The Role
This is a unique and highly influential senior nursing leadership role, offering the opportunity to shape the future delivery of nursing services within one of Scotland’s most significant healthcare transformation programmes. The Monklands Replacement Project represents a once-in-a-generation investment in healthcare infrastructure, service redesign, and workforce development, and this role will ensure that nursing leadership and professional expertise are central to every stage of the programme.
As Chief of Nursing Services, you will provide strategic and professional nursing leadership to the project, working closely with the multidisciplinary project team, senior clinical leaders, operational managers, and external partners. You will play a critical role in ensuring that service and system redesign is clinically led, evidence based, person centred, and deliverable within agreed affordability parameters.
Service and System Redesign
You will work with the project team, heads of department, and clinicians to agree and negotiate how services will be delivered within the new hospital environment. This will include maximising space utilisation, considering and implementing new treatment techniques and technologies, and addressing a wide range of clinical issues such as access, circulation, adjacencies to services, and departmental relationships.
Working closely with clinical teams, you will lead the testing of clinical models of care within the live hospital environment to inform future design, support efficient patient flow, add value to work processes, reduce waste, and improve both staff and patient experience. You will use highly developed negotiating, influencing, and challenging skills to ensure that agreed clinical requirements are accurately reflected in transitional models of care and output specifications for the new hospital, while maintaining alignment with affordability and deliverability.
You will drive forward service redesign identified through the Monklands Replacement Project Clinical Redesign work undertaken to date, leading tests of change using recognised improvement methodologies informed by data, patient feedback, and staff experience. This will include close working with workforce, staff governance, and HR colleagues to deliver sustainable service and workforce redesign.
A key element of the role will be leading the development of workforce planning changes required to support the new clinical model, preparing plans for service and professional sign‑off. You will also work with colleagues across the project team and NHS Lanarkshire to ensure digital technology is embedded at the heart of service redesign and future ways of working, with clear benefit realisation and functional narratives informing the organisation’s digital strategy.
You will ensure that all improvement plans have clearly defined aims and robust measurement frameworks to support implementation and evaluation of the new clinical model. Throughout, you will ensure strong operational alignment with the University Hospital Monklands Chief Nurse, the UHM site management team (Triumvirate), and the wider Quality Plan.
Hospital Design
You will inform and influence the Monklands Replacement Project team and technical advisors to ensure that the ideas, expertise, and lived experience of staff are reflected within the overall design criteria for the new build and refurbished areas. This will help ensure staff feel engaged, involved, and confident in the future working environment.
The role will require you to scope and apply relevant literature to inform evidence‑based hospital design and workforce modelling. You will evaluate detailed layout drawings in consultation with clinical teams, operational colleagues, and service users, assessing the impact of design decisions on work processes, workforce planning, nursing utilisation, and service delivery to ensure safe, efficient, and high‑quality care.
You will agree workforce models that support future service delivery and are clinically acceptable while remaining within agreed affordability parameters. You will also inform operational staff and external agencies of clinical aspects of the procurement process, providing clear and detailed explanations behind design and procurement decisions.
As a senior clinical leader within the project, you will represent the programme in meetings and presentations with the public, staff, and internal and external stakeholders. You will support the use of simulation and mock‑ups to test workflows and new clinical models, ensuring design decisions support improved service delivery. You will also provide advice and input to external design reviews, including the NHS Scotland Design Assurance Process (NDAP) and Key Stage Assurance Reviews (KSAR).
Clinical Leadership and Professional Input
In addition to the responsibilities outlined above, you will provide ongoing clinical expertise throughout the construction and handover phases of the project. You will offer credible, visible, and authoritative nursing leadership across MRP‑related activity within University Hospital Monklands, ensuring alignment with the site Chief Nurse and the Acute Division.
