
Job overview
We are looking for an exceptional Deputy Chief Nurse to join us, with a particular focus on patient experience and customer service.
This is an exciting expansion of our senior nursing leadership team. I already have a fantastic Deputy Chief Nurse, and this new role will work alongside them, bringing additional leadership capacity and a dedicated focus to an area that I believe is fundamental to everything we do.
This is not a role for someone who wants to simply manage what already exists.
I am looking for someone who wants to help me change it.
We have made huge progress across our organisation, but when it comes to patient experience, I know we can do more. We listen to our patients. We have strategies, surveys, feedback, complaints data and patient stories. But listening is only valuable if people can see and feel what changes as a result.
I want our patients and families to experience an organisation that is kind, responsive and easy to navigate. I want excellent communication to be the standard, not the exception. I want us to learn properly when we get things wrong, and I want the voices of our patients to genuinely influence how we design and deliver care.
That is why this role maters.
Main duties of the job
As one of my Deputy Chief Nurses, you will have the opportunity to lead a major programme of work across patient experience and customer service, working with teams across the whole organisation to turn feedback into meaningful change.
You will need to be an exceptional nurse leader, but you will also need to think differently.
I am looking for someone who is curious, brave and ambitious. Someone who will spend time with patients and staff, who will challenge us when we are not getting it right and who will bring people with them when things need to change.
You will be joining an organisation with huge ambition and a nursing, midwifery and AHP leadership team that is determined to make a difference. We work hard, we move quickly and we are not afraid to tackle difficult things.
You will also be working closely with me and alongside an experienced and established Deputy Chief Nurse.
I want someone who will bring ideas, energy and challenge. Someone who can operate at the highest level of the organisation but who never loses sight of the person sitting in a waiting room, lying in a hospital bed or trying to get an answer when they are worried.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
If you believe patient experience should be at the heart of everything we do, and you want the opportunity to help shape what excellent customer service looks like in healthcare, I would love to hear from you.
Come and join us.
Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities.
Person specification
Your application will be scored against the Person Specification for the role
Essential
- 2 - Fully meets Person Spec, 1 - Partially meet Person Spec, 0 - Does not meet Person Spec
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Band 9 - Deputy Chief Nurse - Patient Experience with West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in Watford, East of England, England. It is listed as a Band 9 Nurse (adult and children) role. The advertised salary is £115,052 - £132,053 pa inc. HCA. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 27 Jul 2026.
Before you apply, compare the job description with the person specification and mirror the employer's essential criteria in your supporting information. Use the vacancy title, employer, location, salary, contract type, closing date and posted date (21 Jul 2026) to decide whether this role fits your current NHS job search. If the employer can close applications early, prepare the application before the stated deadline rather than waiting for the final day.
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