Find nursing shifts across Essex
Novello Healthcare puts real nursing and healthcare assistant shifts across Essex in your pocket. Book through the app, see the confirmed pay before you accept, and pick work that fits around your life, from Colchester and Chelmsford down to Basildon and Southend-on-Sea.
Quick enquiry
Looking for work in Essex?
Leave your details and we’ll come back to you with the nursing, care and support shifts we have near you in Essex — and what they pay. It takes about twenty seconds.
Nursing in Essex
Why nurses choose Novello in Essex
Straightforward shifts, honest pay and a team that actually picks up the phone.
Shifts where you live
From the big acute wards at Broomfield in Chelmsford, Basildon and Colchester to care homes along the Tendring coast and community teams around Harlow and Epping Forest, we cover the whole county. Tell us how far you will travel and we keep the shifts close to home.
Pay you can see up front
No guessing. The rate is on every shift before you accept it, and we pay weekly. What you see in the app is what lands in your account.
Compliance made painless
One quick registration, help with your DBS, mandatory training and references, and a compliance team that chases the paperwork so you do not have to. Once you are cleared you can pick up work anywhere in Essex or across the UK.
The county we cover
The Essex healthcare landscape
It helps to know the ground you would be working on, so here is a plain look at who runs care across Essex.
Most of the county’s acute hospital care sits with two NHS trusts. Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, formed in 2020, runs Basildon University Hospital, Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford and Southend University Hospital. Basildon is home to the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre, Broomfield houses the St Andrew’s Centre for Plastic Surgery and Burns, a regional burns and plastics service, and Southend holds the trust’s cancer centre. Basildon and Southend both run emergency departments as trauma units within the North East London and Essex Trauma Network. In the north of the county, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, formed in 2018, runs Colchester Hospital and its busy A and E, backed by community hospitals at Clacton, Halstead and Harwich.
Mental health, learning disability and community services across Essex are largely delivered by Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, or EPUT, formed in 2017, which runs inpatient units, crisis and first response teams and community nursing for a population well over a million. Secure and acute mental health beds are also provided independently at St Andrew’s Healthcare in North Benfleet, near Basildon. On the justice side, HMP Chelmsford is the county’s operational prison, a Category B local prison and young offender institution; the former Bullwood Hall prison at Hockley closed in 2013. The private sector is strong too, with Nuffield Health Brentwood Hospital, Spire Hartswood in Brentwood, Ramsay’s Springfield Hospital in Chelmsford and Oaks Hospital in Colchester, and Spire Wellesley in Southend all running theatre lists.
Where we work
Where we cover in Essex
From the Thames-side towns to the north Essex coast, our shifts span the whole county.
Hospitals and theatres
Acute wards, day units and operating theatres across the Mid and South Essex sites in Basildon, Chelmsford and Southend, Colchester Hospital in the north, and the independent theatres at Springfield, Hartswood and Brentwood.
Care homes and community
Nursing and residential homes across Essex and community nursing from the Tendring coast around Clacton to the towns of Harlow, Braintree and Maldon, where an ageing population keeps demand steady.
Mental health and secure
EPUT inpatient and community mental health units across the county, plus secure and acute placements at St Andrew’s Healthcare in North Benfleet.
We cover Chelmsford, Colchester, Basildon, Southend-on-Sea, Harlow, Brentwood, Braintree, Clacton-on-Sea and towns right across Essex.
Novello covers the areas around Essex too. Browse our East of England region page, cross into Greater London to the south west, or head north west into Hertfordshire.
On the map
Our Essex coverage
Explore the map to see the hospitals and areas we staff across Essex.
Specialisms in Essex
Specialisms we staff in Essex
From Basildon’s Essex Cardiothoracic Centre to EPUT’s mental health wards and the independent theatres in Brentwood, most specialisms find regular work in Essex.
- Nursing & care homes
- Mental health
- Prison nursing
- Critical care
- Theatres
Nursing & care homes
Essex has a large and growing older population, and Essex County Council commissions much of its residential and nursing care through its Integrated Residential and Nursing Care Framework. That means steady work in nursing and residential homes across the county, from Colchester and Chelmsford to the coastal towns of Clacton and Frinton, for registered nurses and healthcare assistants alike.
Mental health
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust runs the bulk of the county’s mental health services, from acute inpatient wards and psychiatric intensive care to crisis and first response teams and community mental health nursing. St Andrew’s Healthcare in North Benfleet adds independent acute and low secure beds. Mental health nurses and support workers are consistently in demand.
Prison nursing
HMP Chelmsford is the main prison in Essex, a Category B local prison and young offender institution, and prison healthcare here relies on nurses used to a secure setting. The former Bullwood Hall prison at Hockley closed in 2013, so if secure work appeals, forensic and low secure mental health at St Andrew’s in North Benfleet is often the closer fit, alongside the wider secure estate over the borders in Hertfordshire and east London.
