Divisional Director of Nursing and Governance - Surgery Division

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

Are you a visionary leader passionate about excellence in nursing, clinical quality, and patient care? We are seeking a highly skilled and dynamic individual to join our esteemed team as the Divisional Director of Nursing & Governance. This pivotal role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on the delivery of healthcare services and the well-being of our patients. Reporting into the Divisional Director of Operations, this is a senior leadership position within the division working as part of the Divisional Triumvirate team.

The Surgery Division provides services across University Hospital Lewisham, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Queen Mary's Hospital Sidcup and a range of community settings. The Division comprises of three clinical directorates: Surgery QEH, Surgery UHL and Critical Care, Theatres and Pain.

As the Divisional Director of Nursing & Governance, you will work in close partnership with the Divisional Medical Director and Divisional Director of Operations. Together, you will form a cohesive team with operational accountability for workforce management, service delivery, clinical quality and safety, financial control, and the implementation of corporate objectives and the Trust's strategy.

We are committed to providing an inclusive and supportive work environment where your contributions are valued and recognised.

Main duties of the job

1. Operational Accountability: Collaborate with the Divisional Medical Director and Divisional Director of Operations to ensure the effective management of the workforce, service delivery, clinical quality and safety, and financial control. Define divisional objectives to meet corporate goals and address performance issues to ensure quality standards are consistently met.
2. Nursing/Midwifery/Therapy Services: Oversee the delivery and performance of nursing, midwifery, and therapy services within the Clinical Divisions. Ensure compliance with Care Quality Commission standards and maintain high standards of care and treatment for all patients.
3. Governance Leadership: Lead governance initiatives within the division, including Infection Control, Health & Safety, risk management, and the management of serious incidents and complaints. Ensure that action plans are completed and that the division learns from such events to improve patient care and safety.
4. Collaborative Leadership: Serve as a member of the Nursing Board, working closely with the Chief Nurse to develop and implement Trust-wide standards aimed at enhancing patient care and experience. Take the lead on a specific Nursing/Midwifery/AHP function as determined by the Chief Nurse.
5. Corporate Roles: Undertake additional corporate roles and responsibilities as required by the Chief Executive, Chief Nurse, Divisional Medical Director, and Divisional Director of Operations.

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

To be professionally accountable for the quality and safety of the delivery service within the division, and for maintaining professional standards and adherence to the NMC Code of Conduct (and professional codes as required).

To provide advice to managers to ensure professional standards are maintained through the operational line management arrangements.

Ensure that Heads of Nursing, therapists and Matrons use tools and techniques to optimise use of resources against patient dependency/acuity models effectively, making sure that establishments meet patients' needs to promote the best possible clinical and performance outcome, leading on action where the output of these activities indicates that change is required.

To monitor standards of care, intervening and taking corrective action where necessary.

To ensure all corporate nursing initiatives are implemented within the division.

To provide professional leadership and advice to the Heads of Nursing and Heads of Therapies.

Develop a strategy for advanced nurse practitioner/physicians assistant development within the directorate.

To inform the Divisional Medical Director and Divisional Director of Operations of any significant issues placing patients safety at risk.

Performance management

To contribute to the development and implementation of the Division's operational and strategic plans.

To actively contribute to the performance management of the division with the Divisional Medical Director, and the Divisional Director of Operations ensuring delivery of all agreed outputs for the Division.

To contribute to decision making at a corporate level within the organisation, through membership of the Divisional Management Board and Patient Committees.

Governance

To be jointly accountable, with the Divisional Director of Operations and the Divisional Medical Directors, for patient safety, clinical effectiveness, patient experience and risk management.

This includes, but is not limited to, lead responsibility for:

• Patient experience - privacy & dignity, end of life care, nutrition and hydration, mixed sex accommodation, FFT;
• Investigating SIs and/or overseeing appropriate senior staff delegated to undertake.

Person specification

Essential

Essential criteria

• Strong leadership, interpersonal skills and authority; able to successfully foster and manage inter-relationships between own unit and other Directorates.
• A proven track record of creating a common purpose and instilling organisational values and behaviours that promotes a corporate vision.
• Strong organisational ability and well-developed resource and staff management skills: able to forecast, plan, develop and manage unit capability in line with business plan and organisational vision.
• Demonstrated competencies to analyse and synthesize complex and diverse budgets.
• Proven ability to foster an organisational culture that is positive about change and committed to delivery of the strategic vision.
• Senior experience of developing demand forecasting a continuous business planning and programme/project management programmes resulting in positive value for money outcomes.
• Proven ability to manage change effectively within an operational environment, building engagement and involvement and rewarding innovation. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• A proven credible and influential communicator with excellent networking and negotiating skills.

Personal qualities

Essential criteria

• High level of work organisation, self-motivation, drive for performance and improvement, and flexibility in approach and attitude.

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, not all roles will meet the criteria for a skilled worker visa.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

• Candidate information pack (PDF, 398.8KB)
• Working at LGT (PDF, 4.2MB)