Job overview
Critical Care at Guy’s and St Thomas’ is one of the largest, most specialised and comprehensive critical care services in the NHS and is located in the centre of London. With over 100 critical care beds within the division we can offer an innovative, challenging and inspirational career experience. It is also one of five ECMO centres in the UK, with a 24/7 consultant-led retrieval service and engage closely with referring centres to inform of best clinical practice. The critical care service is recognised internationally for supporting patients beyond the walls of intensive care and taking a holistic view of their recovery back to health. The department runs a well-established recovery clinic and peer support group, led by a multi-disciplinary team of critical care professionals.
The purpose of the critical care recovery service is to provide support, oversight and care-coordination to patients recovering from critical illness.
The secondment role will work closely alongside the clinical nurse specialist leading the team. It focuses on providing holistic inpatient support to patients who have stepped down from ICU/HDU, as well as once patients have been discharged from hospital, via phone and video calls and liaising with community teams.
Please note to be considered for this vacancy you must have completed a critical care course and have Band 6 experience.
Closing date: 12th October 2025
Main duties of the job
We are recruiting for a Band 6 follow up service secondment .
We are looking for nurses with a willingness to learn and have the ability to adapt and refine their skills according to the demands of the critical care recovery service. This role offers a unique, challenging and inspirational career development opportunity, to step outside the walls of the intensive care unit to understand the challenges patients face once they are discharged.
Working for our organisation
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK’s best known hospitals – Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield – as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.
We are among the UK’s busiest, most successful foundation trusts. We provide specialist care for patients including heart and lung, cancer and renal services as well as a full range of local hospital and community services for people in Lambeth and Southwark.
We have a long tradition of clinical and scientific achievement and – as part of King’s Health Partners – we are one of England’s eight academic health sciences centres, bringing together world-class clinical services, teaching and research. We have one of the National Institute for Health Research’s biomedical research centres, established with King’s College London in 2007, as well as dedicated clinical research facilities.
We have around 22,700 staff, making us one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country and one of the biggest employers locally. We aim to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and continue to develop new and existing partnerships with local people, patients, neighbouring NHS organisations, local authorities and charitable bodies and GPs.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. Work alongside the clinical nurse specialist and the critical care recovery team to support patients after discharge from critical care
2. Conduct holistic patient assessment for early signs of post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) through inpatient ward visits
3. Conduct outreach phone/video calls to patients recently discharged from hospital, and liaise closely with community services to ensure needs are being met
4. Provide accessible information and resources for patients to normalise and educate on the prevalence and experience of PICS
5. Identify where MDT input is required, liaise closely with MDT colleagues and make timely referrals to address early signs of PIC
6. Ensure excellent, clear, direct, empathetic verbal and written communication with patients, relatives and colleagues
7. Provide psychological/wellbeing support for patients and their relatives
8. Manage patients/relatives who are in distress with tenderness and compassion
9. Triage psychological concerns and refer to appropriate mental health service
10. Take responsibility for assessing and recognising urgent physical and mental health needs, and escalate these appropriately
11. Advocate strongly for patients within the wider MDT and hospital system, by challenging unhelpful, damaging attitudes, culture and practice
12. Provide delirium debriefing and a safe space to explore distressing memories from critical care
13. Assist with sense-making about the patient timeline and event chronology through the critical care journey
14. Provide a holistic, person-centred approach to current issues and onward journey – seeing them as ‘people’ not ‘patients’
15. Pay close attention to patients’ religious, spiritual, occupational, vocational, financial, social, cultural, language, family and communication needs and preferences to ensure that patients are receiving individualised care
16. Provide education and awareness with ward staff about patient journey and experience in critical care
17. Share knowledge, learning and patient feedback with critical care staff to positively impact practice
18. Participate in regular 1:1 and group supervision sessions for case discussion, and building of self-awareness practice to understand own emotional responses to difficult situations
19. Work autonomously to manage a caseload, with the support of team members and team lead. Delegate and divide workload as appropriate. Manage own time and identify and maintain support network for self and others
20. Participate in service evaluation, clinical audit, quality improvement and service development projects related to the recovery team
21. Provide leadership, role modelling and advocacy for patient experience when working clinically in critical care
22. Provide formal and informal teaching on PICS and the patient experience of critical care
23. Is wholly accountable for his/her practice in line with the NMC code of professional conduct and takes every reasonable opportunity to sustain and improve his / her knowledge and professional competence
24. Ensure that sensitive patient records are stored appropriately.
25. Ensure staff take precautions to minimise the risk of cross infection in relation to the safe disposal of body fluids (including blood).
26. Identify and intervene where circumstances contribute to an unsafe environment for patients and staff. To bring instances to the attention of the Sister/Charge Nurse for the area.
27. Maintain accurate records of the clinical service and ensuring that confidentiality of information is adhered to.
28. Take an active role in risk assessment, supporting implementation of strategies to minimise risk. Ensuring incidents and near misses are reported, through promoting a no blame culture.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
29. BSC/1st degree (health related) or equivalent qualification/training and experience
30. Mentorship/ SSSA&P/ DLS
31. Post registration qualification/ specialist ICU or HDU course (appropriate area of speciality)
32. Evidence of professional/clinical knowledge in area supplemented by specialist clinical, managerial training and CPD
Desirable criteria
33. Leadership qualification
34. People Management Programme
35. Advanced communication course
Professional/ Statutory Registration
Essential criteria
36. RN1 Registered Nurse on the NMC register. To hold the appropriate level for the area of speciality
Experience
Essential criteria
37. Experience and competence in the management of patients within the speciality
38. Experience of teaching/assessing/ supervising others in a clinical setting
39. Demonstrates independent working and decision making
40. Previous post registration experience within the relevant speciality
Skills/Knowledge/Ability
Essential criteria
41. Up to date knowledge of current clinical and professional issues. Knowledge of evidence based practice
42. Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate specialist care delivered to patients/clients and give relevant advice/information to patients and relatives
43. Good communication skills and ability to deal with sensitive information. To include dealing with distressed relatives, care of terminally ill & other challenging situations
44. Demonstrate an awareness of clinical governance and risk management and how this effects their role and the department
45. Demonstrate ability to manage own time effectively
Desirable criteria
46. IT skills
47. Understanding of PICs
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.