Job overview
Job Summary
The post holder will operationally manage and clinically lead the nursing teams in the Bed /Clinical Site Management. The post holder is expected to regularly undertake clinical care and act as a clinical leader providing advice and support. An essential component of the job is to support the teams in developing clinical skills, complex case management, clinical decision making and strategies, competent site management and timely patient discharges. S/he is the allocated budget holder for those nursing teams and is therefore expected to ensure that care provided is, as well as evidence based and in line with best practice, cost effective and productive. S/he is also expected to lead on areas of development in clinical practice and the service and to undertake other delegated tasks as agreed.
The post holder will take an active part in continuing to develop new ways of working across primary and secondary care within Whittington Health and be an active member of the nursing visible leadership programme.
KEY RELATIONSHIPS
1. ADONS
2. Director of Operations
3. Clinical Lead Acute Admissions Unit
4. All Consultants and Lead Nurses/Matrons
5. Hospital Matrons and Discharge Teams
6. WH Professional Development Teams
7. Local Education Providers
8. Social Services
9. Rehabilitation Services
10. Specialist Nursing Services
11. ICB/ LAS
Main duties of the job
Advanced clinical leader providing visible leadership across Bed/Site Management teams, ensuring safe, effective, evidence-based care and strong patient flow across the hospital. Operates at an advanced clinical level, supporting nursing teams, managers, and multidisciplinary colleagues while promoting the 6Cs, ICARE values, infection prevention, medication safety, safeguarding, and Hospital at Night standards. Leads by example through regular clinical presence, daily rounds, out-of-hours and weekend support, and clinical supervision of junior staff.
Directly manages the Clinical Bed/Site Management Team with responsibility for safe staffing levels, skill mix, performance management, patient flow, discharge planning, and maintaining the four-hour ED target. Oversees workforce planning, recruitment, appraisals, absence management, budgets, temporary staffing controls, and service performance, ensuring compliance with Trust policies and national standards.
Drives continuous quality improvement through audits, incident investigation, complaint management, patient experience initiatives, KPI monitoring, and nursing quality indicators. Works closely with senior leaders and stakeholders to improve care pathways, reduce health inequalities, and support integrated working across acute, community, and social care services.
Working for our organisation
Working for Whittington Health NHS Trust means being part of a compassionate, inclusive, and forward-thinking organisation committed to delivering outstanding care for local people. We provide integrated health and care services across hospital and community settings, placing patients, families, and staff at the centre of everything we do.
Our ICARE values—Innovation, Compassionate, Accountable, Respectful, and Excellent—shape the way we work and support a positive culture where every colleague is valued and encouraged to thrive. We are committed to equality, diversity, staff wellbeing, and continuous professional development, offering opportunities for learning, leadership, and career progression across a wide range of services.
As part of our team, you will work alongside dedicated multidisciplinary professionals focused on innovation, high-quality care, and improving outcomes for the diverse communities we serve across North London.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
CLINICAL LEADERSHIP
·To undertake clinical practice at an advanced level, within the Bed/ Site management teams, providing advice and leadership to the relevant nursing teams, colleagues and managers as requested.
·To work some routine out of hours and weekend shifts to ensure visible leadership, monitor clinical care and provide clinical support.
·To act as a role model in assisting to develop nursing roles according to service demand and evolving models of care.
·To ensure that the 6Cs are incorporated into the practice of nursing teams and to lead by example.
·To ensure that care provided is evidence always based and productive.
·To work with colleagues and users, to develop care pathways within Whittington Health and the population it serves, promoting practice that is dynamic, efficient, innovative and continuously improved in its relevance and responsiveness to the needs of clients and patients.
·To assist in developing initiatives to promote effective patient flow and timely patient discharge, the reduction in health inequalities, patient self-management and integrated working with social services, district nursing, specialist nursing and primary/secondary care colleagues.
·To act as a champion for the nursing teams, proactively liaising with internal and external stakeholders ensuring that nursing provision is effective and responsive, and that patients and clinicians experience a high standard of communication, care and continuity.
·To assist in ensuring that clinical risk is assessed and managed in line with professional and Whittington Health standards and to ensure that risk and adult safeguarding is appropriately managed within teams to ensure patient and staff safety.
·To ensure that adverse incidents are reported and investigated, with an open reporting and learning culture being fostered.
·To act as a role model for best infection control practice, nutritional standards and medication management, ensuring that a culture of best practice in these areas is intrinsic to care delivery.
·To act as a role model for the Hospital at Night, ensuring that teams provide appropriate safe care at all times.
·To regularly participate in clinical supervision and to act as a clinical supervisor to junior staff.
MANAGEMENT
·To directly manage the Clinical Bed/ Site Management team.
·To have direct responsibility for the safe running of Clinical Bed/ Site Management Team
·To ensure that patient environment is well maintained, clean and safe.
·To ensure that safe staffing levels and skill mix in line with local and national standards are maintained at all times and if these falls below the recommended benchmark to act on them and escalate to the Director of Operations and ADONS as required.
·To supervise and manage the Bed/ Clinical Site Management Team on a daily basis to ensure high standards of care and effective patient flow across the hospital including in order to maintain the four-hour ED target.
