Lead Nurse - Surgery

at  Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Lead Nurse - Surgery, Band 8b
Cross site: Chelsea and Isleworth
Due to recent promotion within the nursing leadership structure this exciting opportunity has arisen for a talented individual with multiple skills and an appetite for delivering a first class nursing service to join the team and work across our two hospital sites. Working as one of the Lead Nurses for Planned Care alongside your colleagues, the Divisional Director of Nursing and senior management teams you will continue to improve care and experience for patients and families.
The successful applicant will take a senior management role to deliver an innovative service across our surgical departments. In this role, you will lead a committed team to deliver the service, support the Senior Nursing and Midwifery Team priorities and the wider Trust agenda. You will work collaboratively with the clinical leads while developing partnerships with the other divisions and our specialist nurses.
You will have had demonstrable success in a senior role working as part of a multi-professional team, and bring strong leadership and management skills. You will be able to establish your credibility with colleagues and be a visible senior nurse to an ambitious and high performing team.
You will have extensive experience of caring for patients, good clinical and management skills along with well-developed ability to communicate and support colleagues, patients and their families throughout their care, treatment and follow up.
Provides expert professional advice to patients, families, carers and colleagues
Delivers specialist clinical skills to assess patient need, provide care, manage treatment, coordinate pathways and provide specialist clinical leadership across the patient caseload
Undertakes research and audit in the specialist area
Provides education and training to other staff, students and parents
Works in conjunction with the multidisciplinary team, and across organisations within a network of care as applicable
Acts as the professional lead for the specialist area at corporate and directorate level and for clinical governance purposes
You will be able to motivate and engage others to ensure that the services we provide supports the Trust’s values, as well as having a pioneering approach that is not afraid to challenge convention and traditional ways of working.
The Planned Care Division is led by the Divisional Medical Director, Divisional Director of Operations and Divisional Director of Nursing using the triumvirate model of leadership. The Key Services delivered by this Division are Emergency and Elective Surgery, Intensive Care and Burns all of which are delivered through the busy but well organised and supported wards and departments.
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of England’s top-performing and safest trusts. We operate two main acute hospital sites—Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital—along with award-winning clinics across North West London.
Our nearly 7,500 staff care for a diverse population of 1.5 million, providing full clinical services, including maternity, A&E, and children’s services, plus specialist HIV and sexual health clinics. The Care Quality Commission rates us ‘Good’ in safety, effectiveness, care, and responsiveness, and ’Outstanding’ in leadership and resource use.
We continually invest in our facilities, including a £30m expansion of critical care at Chelsea and Westminster and an £80m Ambulatory Diagnostic Centre at West Middlesex.
We welcome applications for flexible working arrangements, accommodating requests where possible to support our staff and patient needs.
The Trust is committed to equality and welcomes applications from all, regardless of background. Adjustments can be made for disabled candidates. Early application is advised as vacancies may close once sufficient applications are received. If you haven’t heard from us within three weeks of the closing date, your application was likely unsuccessful. Employment is subject to a six-month probationary period.
Some roles may require weekend shifts at multiple sites.
Expert Practice
The Lead Nurse will employ highly developed, expert clinical skills to assess patient need, co-ordinate care, manage treatment and provide specialist clinical leadership
The post holder will provide strategic and professional senior nursing leadership in the development and delivery of multi professional services and in the integration of care across departmental/organisational boundaries
They will facilitate expert and autonomous nursing care and the provision of support to patients and families
The post holder will provide and lead autonomous direct care and advice through various modalities including ward-based, outpatients, ward attenders, telephone clinics/support, community settings and domiciliary visits. The post holder may need to delegate patients to other members of the team but will supervise and retain responsibility for the management of their care whilst they are a patient of the Trust.
The post holder may need to delegate patients to other members of the team but will supervise and retain responsibility for the management of their care whilst they are a patient of the Trust.
They will raise the profile of specialist area and its work within and outside the Trust. The Lead Nurse will initially act as the first point of contact for clinical expertise for staff within the nursing team, and provide an experienced liaison route for all professionals in the MDT. They will work in collaboration with the MDT in order to achieve the highest standards of care for this patient group. This will involve teaching and supporting the early identification of pathways and treatment options, to ensure patients are being cared for in the most appropriate manner and environment
The post holder will coordinate pathways and independently manage a challenging and diverse patient caseload and may make and receive referrals directly to doctors, GPs, Community Nursing Teams, hospices and Allied Health Professionals as appropriate. The post holder will promote communication between primary, secondary and community providers as well as the non-statutory sector, and will advise/lead on the discharge planning process for designated patients
The post holder will support professionals, patient and families through periods of diagnosis, treatment and palliation
The post holder will provide expert advice on issues of clinical governance and risk
Education and Training
The education dimension of the role will include designing education programmes for multidisciplinary teams and the training and development of professionals. This may include mentorship, supervision and attachments/placements of junior nursing staff. The post holder will undertake regular assessments of the education needs of new and existing staff, in conjunction with the Matron and Practice Development Nurse
The post holder will ensure the development and sustainability of information, skills and acquired knowledge for service. The development of staff and the transfer of skills and knowledge to improve standards, the scope of practice and professional judgement of others (as appropriate) forms a key part of the role
As part of advising on practice, the post holder will be a key link with professional bodies and associations for the specialist area and will review and translate evidence-based recommendations and guidance into daily patient care. They will proactively keep up to date with new developments in research and best practice. Internally, the post holder will lead on internal policy and guideline development
Formal and informal teaching sessions will be created and delivered. The post holder will collaborate with the post graduate medical education department to ensure junior medical staff have the necessary training and education to provide evidence based practice
Service Development, Research and Evaluation
The role may include a significant research element, and the post holder will be actively involved in research locally and nationally, collaborating with research partners and robust evaluation. They will develop an effective model of multidisciplinary management across the pathway
The Lead Nurse will regularly evaluate the service through audit, reviews and soliciting feedback to further the development of good practice and clinical effectiveness of the service
They will collaborate with other professionals to initiate and promote research which will form the Trust’s research and development strategy
They will contribute to the Trust’s nursing strategy
The post holder will develop and utilise benchmarking to internally appraise and externally compare the service
They will identify and implement practice developments in response to incidents, reviews and complaints
The Lead Nurse will report service information to observatories and regulators as required
The post holder will work with colleagues to ensure that national and local targets are met
Management
The post holder will line manage and appraise designated staff. This includes sickness management and performance management
Where the post holder holds designated budgets and/or has signatory rights, they are responsible for the control and performance of that budget and associated resources
The Lead Nurse will participate/lead in recruitment, selection and retention of staff as required
The individual will be part of the out of hours on-call rota
This job description may be subject to change according to the varying needs of the service. Such changes will be made after discussion between the post holder and his/her manager
All duties must be carried out under supervision or within Trust policy and procedure. You must never undertake any duties that are outside your area of skill or knowledge level. If you are unsure you must seek clarification from a more senior member of staff

Please refer the Job description for details