Director of Nursing
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
Are you a visionary leader who is passionate about excellence in nursing, clinical quality and patient care? An exciting opportunity has become available in the Integrated and Specialist Medicine Clinical Group at Guys and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation trust for the role of Director of Nursing.We are looking to speak with candidates who have significant experience in a large complex organisation or system. A highly visible and astute leader, you will have a demonstrable track record for improving quality and safety, leading and developing clinical strategy as well as the ability to build and maintain relationships.
Importantly too, you will share our values and passion for the highest quality clinical care.
Main duties of the job
The Director of Nursing plays a crucial leadership role, providing professional guidance for community and hospital nursing across the Clinical Group and the wider trust. The position is responsible for ensuring the safe and effective delivery of nursing services and collaborates closely with the Medical Director and the Clinical Group Executives to meet the organisation’s short-term and long-term strategic objectives.A key focus of the role is fostering mechanisms for patient and family involvement, while upholding delegated statutory responsibilities on behalf of the Chief Nurse. The role oversees clinical governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance in partnership with the Medical Director, ensuring the organisation’s readiness for inspections and adherence to high standards of care.
Working for our organisation
Guy’s and St Thomas’ have developed a Group Operating Model with the formation of four clinical groups, each led by a CEO and a clinical group executive team which enables senior decision making closer to the front line.
The Integrated and Specialist Medicine Clinical Group was formed in April 2022 and operates with a budget of over £500m and a workforce of more than 8,000 staff. It oversees over 100 services with over half delivered within community settings and handles over 1.1m patient contacts annually. The clinical group comprises eight vibrant directorates:
- Acute General Medicine
- Urgent & Emergency Care
- CLIMP
- Dental
- Integrated Local Services
- Medical and Specialist Ambulatory Specialties
- Pharmacy
- Therapies & Rehabilitation
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
This post works collaboratively alongside the Medical Director.
A job description and person specification can be found attached to the advert.
Person specification
Qualifications/Knowledge
Essential criteria- Master’s degree, and additional in-depth professional training and specialist knowledge related to health, leadership or management, to doctorate or equivalent level, acquired through training and experience over an extended period.
- Extensive knowledge and expertise relating to nursing and at least one other area of work such as management, research and development.
- Maintained relevant CPD activity of 35 hours in past 3 years.
- Registered Nurse on the NMC register who can demonstrate 450 hours of related practice in the last 3 years
- Knowledge and understanding of the principles and practice of safeguarding.
- Additional professional qualifications and/or development activities.
- Experience of commissioning professional education programmes
- Experience of commissioning or managing research projects
Previous experience
Essential criteria- Extensive experience at a senior nurse level working in either a Corporate of Senior Management /Leadership post within nursing services
- Experience at being able to identify a problem, find a solution and implement and sustain a change in clinical practice across a complex directorate/ organisation.
- Experience in managing change in a complex environment
- Thorough knowledge and experience of clinical governance issues, quality improvement and minimising risk for an organisation.
- Experience of analysing complex data and or national guidance and being able to interpret and apply it locally
- Proven ability to deliver improvements in patient care and experience at organisation level.
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria- Ability to articulate a clear vision for nursing
- Fully understand the regulatory environment the Trust operates in
- Able to write concise and clear reports up to and including Board level
- Able to demonstrate outstanding leadership skills
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
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