Head of Nursing - Urgent and Emergency Care

Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an exceptional senior nurse leader to join University Hospitals of Northamptonshire as Head of Nursing for Urgent and Emergency Care.

This pivotal role provides strategic, professional and operational nursing leadership across a large and complex UEC portfolio, including Emergency Care, Acute Medicine and unscheduled care services. Working as part of the divisional triumvirate, you will lead quality improvement, workforce transformation, governance, patient safety and operational performance.

We are seeking a credible and experienced senior nursing leader with substantial UEC experience and a proven record of leading large teams, delivering service improvement and maintaining high standards of patient care.

Registered Nurse with current NMC registration.

Significant senior nursing leadership experience within Urgent and Emergency Care.

Current or recent experience at Head of Nursing, Deputy Head of Nursing or Associate Director of Nursing level.

Demonstrable experience of leading quality, governance, workforce and operational performance.

Proven success in service transformation, workforce planning and safe staffing.

Highly developed leadership, communication, influencing and stakeholder-management skills.

Main duties of the job

• Provide visible, credible and compassionate nursing leadership across the Urent and Emergency Care portfolio.
• Lead the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality patient care and experience.
• Drive quality improvement, clinical governance and patient-safety priorities.
• Shape workforce strategy, safe staffing, recruitment, retention and professional development.
• Work collaboratively with clinical, operational and corporate colleagues to deliver performance and transformation.
• Influence senior stakeholders and represent nursing across the organisation and wider system.

About us
Please submit your application as soon as possible, as we reserve the right to close adverts once sufficient applications have been received.

We recognise that AI tools can support application writing; however, candidates are asked to keep their use to a minimum. Responses should reflect your own experience, skills and knowledge, as over-reliance on AI-generated content may result in generic answers that do not accurately represent your abilities.

University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) brings together Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust. As a group, we are committed to improving services for our communities through collaboration, modernising care delivery and striving for excellence. Working together enables us to share expertise, strengthen services and create greater opportunities, and there may be a requirement to work across sites depending on service needs.

Job responsibilities
Please see attached job description

Our Excellence Values are Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Integrity and Courage. UHN welcomes applications from all backgrounds and is committed to an inclusive working environment. We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and hold the Gold Award under the Employer Recognition Scheme. Candidates who identify as members of the Armed Forces community and meet the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview.

Person Specification
Education, Training & Qualifications
Essential

• Registered Nurse - with current NMC Registration and no restrictions on practice.
• Master's degree in Nursing, leadership or management or relevant subject or evidence of practical application of expertise at this level.
• Post-graduate qualification within a leadership program/study or evidence of practical application of expertise at this level.
• Evidence of further study/education or courses demonstrating significant additional education, training or experience

Knowledge & Experience
Essential

• Substantial experience managing nursing services within Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC), including Emergency Departments, Same Day Emergency Care, Acute Medicine, Assessment Units, or other unscheduled care pathways.
• Proven experience in a senior nursing leadership role with responsibility for quality, governance, workforce, operational performance, and budgetary oversight.
• Knowledge and experience of human resources management, communicating highly complex and contentious information to individuals and large groups.
• Evidence of leading and delivering major service transformation programs, including workforce redesign, quality improvement initiatives, and changes to clinical pathways.
• Experience of preparing services for and responding to CQC inspections within UEC services
• In depth knowledge of the clinical governance agenda including clinical risk and safety. Up to date with current clinical nursing practice including own area of expertise, to enable deliver of direct patient care if/when required.
• Demonstrates a clear understanding of and continuing acceptance of the need for financial governance and probity.

Desirable

• Current or recent experience as a Head of Nursing, Deputy Head of Nursing, Associate Director of Nursing, within a UEC setting

Skills
Essential

• Highly developed communication skills with the ability to communicate on highly complex matters and difficult situations.
• Ability to establish credibility and develop maintain effective working relationships at Executive and senior management levels.
• Has strong influencing and negotiating skills.
• Up to date with current clinical nursing practice including own area of expertise, to enable deliver of direct patient care if/when required.
• Excellent communicator - providing authentic and clear communication and direction even in times of uncertainty/ambiguity.
• High level analytical skills and the ability to draw qualitative and quantitative data from a wide range of sources and present in clear concise manner.
• High level professional, people management skills and leadership qualities.

Key Competencies/ Personal Qualities & Attributes
Essential

• Passionate and committed to bring our Dedicated to Excellence values to life, improving the way we work with each other, particularly focusing on empowerment, equality diversity and inclusion of our staff, patients and service users
• Able to demonstrate a commitment to and understanding of the importance of treating all individuals with dignity and respect appropriate to their individual needs.
• All staff are expected to engage in compassionate and inclusive leadership in the provision of high quality care and interactions with others.
• Engages effectively across boundaries, breaking down silos, while operating in partnership with stakeholders towards a shared vision.
• Has the drive and energy to make things happen, frequently goes 'above and beyond' the call of duty to achieve outcomes.
• Ability to participate in On-call rota in line with On-call requirements across UHN

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).