Lead Nurse

Job summary

*Please note this post is internal to North Cheshire and Mersey employees *

Are you an experienced, compassionate and independently minded senior nurse ready to shape the quality, safety and performance of community and dental services?

As Lead Nurse, you will be a visible member of the Care Group senior leadership team, providing strategic and operational nursing leadership across the Community and Dental Clinical Business Units. Reporting to the Associate Chief Nurse, you will work closely with Clinical Directors, Clinical Business Unit Managers and professional leads to translate clinical strategy into safe, effective and sustainable services.

You will champion patient safety, clinical governance and learning; use complex data and professional judgement to improve quality, productivity and performance; and lead service improvement and transformational change. Through a coaching and values-led approach, you will engage and empower staff, strengthen patient-centred pathways and build effective partnerships across organisational boundaries.

We are seeking a credible, resilient and motivated registered nurse with recent senior clinical management experience, including responsibility for quality, people, budgets and performance. You will bring excellent communication, negotiation and influencing skills, sound knowledge of NHS governance, and the confidence to resolve complex issues and lead through change while role modelling the Trusts values.

Main duties of the job

The Lead Nurse will provide visible professional leadership across community and dental services, translating clinical strategy into safe, effective and sustainable delivery. The post holder will:

Lead quality, patient safety, clinical governance and risk management, ensuring learning from incidents, feedback and good practice is embedded.

Monitor nursing standards, workforce, performance and resources, using data and professional judgement to identify risks, improve outcomes and provide assurance.

Lead service improvement and transformation, supporting patient-centred pathways, effective use of resources and delivery of agreed priorities.

Provide line management, coaching and professional leadership to three Professional Leads, developing capable, inclusive and high-performing teams.

Work with clinical, operational and corporate colleagues, commissioners and partners to influence decisions and support integrated care.

Represent the Care Group and Trust at senior forums and participate in the on-call rota.

About us

Flexible working will be considered for all roles.

North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust (NCM) serves more than one million residents across the Halton and Warrington boroughs and the wider North West region.

Bringing together community and out-of-hospital services (formerly provided by Bridgewater Community Healthcare) with inpatient and elective care (formerly Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals) we provide services at two hospital sites and more than 70 community hubs and facilities.

Our mission, vision and values are at the heart of North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust (NCM).

They underpin everything we do and everything we aspire to be as an organisation.

Our mission

We will be exceptional for our patients, our communities and each other

Our vision

We will be a great organisation providing excellent healthcare and opportunities to work and learn

Our values

• Kind: We are caring, supportive and respectful to everyone
• Open: We are honest, transparent and open to new ways of working
• Fair: We listen, value our differences and are inclusive to all
• One team: We work well together and with our communities

Details

• Date posted: 08 September 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 8b
• Salary: £66,582 to £77,368 a year
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
• Reference number: C9835-COR26-121
• Job locations: Spencer House, Dewhurst Road, Birchwood, Warrington, WA3 7PG, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

Role summary

An experienced, motivated and independently minded leader who is able to act on their own initiative, achieving outstanding performance as a role model of the trusts values and behaviours. With a can do leadership style the Lead Nurse will thrive within a climate of constant change managing the strategic direction and performance with a strong focus on productivity and improved patient experience for the Clinical Business Units within a designated Division of the Trust.

Reporting to the Associate Chief Nurse, the post holder is expected to function at a senior level within the CBUs senior leadership team, proactively leading and providing solutions to resolve complex operational issues, in accordance with agreed Trust objectives, targets, quality standards and resource constraints. The Lead Nurse will have managerial experience in leading teams and will possess leadership skills to deal competently with complex issues in ensuring that policy is implemented and performance managed within the CBUs.

Working closely with the Clinical Directors, and CBU Managers, the Lead nurse, will lead the implementation of patient centred clinical operational strategy and plans, ensuring that systems and processes are in place to comply with relevant legislation and governance requirements, linking with external bodies such as commissioners about service developments, contracts and clinical care pathways whilst utilising the expertise and skills of the wider Divisional team.

As a member of the care groups senior leadership team and Divisional management structure, the Lead Nurse contributes to strategic direction and policy setting for the Division, forming an essential communications link between the Division, CBU and relevant external organisations, demonstrating a coaching style of leadership in ensuring that clinical, staff and stakeholder engagement is reflected in the decision-making process.

Main tasks and responsibilities

Quality Delivering excellence to our patients

We will reduce harm and focus on having no avoidable deaths by managing and reducing clinical and operational risks.

Quality & Performance

Actively develop a culture of quality and productivity to improve patient care and services by leading on improving the delivery of patient care and services by analysis of complex data and information, developing and implementing solutions to enhance quality and meet performance targets.

As a minimum the post holder is responsible for:

Leading the development of a strong commercial culture within the Clinical Business Units focused on quality and performance for the patient and service user.