You will consider and advise on infection prevention and control implications of project decisions, working collaboratively with the MRP IPC Lead and the wider NHS Lanarkshire IPC resource. Central to the role will be ensuring that the collective voice of stakeholders is heard and reflected within the project, including engagement with public reference forums, and ensuring that services and environments are truly person centred.
About You
We are seeking an exceptional senior nursing leader with the credibility, strategic insight, and professional authority to influence at the highest level. You will bring extensive experience of service redesign, quality improvement, and system transformation, alongside a strong commitment to NHS values and person‑centred care.
This role offers a rare opportunity to leave a lasting legacy for patients, staff, and communities by shaping how nursing services are delivered in a future‑focused hospital environment.
NHS Lanarkshire
Have you always wanted to work with NHS Lanarkshire? Then this might be the opportunity for you to join Team Lanarkshire!
Here at NHS Lanarkshire, we put the patient at the heart of everything we do. Each colleague within the organisation plays a key role in how we deliver our healthcare services.
We proudly serve a population of 655,000 across rural and urban communities in both North and South Lanarkshire. NHS Lanarkshire is comprised of Acute Services (which currently provide hospital based services over 3 main sites), Corporate & Property & Support Services, North and South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnerships which provide integrated primary healthcare and social care services to local communities and surrounding areas.
Contract type
Permanent
Full time
37hours
Location and Working Pattern
This role will be based in Monklands Replacement Project in University Hospital Monklands
The working pattern for this role is Monday - Sunday.
Whilst this advertisement may be for a specific post(s) in a particular location, applicants who are shortlisted for interview may be considered for similar vacancies in alternative locations.
Looking to find out more?
If you’re looking to find out more, then we would love to hear from you!
Please contact Fiona Cowan, MRP Assoc. Project Director on fiona.cowan@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk
For enquiries regarding the application form or recruitment process, please contact Lewis Melvin, HR Recruitment Systems and Project Lead on lewis.melvin@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk Please remember to include the job title and reference number in your email
Why NHS Lanarkshire?
Join us and you will discover a supportive environment where you will have the chance to add to your skills and further your career.
Some of NHS Lanarkshire’s benefits include:
* A minimum of 27 days annual leave increasing with length of service
* A minimum of 8 days of public holidays
* Membership of NHS Pension Scheme, with life insurance benefits (for more information on the NHS Pension Scheme visit the Scottish Public Pension)
* Paid sick leave increasing with length of service
* Occupational health services
* Employee counselling services
* Work‑life Balance policies and procedures
NHS Lanarkshire have a range of support services on topics that can impact both on your working and personal life including occupational health, spiritual care and independent counselling. This support can be accessed using the links on this page.
Further Information
For more information on the role, please refer to the Job Description. If you’re looking for more information on the recruitment process, organisation or the services we provide, please refer to our information pack, or our recruitment webpage.
Job Pack
Right to Work within the UK
NHS Lanarkshire has a legal obligation to ensure that it does not employ any worker who has not been granted the relevant permission to work in the UK.
We are required to check the entitlement to work in the UK of all prospective employees, regardless of nationality or job category. UK Visas & Immigration rules are available at www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk.
Prospective applicants are encouraged to check eligibility in advance of applying for vacancies in NHS Lanarkshire.
Please note that all Band 1 and Band 2 posts are not eligible for sponsorship through the Skilled Worker route.
NHS Lanarkshire is dedicated to building a diverse workforce where everyone can thrive, develop, and succeed based on their skills, knowledge, and talent—regardless of race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or care experience or any other dimension that can be used to differentiate people from one another.
Care experienced applicants include those who have lived with foster parents, kinship carers, or in residential/secure children’s settings.
Candidates should provide original and authentic responses to all questions within the application form. The use of artificial intelligence (AI), automated tools, or other third‑party assistance to generate, draft, or significantly modify responses is strongly discouraged. By submitting your application, you confirm that all answers are your own work, reflect your personal knowledge, skills and experience, and have not been solely produced or altered by AI or similar technologies. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in your application being withdrawn from the application process.
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