Job overview
The importance of infection prevention and control has never been greater, and we are seeking an experienced Lead Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Nurse to join our growing team.
At Oxford Health, we foster a passionate, ambitious, and supportive workforce, committed to delivering outstanding care in a respectful and nurturing environment. This role presents an exciting opportunity to lead a specialist service that positively impacts patients, visitors, and carers through high standards of clinical practice.
As our Lead IPC Nurse, you will oversee and enhance IPC measures across the Trust. Your leadership will be instrumental in developing and implementing systems that improve IPC management, aligning with national directives to enhance quality, patient safety, and safe working practices. Your work will involve risk assessment, surveillance, audits, intervention, and education, helping to reduce infection rates.
You'll guide the IPC Team, ensuring best practices are upheld across our community and mental health settings in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, and beyond.
Strong project management skills are essential, enabling you to plan and deliver services within set timeframes, anticipate challenges, and develop effective solutions. Naturally, you will be approachable, a dedicated team player, and an excellent communicator.
If you are ready for this exciting next step in your career, we would love to hear from you!
Main duties of the job
Leadership, Development and Management
1. Provide clinical expertise, leadership and advice relating to infection prevention and control issues.
2. Responsible as line manager with on-going management of a group of staff.
3. Support the infection prevention & control team including provision of clinical leadership/mentorship and supervision.
4. Carry out regular appraisals for staff, ensuring goals are clearly communicated and linked to objectives.
5. Support the Infection Prevention & Control Service to ensure the infection prevention agenda is achieved in line with The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice for the control and prevention of infection and related guidance within own department/area of responsibility.
Clinical
6. To organise, lead and contribute to new health care initiatives in the management of healthcare associated infections.
7. The application of microbiological, immunological and epidemiological knowledge to promote health prevention and control infections and communicable disease.
8. The application of the principles of cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation to promote a safe environment.
Education & Training
9. Identify, plan, deliver, evaluate and update programmes of education for all staff within the Trust
10. Initiate new and innovative programmes of education and training for all grades of staff to facilitate changes in practice.
Please refer to the job description attached for a comprehensive list of duties
Working for our organisation
Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.
As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”
Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”
We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:
• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people. We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible.
We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.
The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.
Please note if you are based outside of the UK you will need to be fully qualified, have already passed your OSCE and have an NMC pin number in order to be considered for this role
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
11. Current NMC qualification
12. Post Graduate certificate Infection Control
13. Relevant teaching qualification e.g. C&G 730/ENB 998
Desirable criteria
14. Educated to Master’s level qualification or equivalent
Experience
Essential criteria
15. Experience in managing staff, resources and budgets
16. Extensive experience practice as an Infection Control Nurse
17. Evidence of undertaking Risk assessments and risk management in relation to IPC
18. Experience of carrying out clinical incident learning reviews and working to developing learning plans
Knowledge
Essential criteria
19. Understanding of current healthcare issues i.e. clinical governance, risk management and quality controls assurance
20. Proven clinical leadership and change management skills
21. All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
22. Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
23. We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
24. Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
25. We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
26. We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
27. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
28. Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing