Head of Nursing - Lewisham Community Services

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Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 - the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as "good" or "outstanding" in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King's College London's GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

We are looking for a Head of Nursing who has community nursing experience who would be able to join us as soon as possible for the next 6 months.

The Head of Nursing role is a key position within the Divisional Management Team, responsible to the Divisional Director of Nursing and Governance with a prime focus on the day-to-day delivery of high standards of patient care across integrated care pathways and services, delivered across the Trust including the community.
The post holder supports the Divisional Director of Nursing and Governance and other senior managers in the day to day delivery of the clinical business of the Service, and assumes delegated functions of corporate nursing or midwifery development programmes, nursing recruitment and retention, measuring and improving standards of care and the patient experience, in accordance with agreed objectives, targets, quality standards, controls and resource constraints.
Post holders will demonstrate a highly visible, authoritative and democratic leadership style, which is underpinned by the values of the Trust.
Post holders will deputise for the Divisional Director of Nursing and Governance when required.

Main duties of the job

Work with the Divisional management team and service leads to provide professional and clinical leadership to the Division, ensuring that a framework is in place to ensure all nursing, midwifery and AHP staff are appropriately managed and are clinically and professionally developed so that they are, therefore, efficient, effective, engaged and highly motivated.
• In partnership with the Chief Nurse and Clinical Services lead and implement the Trust's corporate Nursing and Midwifery priorities and strategy.
• Maintain a highly visible leadership profile, undertaking quality rounds and being proactive about engaging with service areas where required.
• Support Matrons to supervise clinical areas requiring special management measures or additional support to ensure that patient safety is maintained and improvement objectives are met.• Work with other health care professionals in the service to ensure safe, effective and professional standards of patient flows, care management and delivery.
• Ensure that patient care is delivered with care and compassion to a high standard, to ensure a positive patient experience and achievement of clinical quality standards as measured through the collection and use of relevant clinical indicators and High Impact Intervention audits.
• Ensure a consistent approach is taken across pathways and services in the Service, so that all clinical staff comply with Trust-wide policies and