Critical care
Basildon University Hospital runs the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre and, with Southend, operates as a trauma unit in the North East London and Essex Trauma Network. Broomfield’s St Andrew’s Centre for Plastic Surgery and Burns has its own adult and paediatric intensive care for severe burns and major skin loss. Critical care and ITU experience travels well across these sites and Colchester Hospital.
Theatres
Scrub, recovery and anaesthetic nurses are needed both in the NHS, across the Basildon, Broomfield, Southend and Colchester theatres, and in the independent sector at Nuffield Health Brentwood, Spire Hartswood, Ramsay’s Springfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Oaks Hospital in Colchester and Spire Wellesley in Southend.
Care & support work in Essex
Care and support work in Essex
Most care in Essex is delivered by care assistants and support workers rather than registered nurses. Essex County Council is one of the largest county authorities in England, and its adult social care spans older people’s care homes, supported living and specialist brain-injury rehabilitation. Whatever your background, there is regular work near you.
- Care assistant
- Support worker
- Dementia care
- Brain injury
Care assistant
Essex has 212 older people’s residential and nursing care homes with close to 10,800 beds, and Essex County Council alone funds nearly 3,000 residents, most of them placed through its Integrated Residential and Nursing framework. Demand is heaviest on the coast: in Tendring, around Clacton and Frinton, roughly 30% of residents are aged 65 or over — the highest proportion of any Essex district. Care assistants are the backbone of these homes, supporting residents with everyday living, personal care and companionship.
Support worker
Essex County Council is actively shifting learning-disability and disability support away from residential placements towards supported living, with the number of adults supported in their own tenancies steadily rising as residential placements fall. That means steady demand for support workers who help the people they support live as independently as possible — in their own homes and out in the community, rather than in a care-home setting.
Dementia care
Nearly 23,000 people aged over 65 across Essex are living with dementia, a figure Essex County Council expects to rise by around a third by 2030 as the county’s older population grows. The council has published its own Essex dementia strategy backing earlier diagnosis and post-diagnosis support across the county. Dementia care is some of the most valued work in the sector, supporting residents to live well day to day.
Brain injury
Essex has a genuine brain-injury cluster — Headway Essex runs a dedicated centre at Woodland Walk in Colchester with day services in both Colchester and Benfleet, ESNEFT’s neuro-rehabilitation team is based at Colchester Hospital, and Brainkind’s Cook Close in Harwich provides specialist neurobehavioural support for people with an acquired brain injury. Rehabilitation support workers here help the people they support rebuild skills and independence after a brain injury, work closely related to the complex-care roles that involve tracheostomy and other clinical support.
Not sure which fits? See all care & support roles →
The Novello app
Your work life, in one app
Find Essex shifts, see your confirmed pay and keep your compliance in one place. No more chasing paperwork. Everything you need, on iOS and Android.
For Essex employers
Hiring nurses in Essex?
Whether it is a ward at a Mid and South Essex or Colchester site, a Tendring care home or a community team around Harlow, we can help with reliable cover.
We supply nurses and healthcare assistants to care homes, hospitals, community teams and secure settings across Essex, from Chelmsford and Colchester to Basildon, Southend and the Thames-side towns of Grays and Tilbury. Tell us what you need and we fill it with compliant, checked staff.
Reviews
Don't just take our word for it.
Novello are highly professional, making the onboarding process easier. What I like most is the fact I can book shifts on the app at my own convenience!
Sarah Theatre
Very competent staff and a welcoming, supportive team. What I like most is the variety of shifts in the Novello app!
Khadra RGN
Everything is really simple. The whole process of joining, and then finding and booking shifts. It's so simple!
Dan SFA
Frameworks & accreditations
Good to know
Essex nursing agency FAQs
Which areas of Essex does Novello cover?
The whole county, from Colchester, Chelmsford and Harlow in the north and west to Basildon, Southend-on-Sea and the Thames-side towns in the south. If you can get to a shift, we can usually find you one nearby.
What kinds of shifts can I pick up in Essex?
Acute hospital wards and theatres at the Mid and South Essex and Colchester sites, care and nursing homes, community nursing, and mental health placements with EPUT and at St Andrew's in North Benfleet. Whether you are a registered nurse or a healthcare assistant, there is regular work.
How does pay work?
Every shift shows its confirmed rate in the app before you accept it, and we pay weekly. No haggling and no surprises.
Do I need to be based in Essex to register?
No. Register once with Novello and you can book shifts anywhere in Essex or across the UK. Plenty of our nurses pick up work near home in Essex and further afield when it suits.
I run a care home or ward in Essex. Can you supply staff?
Yes. We provide fully compliant nurses and healthcare assistants to hospitals, care homes, community teams and secure settings across Essex. Get in touch and we will cover your gaps.
Ready to pick up shifts in Essex?
Register with Novello Healthcare today. It takes minutes, and once you are cleared you can book Essex shifts straight from the app, with the pay shown up front every time.
Call 0333 307 8897 · hello@novellohealthcare.com
