Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control

NHS; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading heart and lung hospital in the UK is seeking a Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control. You will provide strategic leadership to enhance clinical excellence and lead nursing and health professional staff. The ideal candidate will possess extensive senior leadership experience within the NHS and be passionate about delivering high-quality, patient-centred care. This role emphasizes values of compassion, excellence, and collaboration, crucial for driving organisational success.

Qualifications

• Extensive senior leadership experience in NHS or public sector.
• Experience with complex IPC issues at an organisational level.
• Ability to inspire, motivate, and develop teams.

Responsibilities

• Drive clinical excellence and leadership of nursing staff.
• Provide strategic leadership and direction as a Board member.
• Ensure zero tolerance for infections and maintain quality standards.

Skills

Leadership

Clinical excellence

Infection prevention

Multidisciplinary team management

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Registered Nurse

Job description

Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control

The closing date is 29 December 2025

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive and a key member of the Trust Board, you will play a central role underpinning our capabilities to deliver on our vision and ambitions as we start to deliver our new Trust Strategy.

We are seeking an outstanding skilled and compassionate leader with the experience and ambition to drive clinical excellence, providing visible and transformational clinical and professional leadership of nursing, clinical scientists and allied health professional staff.

The role has executive accountability for patient experience and will work closely with the Chief Medical Officer in relation to patient safety and clinical effectiveness, as well as being the executive professional lead for Infection Prevention and Control.

We are actively seeking candidates from a range of diverse and inclusive backgrounds who offer the leadership skills required. Whilst welcoming applications from all suitably experienced candidates, we wish to encourage applications from ethnic minority, disabled and LGBTQ+ people. Applications will be considered on their merits.

Main duties of the job

As a member of the Board of Directors, the post holder will be responsible, with Board colleagues, for the strategic leadership, direction and development of the Trust. As part of the leadership of the Trust they will role model compassionate and collective leadership, ensuring that our Trust values are at the heart of our decision making. The Chief Nurse has Board level responsibility for the development and leadership of nurses, clinical scientists and allied health professionals, and has an overarching duty to ensure the provision of high quality patient-centred care. The post has responsibility for these key elements:

• provide nursing and clinical advice to the Board and provide professional leadership for nurses, clinical scientists and allied health professionals
• establish and ensure the delivery of quality standards for nursing care across the Trust.
• as Director of Infection Prevention and Control, deliver a safe environment for patients and staff, with zero tolerance of nosocomial infections.
• ensure that suitable educational and developmental activities are in place to ensure clinical excellence across the organisation.
• be the Trust's Caldecott Guardian.
• Oversee the hospital's day-to-day operations in conjunction with fellow executive directors to ensure that performance targets, national standards, and regulatory requirements are met or exceeded.
• Provide executive sponsorship to major organisational programmes that support the implementation of the Trust's Strategy.

About us

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the UK's leading heart and lung hospital, delivering care to more than 50,000 patients a year in its new state-of-the-art hospital in Cambridge. We perform the most heart and/or lung transplants in the UK and carried out the UK's first successful heart transplant in 1979. It also offers emergency heart attack treatment, sleep centre care and is one of just five centres nationally for those in severe respiratory failure.

Based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe the Trust is at the heart of treatments of the future. Royal Papworth became the first hospital trust in the country to be rated outstanding in all five areas assessed by the Care Quality Commission - a rating it still holds today. The Trust holds its values of compassion, excellence & collaboration at its core, and all colleagues joining the team are expected to uphold these in their day-to-day roles & interactions. Royal Papworth is proud of its diverse workforce and encourages people to embrace their individuality.

The Trust values difference and welcomes all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion & belief, sex and sexual orientation. Providing they meet the minimum post criteria, applicants with disabilities will be offered an interview.

For a street view tour: https://royalpapworth.nhs.uk/virtual-tour

Job responsibilities

On this page you will find a Role Profile which provides information about the hospital and full details about the role. We recommend that you review this and refer to it as you complete your application. Please include how you will meet the Trust Values Compassion, Excellence and Collaboration. If you would like more information about the role or working at Royal Papworth Hospital, please get in touch with the contact for this role.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse
• Evidence of professional and personal development within the last two years

Experience

• Extensive experience of senior professional leadership and operational management across a range of clinical specialities and care settings.
• Experience of dealing with complex IPC issues at an organisational level.
• Substantial senior leadership experience in the NHS or other public sector organisation, ideally at Board or very senior management level.
• Demonstrable understanding of the structure and framework of the NHS and how the Trust delivers care within this.
• A track record of leading significant change programmes and strategic initiatives that have improved patient outcomes, service quality, and organisational performance.
• Evidence of influencing, making or effectively participating in national nursing policy development, with experience of translating national policy and standards into practice
• Exceptional ability to inspire, motivate and develop teams. Experience of successfully managing multidisciplinary teams or departments and fostering an open, improvement-focused culture.
• A strong commitment to staff engagement, well-being and inclusion is essential, as is a personal leadership style that aligns with Royal Papworth's values of Compassion, Excellence and Collaboration.
• Proven track record of building relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders, both internal and external.

Additional Criteria

• Please provide evidence of your commitment to uphold the Trust's values: Compassion, Excellence, Collaboration

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust