As the largest NHS Trust in England, MFT offers a wide range of opportunities in all our theatres across our hospitals to work in the most cutting-edge units and expand your learning, becoming part of our high performing and supportive Theatre Nursing community. Our surgery teams perform a wide range of surgical procedures for patients in state-of-the-art operating theatres.
By joining us, you will benefit from all kinds of exciting opportunities to build on your skills and experience.
We have vacancies for Band 5 Theatre Nurses with or without theatre experience. If you are a Registered Nurse with a passion for providing high quality care, it does not matter whether you are newly qualified or working in another specialty – we would love you to join our team and take on one of the most exciting and fulfilling jobs in Nursing.
You would be working in (at least) one of our three main roles: anaesthetic support, scrub, and post anaesthetic recovery, with many of the team choosing to maintain skills in two areas rotating across surgical specialities. Read on to discover more about what you will be doing in these three areas and the key skills you will need.
Anaesthetic Support
You will:
• Provide 1:1 support to patients often being the last person they see before they are sedated and the first person they see after their operation
• Work closely with our anaesthetic consultants and colleagues to manage patients’ airways and ensure their safety is maintained throughout
• Have a mind for medical apparatus and be able to keep a number of systems in check simultaneously
• You will be front and centre of all our cases from elective to emergency and everything in between!
Scrub
You will:
• Be integral to the smooth running of the theatre, often taking charge and leading lists
• Drive the team brief and safer surgery checklists keeping the patient at the centre of care delivery
• Be organised and make sure you have everything to hand, having a vast knowledge of procedures and the instruments needed
• Maintain safety keeping check of equipment and working with the multi-disciplinary team throughout surgery to ensure it runs smoothly
• Be the link between the operating room, other areas in theatres and the wider hospital too.
Post Anaesthetic Recovery
You will:
• Develop relationships with patients and learn to recognise even the slightest signs of deterioration
• Maintain patient airways following their procedure
• Be confident under pressure responding to fast changing situations
• Deliver post-operative care of the highest quality to patients from the operating theatre to their destination ward
• Manage safe and effective flow through the theatre department to ensure efficiencies are maintained
• Support both the physical and psychological wellbeing of patients as they recover from their sedation.
Meet Our Team
Watch our short video featuring Shirma Kelly, one of our dedicated senior Nurse leaders, talking about her passion for working in MFT theatres, the opportunities it has enabled her to develop her skills and the amazing support networks she has experienced in her 22 years here at MFT.
Our Theatre teams
Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI)
Based at the Oxford Road site, is one of the largest operating theatre departments across the Northwest, consisting of 18 operating theatres and 21 post anaesthetic recovery bays. As part of an exciting redesign of the hospital’s emergency estate we are working towards building 6 new theatres and re-furbishing our existing estate to ensure we can provide the very best, cutting-edge care to our patients.
As Greater Manchester’s Major Trauma Centre we in the MRI provide the highest quality specialist care to patients in emergency situations, often at their most vulnerable times. The opening of our state-of-the-art elevated helipad – the only one of its kind in Northwest England – makes us even more accessible as a service to patients in the region. We operate an emergency theatre service 24 hours, 7 days a week including Cardiac emergency care.
Our emergency theatre service is also supported by our Emergency Anaesthetic Practitioners (EAP’s) who respond to clinical emergency situations across the hospital and support our anaesthetist teams in caring for critically ill patients.
We provide highly specialised elective care including Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation, Urology, Colo-rectal, Ear Nose and Throat and Maxillo-Facial Surgeries. We are the Greater Manchester hub site for Vascular and for Head & Neck Cancer Surgeries.
We also have a team of theatre practitioners who form part of the Northwest Organ Retrieval Service Team (NORS) going to hospitals across all the UK to assist with the retrieval of abdominal organs – kidneys, liver and pancreas supporting the nationwide organ donation and transplant services.
Our size and scope mean you will gain exposure to a variety of complex cases that are hard to find at other Trusts. You’d be joining an expanding team of more than 250 multi-professional staff ranging from Operating Department Practitioners (ODP’s) to Nursing Assistants, Nurse Associates, and Registered Nurses.
Wythenshawe, Trafford, Withington, and Altrincham (WTWA)
WTWA has 7 theatre suites across the sites with a total of 26 operating theatres, providing a range of specialist surgery. We have 5 Cardiac theatres performing a full range of Cardiothoracic Surgery, including Heart and Lung Transplant and Full Structural Heart Programme.
Cardiac theatre supports the ECMO service, which is one of the 5 national centres for this service in the UK. Here, you will have the opportunity to work closely with the Cardiac Catheter Lab and Cardiac ICU.
