Borders General Hospital
** PLEASE NOTE THIS IS AN INTERNAL VACANCY ONLY OPEN TO CURRENT NHS SCOTLAND STAFF **
OUR VALUES IN ACTION
Care and Compassion Quality and Teamwork Dignity and Respect Openness, honesty and responsibility
Clinical Nurse Manager (Band 8a)
Borders General Hospital | NHS Borders
Lead with purpose. Shape care. Thrive in the Scottish Borders.
NHS Borders is seeking an experienced, valuesdriven Clinical Nurse Manager to provide visible, compassionate and influential leadership across acute clinical services at Borders General Hospital.
This is a pivotal senior nursing leadership role, offering the opportunity to lead quality, safety and workforce excellence, while enjoying an outstanding quality of life in one of Scotlands most beautiful and accessible regions.
Why NHS Borders?
The Scottish Borders offers a unique blend of professional challenge and personal balance:
1. Outstanding natural environment with space, scenery and strong community identity
2. Affordable living, excellent schools and lifestyle opportunities
3. Borders General Hospital located just outside Melrose
4. Easy commuting from Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian, West Lothian and parts of Fife via road and rail
5. Close working relationships within a supportive, valuesled health board
Many of our senior leaders choose NHS Borders to lead at scale without losing connection to patients, teams and communities.
About the Role
As Clinical Nurse Manager, you will have professional and line management responsibility for nursing teams across a defined number of wards and clinical service areas. You will be accountable for:
6. Delivering safe, effective, personcentred care
7. Leading quality improvement, patient experience and safety
8. Developing and supporting Senior Charge Nurses and specialist nursing roles
9. Ensuring robust clinical, staff and financial governance
10. Playing a key role in hospital site management, patient flow and oncall leadership
You will work closely with the Associate Director of Nursing and General Manager, acting as a visible senior leader and role model, embedding NHS Borders values into everyday practice.
What Makes This Role Different
Real influence over nursing practice, workforce planning and service development
Strong emphasis on frontline leadership and professional nursing voice
Opportunity to shape advanced nursing roles and service innovation
Broad portfolio spanning quality, safety, education, workforce and governance
Senior leadership responsibility while remaining clinically grounded and visible
This is a role for a leader who enjoys complexity, values collaboration and wants to make a tangible difference.
Who Were Looking For
You will be:
11. A First Level Registered Nurse with significant postregistration and Senior Charge Nurse (or equivalent) experience
12. Educated to degree level, with evidence of leadership and management development (or equivalent experience to Masters level)
13. An inclusive, confident leader with strong communication, judgement and decisionmaking skills
14. Experienced in operational management, workforce planning, quality improvement and governance
15. Passionate about developing people, improving care and leading through values
What We Offer
16. Band 8a salary with NHS Scotland terms and conditions
17. Strong professional support from senior nursing and executive teams
18. Opportunities for ongoing development, leadership growth and influence
19. Flexible working options where service allows
20. A working environment where your leadership is seen, valued and trusted
Ready to Lead in the Borders?
If you are an experienced nurse leader looking for a role where you can shape services, develop teams and enjoy a better worklife balance, we would love to hear from you.
Informal enquiries are warmly welcomed, please contact Philip Grieve Associate Director of Nursing Acute
Due to legislative changes from 1 April 2025, this post may require a different level of criminal records check done than is currently the case. If the post is assessed as a 'regulated role', your appointment will be subject to joining the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. If there is any change to what is currently required, this will be confirmed by either the Hiring Manager or the Recruitment Team. For more details on these changes please visit: Disclosure Scotland Changes.
To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service.
As part of the pre-employment checks for a preferred candidate, NHS Scotland Boards will check your entitlement to work in the UK. It can be evidenced through a number of routes including specific types of visa as well as EU settled and pre-settled status. To find out more about these routes of permission, please refer to the websitehere.
For specific types of post, if you do not have the necessary eligibility to work in the UK, it might be possible (though not guaranteed) to secure sponsorship via a UK Skilled Worker/Health & Care Worker Visa. However, this is only possible if the employer is a licenced Sponsor, and if the post does not fall below the current minimum salary threshold or going rate. Further information on these criteria can be foundhere.
It is ESSENTIAL that you have checked that you either already have an appropriate right to work in the UK or that the post would be eligible to be sponsoredBEFORE submitting your application form
***PLEASE NOTE: We cannot accept late applications so please ensure your application is submitted early***
NHS Scotland is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. To this end, NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections
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