Working for us

Come and join Team North!

The Northern Trust employs around 12,000 people.  We have a highly skilled and professional workforce working across many different hospital and community sites. The Trust provides a range of health and social care services to a population of approximately 479,000 people across a geographical area of 1,733 square miles, making it the largest geographical trust in Northern Ireland.

Our highly skilled and professional workforce provides acute services through two hospitals (at Antrim Area and Causeway) and community-based health and social care services from four localities which together include approximately 300 facilities including day centres, health centres and residential homes.

Outpatients services are provided from Antrim Area, Causeway, Whiteabbey, Mid-Ulster and Moyle Hospitals and Braid Valley Care Complex, as well as from a range of community settings such as Ballymena Health and Care Centre.

We offer a large number of career opportunities, with great scope for ongoing advancement and development within the organisation. Visit our Benefits and Health and Wellbeing webpages for more information about working at the Northern Health and Social Care Trust and what we have to offer you as an organisation.

Learn more about the opportunities available within Health and Social Care

Career Opportunities within Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (Video transcript)

Staff benefits and discounts

• Annual leave and public holidays – Our terms and conditions of employment are very attractive as they include an annual leave entitlement up to 33 days if you have 10 years service (excluding public holidays). The leave year commences in April and ends in March.  On first appointment – 27 days annual leave*, After 5 years service – 29 days annual leave*, After 10 years service – 33 days annual leave* – All entitlements are pro rata for part-time staff.  On top of annual leave, all of our staff are entitled to 10 public holidays each year.
• Health Service Discounts – Our staff can receive a number of discounts both in stores and online by registering with https://healthservicediscounts.com/  Alternatively for a fee, you have access to a Blue Light Card.  For local discounts our staff can access staff services at www.staffservices.co.uk/.
• Eye Care Voucher Scheme – The Trust offers a scheme where eye sight tests are made available for staff identified as being Display Screen Equipment (DSE) users.  Staff may also be entitled to glasses/lenses if it is confirmed that they require them in their job.  Those members of staff who already wear glasses/lenses and who are identified as requiring further corrective lenses specifically for using DSE will also be entitled to this scheme.
• Car Leasing – Car leasing is part of a salary sacrifice scheme, which is designed to provide all permanent staff with the option of having access to a new car of their choice at a very competitive price whilst at the same time providing savings for the organisation that will support the services provided to patients. Please note that as this is a benefit in kind there will be tax, national insurance and pension implications. These should be fully understood before entering into an agreement.

Celebrating our staff

• Chairman’s Awards – Each year we recognise and reward Trust teams and staff who work to deliver high quality, effective and innovative services for the benefit of our service users.
• Long service – We formally recognise long service with a one-off award of five extra days leave (pro-rata) for every member of staff in the year they reach 25 years of service, (subject to the terms).
• We host an annual graduation ceremony to celebrate the achievements of staff from various disciplines across the Trust who have earned their qualifications through the Regulated Qualification Framework (RQF).

Family friendly resources and support

• Parental support: Balancing work with family life can be a real challenge. That’s why the Trust offers a number of benefits to make life that little bit easier!
• Maternity and Paternity Leave: As a member of staff you will have the option to access our generous maternity and paternity leave.
• Maternity Leave: Staff who have one year of service at the beginning of the 11th week before their expected week of childbirth (EWC) and 26 weeks continuous service with the Trust at the beginning of the 15th week before their EWC are entitled to full maternity leave entitlements of 8 weeks full pay, 18 weeks half pay plus SMP,13 weeks SMP only, and up to 13 weeks unpaid leave. This is a total of 52 weeks or one year. Paid time off is also allowed to attend doctor/hospital appointments and antenatal classes.
• Paternity Leave: Staff who have 52 weeks continuous service by the beginning of the expected week of childbirth (EWC) are entitled to two weeks full pay. If they have 26 weeks continuous service at 15 weeks before the EWC they are entitled to two weeks off with full pay for three days and the rest at Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) rate.
• Shared Parental Leave: As a member of staff within our Trust you can access both Shared Parental Leave and Shared Paternal pay if you have a baby or adopt a child.
• Adoption support: Adoption entitlement is similar to maternity leave and paid time off is allowed for staff to attend official meetings as part of the adoption process.
• Carer support: There is a lot of support within our Trust for carers. This includes Emergency Carers Leave, where in emergency situations and unforeseen circumstances all staff are entitled to take short periods of leave with pay, from a half day to three days in any one period, up to a maximum of 12 days four times a year, this applies to immediate family only. There is also a number of unpaid leave policies such as time off for dependents and parental leave which allow people with dependants and children to take time off without pay to allow them to fulfil caring roles.
• Carers Register: For those staff within our Trust who are looking after or supporting someone, the Carers Register is a great way to find our information about what’s available in Northern Trust.  The Register is a contact list so that we can keep carers up to date regularly with what’s going on. As part of the Carers Register you will have access to our Carer Support Programme. The programme is renewed every six months and those on our mailing list receive it first.  Classes are available to promote carer wellbeing and personal development. Events vary with anything from first aid training to mindfulness as well as carers catch ups or simply some tea, coffee nibbles and a chat with other carers.
• Digital resources for carers: The Trust is  a member of Employers for Carers and through this we have exclusive access to a designated carer website www.carersdigital.org.
  This brings all resources together onto a platform that is easy to navigate.  On the webpage you will find eLearning entitled “About me” – to help build resilience and the importance of networks, a nutritional advice section, all the Carers NI/UK resources and guides and an online forum.  Carers have 24/7 access and the website works on all iPhone, smartphone, Android, tablet and web browsers.
• Tax-Free Childcare Scheme: The government has introduced a Tax-Free Childcare scheme which provides parents with a tax refund of up to 20% of their childcare costs. Please note that as this is a benefit in kind there will be tax, national insurance and pension implications. These should be fully understood before entering into an agreement.
• Time off for dependants: Time off for dependants leave allows an employee to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off during their working hours to deal with certain unexpected or sudden emergencies and to make necessary longer-term arrangements. More information is available in our Flexible Working Policy.

