Paediatric and other specialist agency nurses are increasingly in demand for work in a patient’s home setting – see the feature on Ambition 24hours in ‘Nursing Standard’ magazine (May 27, 2009). Ambition 24Nurses provides temporary nursing and domiciliary care nationwide, 24-7. We are actively recruiting qualified nursing staff who are interested in part-time work, day or night, weekends or bank holidays.

Demand for home nurses is greatest from families with seriously ill children. The need has never been greater in particular for nurses who can provide support with ventilation or tracheostomies in the home.

Parents of sick children are increasingly choosing specialist support in a domestic setting wherever possible. This type of work is ideal for many nurses: they often continue to work in hospital intensive care units, but want additional shifts. Working with Ambition increases flexibility and availability of work for nurses.

As parents of sick children often need a combination of specialist and non-specialist support, healthcare assistants are trained to deliver essential personal care. Parents often opt for a tailored package combining the contributions of specialist nurses and care assistants.

For many specialist nurses, meeting the increasing needs of parents with a sick child at home works well. As a part-time NHS paediatric nurse specialising in continuing care, Katie Randall was interviewed for the article. She explained that she uses her agency work with Ambition 24Nurses to top up her hours when she can arrange child care.

“ I like working with children in their own home,’ says Katie Randall. “ It’s more hands-on than in an acute setting, and you have more time to give proper care to the child. As a mum, I cannot work full-time, so this suits me well. By nursing these children, I am benefiting the NHS, but it also gives me flexibility.”

Georgina Hills is another agency nurse with Ambition 24Nurses. She works nights with children including those who have tracheostomies and young children who need palliative care.

“Families need that overnight support,” says Georgina Hills. “Working this way is wonderful, because families are so appreciative. Back-up is always available in an emergency. The benefits to families are huge – and for nurses there is more flexibility.”

Ambition 24Nurses seeks nursing staff with a range of specialties, including mental health, post-operative rehabilitation, eating disorders, paediatric and older people’ support, learning difficulties and oncology homecare