Demonstrating strong business and quality driven nursing leadership within the Clinical Business Units.

Monitoring and delivery of key performance, access targets contractual obligations and nursing quality standards, CQUINS and CQC standards using data and information to support decisions, promptly escalating issues which cant be resolved.

Contributing to reviewing business and service performance within the Clinical Business Units, reporting on nursing performance to the Clinical business units senior leadership team, and directly to the Divisional team, performance reviews and other relevant meetings internally and externally to the Trust when required, instigating agreed remedial action where necessary.

Patient Safety

Lead a culture of ensuring patient safety through adherence to legal obligations and safety requirements by reviewing and challenging risks and progress on plans to address risk. As a minimum the post holder is responsible for:

Ensuring that patient safety and other health and safety requirements are at the top of the agenda in the operational delivery of day-to-day services within nursing and across the Clinical Business Units, promptly dealing with issues which arise, and promptly escalating those which cannot be resolved.

Leading the implementation and monitoring of appropriate governance and risk systems, ensuring that the Clinical Business Units adhere to the Trust Risk Management policy and procedures, reporting and proactively finding solutions to address risk, leading and monitoring progress on mitigation plans within the Clinical Business Units.

Embedding a learning organisational culture to review risk, learning from incidents and near misses, by leading a solution focused approach to review, ensuring that lessons are learned and shared.

We will improve outcomes based on evidence and deliver care in the right place, first time, every time.

Transformation

Lead on identifying appropriate quality improvement activities and projects ensuring that resources and support are in place and progress is being made. Ensure a structured project management approach is used to plan and proactively manage transformational change. As a minimum the post holder is responsible for:

Working under the direction of the Clinical Directors, and alongside the CBU Managers, to ensure an implementation plan and monitoring process is in place to deliver the clinical service strategy for the Clinical Business Units, identifying and raising new opportunities and service improvements that will enhance patient care and services.

Contribute to the implementation of major service delivery and transformation plans across the care group, including those involving cross pathway working internally and externally in support of enhanced patient care and quality of services using established quality improvement methodology.

Service Improvement

Lead a culture of Quality Improvement, which produces new ideas, approaches, innovation or insights, ensuring that plans are developed and taken forward to improve patient care and services. As a minimum the post holder is responsible for:

Encouraging a climate that allows front line staff to question and redefine how their work is undertaken, ensuring the on-going development of patient centred care and cost-effective use of resources.

Supporting the future orientated patient care and service pathways to improve standards of care, address governance issues, improve efficiency and tariff income.

Supporting and leading where appropriate, on the project management of service developments to ensure key targets are achieved, including cross cutting themes and patient pathways, contributing to the delivery of transformational work streams.

We will focus on the patient and their experience, adopting no decision about me without me as a way of life and we will get the basics right so our patients will be warm, safe, clean, well fed and well cared for.

Principles & Values

Promote and role model the Trust values, leadership expectations and behaviours. Advocate the value of diversity and equal opportunities in all business and services provided by the Trust. As a minimum the post holder is responsible for:

Leading the promotion of the trusts values, standards and behaviour within the delivery of improved health services to the local population.

Being an authentic, compassionate and conscientious leader, a role model to all within the Clinical Business Units.

Promoting and celebrating diversity and equal opportunities for provision of services and within the workforce. Upholds ethics and values; demonstrates integrity; promotes and defends equal opportunities, builds diverse team.

People Committed to and caring for our staff

We will ensure that our teams are skilled, available in the right numbers to deliver our services and fit and well in work so that we improve their working lives.

Delivery

Lead on identifying and cascading appropriate challenging goals and objectives ensuring that the vision, values and strategic themes of the Trust are being translated into clear goals and objectives in business and workforce plans and PDRs. As a minimum the post holder is responsible for:

Ensuring that implementation plans and monitoring processes are in place to deliver clinical operational plans with particular emphasis on quality standards and contribution of the nursing service on behalf of the Clinical Business Units, including monitoring systems, structures and processes for managing clinical quality, risk, and controls assurance.

Assisting the Clinical Directors and Associate Director of Operations in monitoring capital and revenue budgets for the Clinical Business Units, particularly in relation to nursing service cost ensuring that robust monitoring and checking systems are in place, escalating issues where remedial action is necessary.

Team working

Encourage and promote a culture of health and well-being as a key ingredient in building positive and productive team working and relationships which lead to improved quality of patient care, improved patient outcomes and improved services. As a minimum the post holder is responsible for:

Working with the senior leadership team, support the development of nurses, within the Clinical Business Unit to ensure that patient care and services are led by competent, capable, high performing teams.

Working with the senior leadership team, ensure that staff health and well-being is at the heart of all people management practice, and that there are mechanisms in place to develop resilience, reduce pressure points, and provide support for staff to manage their working lives, including application of Trust HR policy as and when required.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).