Director of Nursing & Quality

Job overview

Exceptional leadership opportunity to shape the future of nursing, quality and patient care at one of the UK's leading NHS Trusts

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) is seeking an outstanding and inspirational nursing leader to join our senior leadership team as Director of Nursing and Quality.

This is a pivotal leadership role within one of our three Accountable Care Groups (ACGs), offering the opportunity to influence care delivery across complex clinical services while making a lasting impact on patient outcomes, staff experience and organisational performance. The post holder will provide visible, credible and compassionate leadership, ensuring the highest standards of nursing practice, quality, safety and patient experience across the ACG

Main duties of the job

As Director of Nursing and Quality, you will provide professional leadership across nursing, quality, patient safety, patient experience, safeguarding, infection prevention and control, regulatory assurance and clinical governance. You will work alongside the Managing Director and senior clinical, operational and corporate leaders to deliver outstanding care and achieve strategic objectives.

You will play a key role in

• Leading the nursing, quality and patient safety agenda across the ACG.
• Driving continuous quality improvement and innovation.
• Leading safe staffing, workforce planning and professional development.
• Championing a culture where patients, families and staff are at the heart of everything we do.

About you

• We are looking for an accomplished senior nursing leader who can demonstrate:
• Extensive experience in senior nursing leadership within a large and complex NHS organisation.
• Significant experience leading quality, safety, patient experience and clinical governance.
• Proven ability to influence at executive level and work effectively within multidisciplinary leadership teams.
• Strong understanding of patient safety, quality governance, regulatory assurance and workforce planning.
• Experience of leading large-scale improvement, transformation and service development initiatives.
• A visible, compassionate and inclusive leadership style with the credibility to inspire confidence and drive excellence across services.

Working for our organisation

Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust comprises Addenbrooke's Hospital and the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge. With over 13,000 staff and over 1100 beds the priorities of the Trust focus on a quality service which is all about people - patients, staff and partners. Recognised as providing 'outstanding' care to our patients and rated 'Good' overall by the Care Quality Commissioner, is testament to the skill and dedication of the people who work here. CUH's values - Together - Safe, Kind, Excellent - are at the heart of patient care, defining the way all staff work and behave. The Trust provides accessible high-quality healthcare for the local people of Cambridge, together with specialist services, dealing with rare or complex conditions for a regional, national and international population.

CUH is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where we can all be ourselves. We value our differences and fully advocate and support an inclusive working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential. We want to ensure our people are truly representative of all the communities that we serve. We welcome applications for all positions in the organisation irrespective of people's age, disability, ethnicity, race, nationality, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity status or social economic background.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• First level Registered Nurse with current NMC registration.
• Educated to master's degree level in a relevant subject, or able to demonstrate equivalent senior professional knowledge and experience applied in nursing leadership, quality governance, patient safety, regulatory assurance and service improvement.
• Evidence of recent and relevant continuing professional development in nursing, quality, patient safety, leadership and management.

Desirable criteria

• Formal leadership, management, quality improvement or patient safety qualification, or equivalent applied experience.
• Evidence of post-graduate study or advanced professional development relevant to nursing, quality, safety or organisational leadership.

Experience

Essential criteria

• Extensive senior nursing leadership experience in a large, complex NHS provider or comparable healthcare organisation.
• Significant experience of leading quality, safety, patient experience and clinical governance across complex clinical services.
• Experience of working as part of a senior leadership team with collective responsibility for quality, operational performance, workforce and finance.
• Experience of holding senior responsibility for delegated budgets, workforce expenditure, productivity or financial improvement, with clear consideration of quality and safety impact.
• Experience of leading nursing workforce planning, safe staffing reviews, skill mix assessment, recruitment, retention and professional development.
• Experience of leading improvement following incidents, complaints, audits, inspections, regulatory reviews or external assurance processes.
• Experience of analysing and interpreting complex quality, safety, workforce, operational, patient experience and financial information to identify risk, inform senior decisions and drive improvement.
• Experience of leading education, research, innovation or evidence-based practice priorities across complex clinical services.
• Experience of leading service planning, transformation, policy implementation or service redesign across complex clinical services.
• Experience of providing senior professional advice on conduct, capability, performance or professional practice concerns.
• Experience of providing assurance to senior governance forums on quality, safety, patient experience, professional standards and regulatory compliance.

Desirable criteria

• Experience in a large acute teaching hospital or specialist tertiary provider.
• Experience of working in a clinical group, care group, divisional or similarly devolved operating model.
• Experience of research, innovation, academic partnerships or education leadership.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Strong understanding of nursing professional standards, NMC requirements, revalidation and professional practice governance.
• Advanced understanding of NHS quality governance, patient safety, PSIRF, risk management, complaints, clinical effectiveness, regulatory assurance and the use of quality intelligence to drive improvement.
• Understanding of CQC regulatory requirements and inspection preparation.
• Understanding of safeguarding, infection prevention and control, patient experience and clinical effectiveness requirements in complex clinical services.
• Advanced understanding of the wider NHS context, including integrated care systems, provider collaboration, national policy, workforce challenges and financial constraints.
• Knowledge of how to apply equality, diversity and inclusion principles to improve patient outcomes, staff experience and service access.
• Understanding of digital, data and information governance requirements, including the use of digital systems and dashboards to support quality, safety, workforce, productivity and patient experience.

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of CUH services, specialist tertiary care or academic health science environments.
• Knowledge of digital, education, research, clinical academic or innovation opportunities relevant to nursing, quality improvement and patient outcomes.

Skills

Essential criteria

• Able to build effective relationships with clinical, operational, corporate and system partners.
• Able to influence, negotiate and build consensus across professional, organisational and system boundaries.
• Able to analyse and triangulate complex quality, safety, workforce, operational, patient experience and financial information, identify risk and secure appropriate action.
• Able to interpret highly complex and sometimes conflicting information, exercise sound professional judgement and make clear recommendations where there are competing priorities, uncertainty, risk or no obvious solution.
• Able to translate Trust strategy, national policy, regulatory requirements and professional standards into practical ACG delivery plans and measurable improvement actions.
• Able to direct complex planning, transformation and improvement programmes, ensuring plans are evidence-based, affordable, measurable and deliverable.
• Able to lead and support teams through change, ambiguity and operational pressure.
• Able to chair senior meetings, present reports and provide assurance to governance forums.
• Able to write clear, evidence-based reports, briefings, policies and improvement plans.
• Able to use improvement methodology to deliver measurable and sustained change.

Desirable criteria

• Able to apply recognised quality improvement, transformation or programme management methods.
• Able to contribute to research, innovation, education or academic partnership development.

Additional Requirements

Essential criteria

• Committed to improving patient care, patient experience and staff experience.
• Demonstrates personal resilience and sound judgement, remaining effective, visible and compassionate under sustained operational pressure, scrutiny, ambiguity and competing priorities.
• Able to work flexibly to meet service and organisational needs.
• Able to travel between Trust sites and to external meetings as required.
• Able to participate in senior on-call arrangements where required.

Desirable criteria

• Active participation in relevant professional networks at regional or national level.

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.

Documents to download

• Applicant Information Pack (PDF, 216.7KB)