·To assist with conducting workforce and skill mix review as required.
·To be responsible, in consultation with the Director of Operations/ADONS, for ensuring that agreed performance management systems are in place, including
·taking appropriate action when there is a failure by the team to meet the specified standards.
·To manage the team budgets ensuring that adequate and effective controls are in place on pay and non-pay spend, that stock levels are appropriately managed.
·To ensure that there are adequate systems in place to monitor and control spend on temporary (bank and agency) nursing staff.
·To agree with the team performance objectives to reflect both the Whittington Health clinical strategy and ICARE values and national strategies and priorities.
·To ensure that absence levels within the teams are monitored and managed.
·To ensure that individuals within those (and others when providing management support) teams are aware of and work within policies and procedures. To ensure that the care given meets the standards and policies meets the standards and policies set by Whittington Health.
·To ensure that agreed models of appraisal, one to one meetings and clinical supervision for staff within those teams are implemented in accordance with national and trust guidelines, through which the lifelong learning plans for all staff can be developed.
·To provide management support for other nursing teams in the absence of the Director of Operations and ADONS as needed.
·To work with the Director of Operations/ADONS to ensure that job descriptions and vacancies within the team are reviewed on a regular basis and ensure that the skill mix adapts to meet the changing patterns of service delivery from the team.
·To take responsibility for the selection and recruitment of team members across the teams as required and to take a proactive role in nurturing talent and retaining high quality staff.
·To facilitate and ensure the use of information technology and that relevant and up to date information on clinical and service developments are provided to agreed time-scales
·To ensure that there is a high standard of contemporaneous nursing documentation within the teams.
·To undertake delegated projects and management responsibilities as required.
·To develop and maintain effective and appropriate communication systems with staff and colleagues within the Trust.
·To take every reasonable step to see that the working environment is safe, healthy and hazard free for staff and users.
·To chair and lead meetings and working parties where appropriate.
QUALITY
·To be highly visible in undertaking regular rounds (daily) in clinical areas of responsibility and be accessible to nursing staff, patients and the public, ensuring open and honest communication and examining high standards of care.
·To work with the ADONS to ensure that care is evidence based and that continuous quality improvement programmes are in place that constantly challenge practice.
·To review, develop and maintain an appropriate nursing audit programme in conjunction with the ADONS and to contribute to the ICSU audit timetable and agenda.
·To assist on collation of data for the service key performance indicators and lead on collation for the nursing quality indicators, ensuring, in conjunction with the Head of Nursing, that a plan is in place to continuously improve on results.
·To work closely with the Whittington Health PALS department and where necessary participate in investigating complaints and clinical incidents in line with policy, procedures and time scales, making recommendations about changes to practice and service that may result.
·To take a role in leading the patient experience strategy for the teams, ensuring that friends and family results are collated and acted upon and that creative ways of understanding patient feedback and involvement are implemented.
·To ensure that the teams follow appropriate and relevant procedures, guidelines and protocols, working with the ADONS to review these as needed.
·To assist the ADONS in benchmarking against other services and developing innovative practice and new ways of working which are productive and patient outcome focused.
·To lead on the nursing team’s retention and development programme, ensuring that effective career pathways, competency frameworks and in house development and training opportunities are in place
EDUCATION & TRAINING
·To promote a continuous learning environment for the relevant nursing teams ensuring that staff have access to information that enables them to practice safely and effectively.
·To collate information about the training and development needs of staff as identified through annual reviews and liaise with the professional development team to ensure these are met where appropriate.
·To ensure where appropriate that arrangements are made for educational evaluation and for staff to learn from the outcomes of quality reviews, audits, complaints and investigations.
·To undertake mandatory training as required for the role.
·To be aware of one’s own continuous professional development needs and maintain an annual personal development plan.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
·To participate in research projects and/or innovations following agreed policy and protocol, leading on these in certain areas as agreed with the Director of Operations/Head of Nursing.
·To contribute to the development of the Emergency and Urgent Care and wider Whittington Health nursing teams by participating in working parties, committees and planning and discussion groups as agreed with line manager.
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
·To be aware of and act in accordance with agreed policy procedures, legislation and NMC standards.
·To always adhere to policies and procedures and ensure that all nursing teams are aware of their responsibilities in relation to these
Person specification
EDUCATION/QUALIFICATIONS
Essential criteria
12. Registered nurse (adult)
13. Nurse Independent Prescribing Qualification (or willingness to undertake)
14. Advanced physical assessment qualification (or willingness to undertake)
ABILITIES
Essential criteria
15. Clear understanding of clinical site management and patient flow Clear understanding of acute performance targets
16. Awareness and understanding of changing nursing, local and national direction and priorities
17. Ability to challenge traditional views and work practices
KNOWLEDGE/ABILITIES
Essential criteria
18. Experience working at band 7 level or above
19. An understanding of team development and leadership
20. Current knowledge of issues affecting the provision of health services
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS
To comply with the Trust’s Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults This will require you to:
21. Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.
22. Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.
23. Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
24. Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
25. Participate in required training and supervision.
26. Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct
Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.