Working for our organisation

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
• Work with the Divisional management team and service leads to provide professional and clinical leadership to the Division, ensuring that a framework is in place to ensure all nursing, midwifery and AHP staff are appropriately managed and are clinically and professionally developed so that they are, therefore, efficient, effective, engaged and highly motivated.
• In partnership with the Chief Nurse and Clinical Services lead and implement the Trust's corporate Nursing and Midwifery priorities and strategy.
• Maintain a highly visible leadership profile, undertaking quality rounds and being proactive about engaging with service areas where required.
• Support Matrons to supervise clinical areas requiring special management measures or additional support to ensure that patient safety is maintained and improvement objectives are met.
• Work with other health care professionals in the service to ensure safe, effective and professional standards of patient flows, care management and delivery.
• Ensure that patient care is delivered with care and compassion to a high standard, to ensure a positive patient experience and achievement of clinical quality standards as measured through the collection and use of relevant clinical indicators and High Impact Intervention audits.
• Ensure a consistent approach is taken across pathways and services in the Service, so that all clinical staff comply with Trust-wide policies and procedures.
• Ensure all clinical services in the post holder's portfolio are managed within budget and achieving their key performance indicators.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of the Division's business plan by contributing to the service and business strategy, including cross-service and external partnership working
• Responsible for the delivery of identified quality and service improvement projects or development programmes that contribute to the modernisation of patient services
• Delivery of the Trust's Equality and Diversity Strategy in terms of non-medical clinical staff recruitment, retention and development.
• On behalf of the Chief Nurse, to manage the delivery of all nursing or midwifery innovation and development within the division and where relevant, for the Trust.
• Identify and take forward the specific contribution nursing or midwifery can make to the development of the services in the Division, delivery of QIPP and achievement of the cost improvement programme.
• Support the Divisional Director of Nursing and Governance and Service Leads in the development and application of systems, control processes and risk management arrangements that ensure full compliance with internal and external governance procedures and to benchmark against best practice requirements.
• Undertaking root cause and trend analyses of selected complaints and adverse incidents, and especially as they relate to nursing or midwifery or other non-medical clinical staff.
• Responsible for ensuring that all other aspects of risk and clinical governance are robustly and effectively managed, especially as they relate to non-medical clinical staff.
• Responsible for the delivery of identified service improvement projects or development programmes that contribute to the modernisation of patient services, providing both professional and clinical advice as necessary
• Where appropriate, support the Divisional Director of Nursing and Governance to (a) represent the Trust within the NHS and with partner organisations, (b) work closely with them to institute integrated working in the best interest of patient care, (c) ensure
appropriate public and patient involvement in assessing service quality and improvements.
• Develop local systems for gaining patient feedback, responding to adverse outcomes.
• Ensure that patient feedback is acted on effectively, and ensure that learning from complaints and incidents is used to improve services
• Support the development and implementation of education and training programmes within the Trust, especially for nurses and midwives.
• Participate in the Trust on call manager rota.
Workforce
• Lead the Clinical and non-clinical teams within the post holder's portfolio, gaining others' confidence and inspiring engagement with the agenda.
• In conjunction with the Divisional Director of Nursing and Governance & Divisional Director of Operations develop the capability and resilience of the management teams by creating appropriate development opportunities.
• Be responsible, where relevant, for the recruitment, management and development of all non-medical staff in the Division and to enable them to deliver a high quality service and to fulfil their individual potential.
• Ensure all staff are fairly and effectively managed so that clinical services have appropriate staffing levels, well managed leave, and up to date mandatory training and appraisals.
• Support the Division in taking a proactive approach towards tackling HR issues including recruitment and retention, labour utilisation and skill mix.
• Ensure that appropriate action is taken to deal with issues of staff discipline, grievance, poor performance and sickness, up to and including dismissal.
• Lead on, develop and maintain an appraisal system for non-medical staff within area of management responsibility in the Division in accordance with the Trust Performance Management Guidance and IPD Policy.
• Ensure that appropriate action is taken to deal with issues of staff discipline, grievance, poor performance and sickness, up to and including dismissal.
• As a Trust Manager carry out investigations of staff management issues in other areas of the Trust as requested, and present at meeting held under the trust workforce policies. Chair meetings held under the Trust workforce policies as required.
Financial
• Manage budgets for pathways and services within portfolio, including achievement of relevant cost improvement plans, and early identification of cost pressures.
• To ensure that the pathways and services achieve contracted activity and access targets.
• To ensure all resources are deployed to achieve best outcome with reference to the Trust and Service Business Plans
• Act as an authorising signatory for Budgets within limits agreed with the Divisional Director of Nursing and Governance .
• To advise the Divisional management team on trends and variances.
Partnerships
Internally:
Patients, carers and service users.
Divisional Directors
Clinical Leads and other consultant and junior medical staff
Other Divisional General and Deputy General Managers
Heads of Nursing, Senior Nurses and other nursing staff Service Managers
Heads of Professions and other Allied Health Professional staff
Staff within the Service
Other Divisional and Deputy General Managers and management teams
Heads of Departments
Trust Board, Executive and Management Team
Externally:
All Commissioning bodies
Local Authority
NHS London (Strategic Health Authority)
General Practitioners
Other Local Trusts/Providers
Clinical Networks
Educational Bodies (GKT, Nightingale Institute, etc.)
Voluntary Bodies
Other Relevant External Agencies
NHS Elect

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria

• Registered Nurse / AHP
• Experience at 8a

Desirable criteria

• Community experience at senior level

education

Desirable criteria

• Masters level qualification

role

Essential criteria

• Registered Nurse / AHP

Desirable criteria

• Community expereince at senior level

Experience

Essential criteria

• Registered Nurse / AHP

Desirable criteria

• Community expereince at senior level

We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.

As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women's staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.

Please note that sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route is subject to Trust allocation and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approval.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Application numbers

To ensure fairness and manageable shortlisting processes, some vacancies may have an application cap. This means the vacancy will close once a set number of applications have been received even if this happens before the advertised closing date.

We recommend applying as early as possible to avoid missing out. All applications received before the cap is reached will be considered equally and assessed against the person specification.
Documents to download

• Head of Nursing for Lewisham Community services (PDF, 601.2KB)
• Person specification for Head of Nursing role (PDF, 366.7KB)
• Working at LGT (PDF, 4.2MB)
• Visa and Certificate of Sponsorship Information for Applicants (PDF, 3.8MB)
• Candidates Guidance on Applying (PDF, 175.2KB)
• Candidate Guidance on the use of AI (PDF, 3.8MB)