Specialist Palliative Care Nurse
The closing date is 10 December 2025
The Specialist Palliative Care Team (SPCT) at Alder Hey Children's Hospital is entering an exciting, transformative time and is expanding its nursing team to meet this demand.
The SPCT is a team of specialist nurses and palliative care doctors who work together collaboratively to support babies, children and young people with palliative care needs from referral through to end of life, discharge or transition.
We are looking for a compassionate individual to fill this exciting position and work as a specialist nurse to lead, co-ordinate and deliver palliative and end of life care to children and young people aged 0-19 years, bereavement care to their families and specialist advice to colleagues across the North West region.
Care is provided in a variety of settings including the home, hospices or in a hospital. The specialist nurse will need to work closely and foster good relationships with all members of the child's multi-disciplinary team and with colleagues from health, social care and education.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will support the delivery of specialist palliative care by working as part of the Specialist Palliative Care Team (SPCT), based at Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
Provide continuity of care to a caseload of children with palliative care needs across the commissioned footprint, acting as a keyworker where appropriate and developing advance care plans.
Be integral in the ongoing development of the nursing service to meet the assessed needs of children with a palliative diagnosis to optimise quality of life and provide support to the family, either directly or by referral to appropriate services.
Take a lead role in supporting children and families to receive end of life care in their preferred place of care. The post holder will assist in supporting and educating others and facilitating excellence in the delivery of end of life care such as developing symptom management plans and co-ordinating all services involved.
Be part of the Cheshire and Merseyside end of life care on call service providing 24/7 on call support to families.
Be a part of a specialist nursing on call advice service to colleagues across the North West.
Maintain knowledge, skills and competence in providing excellent palliative care through education, supervision and reflective practice.
About us
As one of Europe's biggest and busiest children's hospitals, at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, we treat everything from common illnesses to highly complex and specialist conditions. In addition to our main hospital site, we offer paediatric services at a number of community sites and hold local clinics across Merseyside, Cumbria, Shropshire, Wales and the Isle of Man. We also provide specialist inpatient care for children with complex mental health needs in our recently relocated and newly opened state of the art facility.
Alder Hey has a thriving research portfolio and leads research into children's medicines, infection, inflammation and oncology. We are becoming recognised as one of the world's leaders in children's healthcare and research. We contribute to public health, lead cutting-edge research and teach the next generation of children's specialists. Alongside this is our Innovation Hub, a dedicated space where clinicians and industries can come together to create new products and technologies.
We know that a children's hospital is different and that our job is more than just treating an illness. To us, every child is an individual. As well as giving them the very best care, we set out to make them feel happy, safe and confident as they play, learn and grow. At Alder Hey we are here to look after a child and their family and that includes mums, dads, brothers and sisters.
Job responsibilities
See full job description and person specification for details of the role.
Contact the Lead Nurse with any questions about the role
Person Specification
* Current NMC registration
* Non medical prescriber
* At least 12 months palliative care experience
* End of life care experience
* Palliative care symptom management experience
* Knowledge and experience of the most frequently used drugs in children's palliative care
* Advance Care Planning
* Car owner and driver
* Initiating and managing syringe drivers at end of life
* Able to participate in the on call rota
* Leadership training
* Community experience
* Clinical skills training
* Coaching skills
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.
Address
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
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