Nursing Careers UK

NHS employer · Craigavon, Northern Ireland

Nursing careers at Southern Health and Social Care Trust

Southern Health and Social Care Trust is an integrated care organisation based in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, organisation code ZT003. Workforce and staff survey figures for this organisation are not in the open dataset yet, so this page does not state any. What it does cover is what the organisation type means for your caseload and preceptorship, where it sits, and which universities nearby train the roles it employs.

Integrated care organisationNorthern Ireland
Integrated care organisation Organisation type ODS code ZT003
£31,049 Band 5 starting salary Northern Ireland, 2025/26 scale
Not published CQC rating Not in the open dataset for this organisation
Not published Staff survey response rate Not in the open dataset for this organisation
Not published Nursing staff Organisation-level workforce data is not in the open dataset yet
Not published Staff overall Whole-organisation headcount not published here

What working here is like

This organisation runs acute and community services together, and in many cases mental health services as well. For nursing staff that is a meaningful structural advantage: the ward, the outpatient clinic and the patient’s home sit inside one employer, so a nursing career can follow the whole pathway without you having to change job to see the other end of it.

Practically, it usually means a wider range of posts to move between later in your career, and services that are organised around a place rather than around a building. It can also mean travel, since an organisation of this shape covers a large geographical patch, and a caseload that shifts between hospital-paced and community-paced work.

None of that is specific to Southern Health and Social Care Trust — it is what the organisation type tells you, and it is the part that reliably holds. The parts that vary between two organisations of the same type are the size of each ward or team, how the preceptorship year is structured, how much band 6 progression is built into the establishment, and how far apart the sites are. Those are questions for the recruitment page and for the informal visit that most nursing teams will happily arrange before you apply. Southern Health and Social Care Trust’s own website is the authoritative source for current vacancies and department structure.

Organisation type
Integrated care organisation
Based in
Craigavon
Nation
Northern Ireland
ODS code
ZT003
Pay scale that applies
Agenda for Change 2025/26, Northern Ireland

Nursing roles employed here

Based on what integrated care organisations run rather than on a published staff list: these are the professions whose services this kind of organisation provides. Each page covers the caseload, the pay ladder and where the local courses are.

Adult Nurse at Southern Health and Social Care Trust

Adults of all ages with acute and long-term conditions, and their families, across hospital, outpatient, home and community settings.

Usually starts at band 5

Children's Nurse at Southern Health and Social Care Trust

Babies, children and young people from birth to adolescence, and their parents or guardians.

Usually starts at band 5Taught in Northern Ireland

Learning Disability Nurse at Southern Health and Social Care Trust

People with learning disabilities and their families, across the lifespan and across health, social care and education settings.

Usually starts at band 5

Mental Health Nurse at Southern Health and Social Care Trust

People experiencing a wide range of mental health conditions, across inpatient, specialist and community settings.

Usually starts at band 5Taught in Northern Ireland

Nursing Associate at Southern Health and Social Care Trust

Patients across all four nursing fields, working alongside healthcare support workers and registered nurses.

Usually starts at band 4

Where it is, and who trains near it

Southern Health and Social Care Trust sits in Craigavon, Northern Ireland. Geography matters in nursing recruitment, because pre-registration courses carry a large block of supervised clinical practice and those placements are commissioned with the trusts and boards nearest the university. Students placed with an organisation know its systems, its staff and its patients before they graduate, and a substantial share of newly qualified appointments go to people who were placed there. 1 university in Northern Ireland runs approved nursing courses, training children's nurses and mental health nurses among others.

Pay is a national question rather than a local one: Southern Health and Social Care Trust pays the Northern Ireland Agenda for Change rates for 2025/26, the same as every other NHS employer in the nation. What does vary between employers is everything around the salary: how long a rotation lasts, how much protected time you get for supervision and continuing professional development, whether band 6 progression is planned into the establishment, and how far you will drive between sites.

Universities in Northern Ireland

The providers whose placement circuits are most likely to include this organisation.

Queen's University Belfast

children's nurses and mental health nurses

Belfast2 courses

Other NHS organisations in Northern Ireland

The realistic alternatives if you are looking for a first post in this area — they pay the same bands, so the difference is the caseload.

NHS organisations in Northern Ireland
Organisation Type Based in
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Integrated care organisation Belfast
Northern Health and Social Care Trust Integrated care organisation Antrim
Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust Ambulance service Belfast
South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust Integrated care organisation Belfast
Western Health and Social Care Trust Integrated care organisation Londonderry

How the pay ladder works here

The same four steps apply at every NHS employer; what differs is how quickly the posts come up.

£27,485 Band 4 · Newly qualified First post after registration, for roles that start at band 4 (e.g. nursing associates).
£31,049 Band 5 · Newly qualified First post after registration, usually rotational.
£38,682 Band 6 · Specialist Typically two to four years in; a defined clinical specialty.
£47,810 Band 7 · Advanced or team lead Clinical leadership, complex caseload, supervision.
£55,690 Band 8a · Consultant or service lead Service-wide responsibility or consultant practice.

Next steps

Where this page’s data comes from

This page publishes the organisation record and the national pay scale only. No workforce, staff survey or inspection figures for this organisation are in the open dataset yet.