Flexible working

The Trust recognises that the opportunity to work flexibly can greatly improve the ability of staff to balance home and work responsibilities. This, in turn, benefits HSCNI as it enables us to retain skilled staff and to reduce recruitment costs.

All employees have the opportunity to request flexible working from the first day of their employment, regardless of their role, band or service they work in.  A range of work-life balance and flexible working arrangements are available within all HSC Organisations including, fixed working patterns to give certainty over hours worked and/or location, part-time working (any number of hours under 37.5), flexi-time around core hours including staggered start and finish times, compressed/elongated hours, average hours working patterns to allow a set number of hours to be averaged over an agreed period, term-time working, job-share, flexible retirement, team self-rostering, homeworking and career breaks.

Successful applicants are encouraged to discuss with their manager what flexible working provisions may be available in the role they are taking up, prior to commencing employment, to help them achieve a positive work/life Balance.

Special Leave

HSC organisations also offer its employees a number of very generous leave provisions including: Occupational Sick Pay, parental leave, maternity leave, adoption leave, paternity leave, compassionate leave, dependants leave, marriage/civil partnership leave, carers/emergency leave, unpaid leave, time off to represent your country at a sporting event and time off for medical appointments.

Staff health and wellbeing

Nothing is more important than good health. That’s why we focus on your wellbeing, supporting our colleagues in achieving a healthy lifestyle both inside and outside the workplace.

• We have a wellbeing hub for staff called i-matter, to support you and your family (username: NorthernTrust, password: i-matter).
• Our Occupational Health and Wellbeing staff have a range of roles, to help promote and maintain your health and wellbeing in the workplace.  We have an occupational health physiotherapy service is to help staff rehabilitate back to work following a period of absence and maintain fitness for their job.
• Inspire Workplaces provide all our staff with an independent, confidential and professional counselling service for those who are experiencing personal or work difficulties. This is in addition to existing policies to support staff.
• We offer a Cycle2Work Scheme – whether you’re a nervous novice, endurance enthusiast or just spending some quality time with the family! More information available at www.cycle2work.info.  As this is a benefit in kind there will be tax, national insurance and pension implications. These should be fully understood before entering into an agreement.
• Free Flu Jab: Each year all our staff are offered the Flu Jab to protect themselves, their patients and their family.

Unlocking your potential

We recognise the importance of personal development, which is why we offer a range of opportunities to suit you.  We are committed to nurturing our people, enabling our talent and building our teams to help each of us contribute effectively to deliver our Team North objectives.

To support this, we have:

• A corporate learning directory, including statutory and mandatory training relating to your role, as well as learning to enhance personal development and wellbeing, people management and leadership skills, and links to clinical and social service training.
• eLearning –  access to a suite of digital eLearning courses (24/7 access to the training and digital resources).
• Leadership Pathways – To develop our Team North leaders through diverse opportunities to learn, grow and build leadership capability. We offer a series of leadership pathways to support leadership development at all levels across our Trust.
• Assistance to study – Encouraging staff to develop through training and education, with guidance on how to access support.
• Coaching within the Northern Trust

Coaching is all about thought-provoking conversations that inspire people to maximise their personal and professional potential. This can be done in a one-to-one setting with a Trust coach, or by using a ‘coach approach’ when interacting with colleagues and team members. Coaching conversations are goal-oriented, and can help unlock potential, support you to achieve ambitions and goals, and inspire you to think about ways to overcome challenges.

Within our Trust we have a network of formally trained coaches, who have all passed the ILM Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring. Our coaches come from all different directorates and divisions throughout the Trust, and regularly attend supervision sessions to keep their practice up to date and ethical. Unlike mentoring, your coach doesn’t need to be senior to you, nor do they need a working knowledge of your area of work and expertise. Some people think coaching is reserved for managers, but the truth is that all of us can benefit from coaching.