanding care to patients and their families.

Main duties of the job

As the Lead Nurse, you will:

  • Providestrategic leadershipacross the hospital, shaping and enhancing palliative and end of life care provision.
  • Manage and support a small, skilled team of specialist nurses to ensure high-quality, compassionate, patient-centred care.
  • Workcollaboratively across the multidisciplinary team (MDT), ensuring holistic, integrated support for patients with complex needs.
  • Forge strong partnerships with ourcommunity providers, hospice teams, and primary care colleagues to improve continuity of care and patient experience across settings.
  • Play a key role in embedding best practice, promoting education and awareness across clinical areas, and contributing to Trust-wide quality improvement initiatives.

This is an exciting time to join the RUH as we continue to strengthen our palliative care offer and ensure every patient receives the dignified, compassionate care they deserve, wherever they are in their journey.

If you're ready to make a real difference and lead with purpose, we would love to hear from you.

About us

At the RUH we put people at the heart of what we do, working together as one team to make a difference for our patients, each other, and our community. No matter what your role is, we value everyone's contribution in supporting the exceptional, person-centred care we pride ourselves on.

We are proud to be in thetop 20 best hospitals to work for in the country.

We are committed to creating a compassionate and inclusive environment. This can be seen in our growing community of staff networks - celebrating successes and creating opportunities to listen and learn. We value our differences, champion kindness and civility, and truly believe that diversity makes us stronger.

A culture of learning, developing and innovating is the thread that runs throughout our whole organisation. We want to support you to thrive, taking your career to its full potential.

We value staff wellbeing, with a well-established programme of support. We believe in a holistic approach spanning all aspects of living a healthy life, including physical, emotional, spiritual and financial wellbeing. We've even got a pool!

We are committed to supporting you and hope you want to join our team. In the meantime, find out more about living and working the beautiful historic city of Bath, learn about our extensive package of staff benefits, and read about how we're providing healthcare fit for the future with the landmark Dyson Cancer Centre and our passion for research.

Details

Date posted

10 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£62,215 to £72,293 a year Per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

427-7303814

Job locations

Royal United Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Combe Park

Bath

BA1 3NG


Job description

Job responsibilities

Please find attached to the vacancy a detailed person specification and job description for further information about this role.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please find attached to the vacancy a detailed person specification and job description for further information about this role.

Person Specification

Training

Essential

  • Registered Nurse, Educated to degree level
  • Post Registration qualification in palliative care
  • Working towards MSc or equivalent higher professional qualification
  • Teaching and assessing qualification
  • Recognised Leadership development

Desirable

  • Quality improvement Training

Knowledge and experience

Essential

  • Thorough and up-to-date knowledge of nursing theory and best practice, particularly within specialty area and the application of this in practice.
  • Extensive knowledge of cancer and palliative care services, including a thorough understanding of the national Ambitions for Palliative and EOLC and direction of travel for palliative and EOLC services
  • Experience managing a multidisciplinary team at senior level
  • Experience of working at a senior level in leading a team with experience of team building and roles within teams.
  • Experience in developing palliative services

Other

Essential

  • Understanding of the theory and application of Clinical Governance.
  • Experience in change management
Person Specification

Training

Essential

  • Registered Nurse, Educated to degree level
  • Post Registration qualification in palliative care
  • Working towards MSc or equivalent higher professional qualification
  • Teaching and assessing qualification
  • Recognised Leadership development

Desirable

  • Quality improvement Training

Knowledge and experience

Essential

  • Thorough and up-to-date knowledge of nursing theory and best practice, particularly within specialty area and the application of this in practice.
  • Extensive knowledge of cancer and palliative care services, including a thorough understanding of the national Ambitions for Palliative and EOLC and direction of travel for palliative and EOLC services
  • Experience managing a multidisciplinary team at senior level
  • Experience of working at a senior level in leading a team with experience of team building and roles within teams.
  • Experience in developing palliative services

Other

Essential

  • Understanding of the theory and application of Clinical Governance.
  • Experience in change management

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Royal United Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Combe Park

Bath

BA1 3NG


Employer's website

https://www.ruh.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Royal United Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Combe Park

Bath

BA1 3NG


Employer's website

https://www.ruh.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Divisional director of Nursing (FASS)

Kevin Jenner

kevin.jenner1@nhs.net

01225428331

Details

Date posted

10 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£62,215 to £72,293 a year Per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

427-7303814

Job locations

Royal United Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Combe Park

Bath

BA1 3NG


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust's privacy notice (opens in a new tab)