Children's nurse

Children’s nurses are qualified medical experts who work as part of a multi-disciplinary team, from diagnosis through every stage of a patient’s healthcare journey.   

They deliver clinical treatment and care for a variety of patients – everyone from a sick newborn to a toddler with a long-term condition, and an adolescent accident victim. So, they need to have medical expertise combined with sensitivity and intuition.

Children’s nurses assess and observe their patients to help establish the best way to plan and provide their care. They need to be able to consider the care and support needed by the wider family, including parents and carers, and to explain procedures to enable them to consent to treatment. 

As a children’s nurse, you might also be involved in promoting child health and educating parents and carers on looking after their children.

Many children's nurses work in NHS hospitals. 

Other settings where you could work include: 

• GP surgeries, as a specialist in child health 
• day care centres, child health clinics, and school health education units 
• travel companies or holiday resorts 
• nursing agencies 
• private healthcare organisations 
• patients' homes 
• charities and voluntary organisations

Children’s nurses working in the NHS will usually start on band 5, which goes from £24,214 to £30,112, and you’ll do 37.5 hrs per week as standard.

You might work in a shift pattern if you work in a residential setting. With further experience, training, and qualifications, children’s nurses can move into more senior posts with higher salary bands.

If you work in the private or voluntary sectors, or another public sector organisation, your pay and benefits will vary.

As you progress through your career there are plenty of options.

You can specialise in an area such as: 

• neonatal intensive care 
• paediatric oncology 
• burns and plastics 
• child protection 
• ambulatory care 
• asthma 
• orthopaedics 
• diabetes 
• counselling 
• continuing care for children with special needs 
• work within young people's units

You could also move to work in management, teaching or clinical research.  

To be a successful children’s nurse, you’ll need excellent communication skills. You’ll need to be intuitive and able to reassure distressed children and their families. 

Planning the right care and treatment starts with listening to the patient and their family or carers, to understand their needs – and this isn’t always straightforward. 

You'll also need to advise or teach the child's parents or carers what they’ll need to do to treat the child at home. 

So good communication is crucial at every level, both between you and the patients and families, and between you and your colleagues.

Adults can express their feelings and can tell you about the severity and nature of pain. But a child may not be able to. As a children’s nurse, you need to be able to interpret a child’s behaviour and reactions. 

A child’s health can often go downhill rapidly. So a children's nurse needs to be able to spot when a patient’s health takes a turn for the worse and respond quickly.

A children’s nurse works at the centre of a multi-disciplinary team alongside a lot of other qualified medical professionals. 

The multi-disciplinary team includes:

• doctors
• healthcare assistants
• psychologists
• social workers
• hospital play staff
• newborn hearing screeners

To deliver the best care, the whole team needs to be able to work together effectively. 

You need to be able to deal with the emotions you’ll encounter every day. You need to stay professional, and maintain positive mental and physical health, both for yourself and so you can provide the best care to your patients.

As a children’s nurse, your patients and their carers need to feel comfortable talking to you about their concerns and fears. Being friendly and approachable makes it easier for you to communicate effectively with everyone involved, improving the patient experience.  

Ensuring that children and young people feel they can trust you is a vital part of the role. By being approachable, you’ll relieve anxiety and fear, and help children feel welcome and relaxed in hospital.  

To become a learning disability nurse you’ll need to train and study at a degree level in a course approved by the Nursing & Midwifery Council. Some degree courses let you study another area of nursing alongside learning disability nursing.

You may be able to join a nursing degree on the second year of a course if you already have a degree in:

• a health-related subject
• psychology
• life sciences
• social work

Full-time courses usually take three years.

You can find a learning disability nursing course to suit you using the NHS’ Course Finder tool.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need: 

• five GCSEs 9 to 4 (A* to C), including English, maths, and a science
• two or three A levels, including a science, or a Level 3 diploma or Access to higher education in health, science or nursing

You may be able to do a degree apprenticeship in nursing if you work in a healthcare setting like a hospital. The apprenticeship takes around four years and is a mix of academic study and on-the-job training. You must be supported by your employer to take this route.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

• four or five GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), and college qualifications like A levels for a degree apprenticeship

You may be able to qualify through an 18-month learning disability nursing conversion course if you're already a registered nurse in a different branch. You'll need to speak to your employer if you want to do this.