We have 6 theatres within the Main Theatres (F Block), undertaking elective surgery including Breast, ENT including major Head and Neck Surgery & ‘Max Fax’, Urology and Gynae Surgery with a bit of General surgery, Vascular and Orthopaedics. We also cover the maternity suite so there are great opportunities to expand your knowledge.
Our Treatment and Diagnostic Centre has 3 Theatres, which currently house the regional Centre of Excellence for Hand Surgery, Breast, and Tendon Reconstruction across Europe. As such, any successful candidate would be working at the forefront of plastic surgical procedures across Greater Manchester.
There are 7 Acute theatres, undertaking both elective and non-elective work. We specialise in Trauma & Elective Orthopaedics, Emergencies, Colorectal and Upper GI Surgery, and open and interventional cases. The department provides the hospital with excellent 24/7 cover for elective and emergency patient care.
There are 9 Trafford theatres, undertaking elective surgeries for both day case and inpatient surgeries. We undertake mainly elective Orthopaedic surgeries including major revision cases. We also undertake day case surgeries including General, ENT, Urology, Paediatrics, and Dental Surgeries.
Royal Manchester Children's Hospital (RMCH) Theatres
The leading provider of paediatric tertiary and specialist healthcare services in Manchester, treating more than a million patients every year. The theatre department consists of 9 operating theatres, a Minor Procedures Unit and 10 post anaesthetic recovery bays. Within our theatres we provide highly specialised elective care including Renal Transplantation, Spinal, Neurosurgical, Burns & Plastics, Neonatal, Thoracic, Complex ENT, Trauma & Orthopaedics.
We have a newly developed walk-in/walk-out (WIWO) service based in our recovery area, and we also operate a number of satellite services; iMRI theatre (intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging) and RMCH theatres work closely with The Christie NHS Foundation Trust to provide anaesthetic and recovery services to one of only two high energy NHS proton beam therapy centres in the UK, providing staff with the opportunity to diversify and develop clinical skills in new and exciting areas of practice.
As Greater Manchester’s only Major Trauma Centre for paediatric patients, we provide the highest quality specialist care in emergency situations, often when they are at their most vulnerable. The opening of our state-of-the-art elevated helipad is the only one of its kind in Northwest England and makes us much more accessible as a service to patients requiring emergency care. We operate an emergency theatre service 24 hours, 7 days a week covering all Paediatric specialities, and we are also the Regional Centre for Neonatal surgery.
This is a fantastic opportunity to develop and expand your knowledge and skills not only in Paediatrics, but also within a diverse and challenging range of specialties that you cannot find in other organisations.
North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH)
NMGH consists of 9 operating theatres, 2 maternity theatres, plus 14 post anaesthetic recovery bays across 3 units.
As part of an exciting rebuild of the hospital’s estate we are working towards building an additional 3 new theatres, and 10 post anaesthetic recovery bays in a state-of-the-art single unit, as well as re-furbishing our existing estate to ensure we can provide the very best, cutting-edge care to our patients.
Our emergency theatre service and maternity theatre service runs 24 hours, 7 days a week along with orthopaedic trauma 7 days a week We also provide highly specialised elective care including Breast Oncology and Gender Reassignment Surgery, Urology, General Surgery, Gynaecology and Oral Maxillo-Facial Surgeries including Head and Neck Cancer Surgeries and reconstruction Surgery.
Saint Mary’s Hospital (SMH)
SMH Theatres are one of the largest operating theatre departments, that are dedicated to women’s health in the Northwest, consisting of 7 operating theatres, 3 for Gynaecology, 3 for Obstetrics and 1 for IVF.
We are one of a very small number of Uro-Gynae centres in the UK and specialise in Mesh removal and are a tertiary centre for highly complex Obstetric Surgery and Gynae-Oncology. We operate 2 emergency Obstetric theatres service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We also provide highly specialised elective Gynaecology care including Gynae-Oncology, Uro-gynae, Benign, Reproductive Medicine, Endometriosis.
You could be part of a top team of theatre practitioners, surgeons and anaesthetists providing specialist care for our patients on every step of their journey with us.
From pre-operative assessment and preparation, surgery to post-operative recovery, the care you will provide will help our patients to make as full a recovery as possible.
Our size and scope enable you to gain exposure to a variety of complex cases that are hard to find at other Trusts.
Relocation Package & Benefits
To find out more about what our package is made up of along with all the generous benefits we provide, take a look at these sections on the main page.
If you are up to the challenge of taking on one of the most rewarding jobs in healthcare, we want to hear from you.
Get in Touch
If you are interested in taking the next step in your Nursing career with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, then take the first step by emailing your CV to internationalteam@ttmhealthcare.com.
