Clinical Matron

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board; Stevenage; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced Clinical Matron to provide senior nursing leadership across Mental Health Liaison and Urgent Care services at Watford General and Lister Hospital, Stevenage.

Leading quality improvement, governance, staffing, infection prevention and patient experience, you will work with leaders and clinicians to deliver safe, compassionate, recovery-focused care and drive service transformation.

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse on NMC register
• Educated to Master's degree or currently working towards a Master's degree
• Evidence of continuing personal and professional development
• Leadership course evident or working towards
• Mentorship course, Management experience in clinical NHS environment
• Excellent understanding of the management of safe staffing
• Significant experience of people management and effective leadership
• Ability to lead the service areas with vision and determination
• Ability to offer encouragement and support to others to foster both personal and professional development, Hold a full valid driving licence and access to a car to use regularly for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010). Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from theCare Quality Commission.

Responsibilities

• Provide visible, authoritative clinical leadership and support to Clinical Nurse Specialists, Team Leaders, and MDT staff.
• Act as professional lead for nursing care, ensuring high standards of quality, safety, timeliness, and effectiveness across the division.
• Ensure nursing practice complies with professional standards, statutory requirements, Trust policies, and the NMC Code.
• Lead infection prevention and control, cleanliness, privacy, dignity, health and safety in line with the Modern Matrons Charter.
• Ensure care environments are safe, clean, well maintained, and fit for purpose.
• Provide senior nursing advice, including out-of-hours support as required.
• Promote shared decision-making and service user, family and carer involvement in care.
• Lead quality improvement, audit, research activity, and the development of tools to demonstrate nursing quality.
• Foster a learning culture by leading reviews of incidents, risks, and near misses, ensuring lessons are learned and shared.

Skills

Nursing leadership

Staff management

Clinical governance

Quality improvement

Communication

Change management

Infection prevention & control

Regulatory compliance

Staff development

Driving licence

Education

NMC registration

Master's degree

Leadership course

Mentorship course

Job description

This is a permanent position for a Clinical Matron for:

• Mental Health Liaison (MHLT) service based at Watford General
• Mental Health Liaison (MHLT) service based at Lister Hospital, Stevenage
• Mental Health Urgent Care Centre (MHUCC) based at Lister Hospital, Stevenage

This is an unique opportunity to provide senior nursing leadership within a dynamic crisis service, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality care for people experiencing a mental health crisis. As Clinical Matron, you will provide visible leadership across the service, promoting excellence in clinical practice, patient safety, professional standards and compassionate, recovery-focused care. Working closely with Team Leaders, Operational Managers, Heads of Service, the Head of Nursing and medical colleagues, you will lead quality improvement, clinical governance, workforce development and service transformation. You will play a key role in strengthening clinical assurance by overseeing safe staffing, professional standards, incident learning, regulatory compliance and continuous improvement in patient and staff experience. This is an excellent opportunity for an established senior nurse who is passionate about leading change, developing others and influencing service-wide improvement. If you are committed to delivering outstanding care and inspiring high-performing teams, we welcome your application., Under the direction of the Head of Nursing, the Clinical Matron is the professional and quality lead for nursing within their specialist areas promoting safe, high-quality and compassionate care, ensuring dignity, inclusivity and best practice in infection prevention and control. The Clinical Matron is accountable for delivering safe, effective and person-centred care through a strong clinical presence, accessibility and oversight, promptly identifying and addressing concerns. They are accessible to service users, carers and staff, offering advice, support and resolution of issues. In partnership with the Head of Nursing, the Clinical Matron contributes to strategic service development, delivery of key performance indicators and assurance of compliance with regulatory, professional and internal standards. They lead and develop staff, drive quality improvement, and promote teamwork, learning and continuous improvement. As a senior divisional leader, the Clinical Matron acts as a professional role model, fostering a just, inclusive and learning culture, upholding Trust values, policies, and equality and diversity principles, and acting up as required.

Clinical Leadership & Quality

• Provide visible, authoritative clinical leadership and support to Clinical Nurse Specialists, Team Leaders, and MDT staff.
• Act as professional lead for nursing care, ensuring high standards of quality, safety, timeliness, and effectiveness across the division.
• Ensure nursing practice complies with professional standards, statutory requirements, Trust policies, and the NMC Code.
• Lead infection prevention and control, cleanliness, privacy, dignity, health and safety in line with the Modern Matrons Charter.
• Ensure care environments are safe, clean, well maintained, and fit for purpose.
• Provide senior nursing advice, including out-of-hours support as required.
• Promote shared decision-making and service user, family and carer involvement in care.
• Lead quality improvement, audit, research activity, and the development of tools to demonstrate nursing quality.
• Foster a learning culture by leading reviews of incidents, risks, and near misses, ensuring lessons are learned and shared.

Staff Management & Workforce

• Ensure safe, effective staffing through oversight of eRostering and workforce deployment.
• Ensure the right staff with the right skills deliver person-centred care.
• Support and deputise for the Head of Nursing when required.
• Provide line management, clinical supervision, mentoring, and performance management for Clinical Nurse Specialists and staff.
• Ensure robust systems for appraisal, PDPs, supervision, and professional development are in place, monitored, and audited.
• Identify learning and development needs, ensure delivery, and evaluate impact on care.

Governance, Performance & Service Development

• Develop, implement, and monitor quality standards, policies, and governance frameworks.
• Collect and analyse data to support audit, quality improvement, and research.
• Work collaboratively across services and the wider Trust to support service development and quality assurance.
• Promote a positive image of services and the Trust.

Communication & Engagement

• Ensure effective, respectful communication with service users, families/carers, and stakeholders.
• Support the management and early resolution of complaints and concerns.
• Work collaboratively with Inclusion, Involvement and Experience teams and investigation leads.
• Ensure service user and carer feedback is actively sought, acted upon, and embedded into service improvement.
• Use Division Quality and Risk forums to address care quality, cleanliness, and IPC issues.

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse on NMC register
• Educated to Master's degree or currently working towards a Master's degree
• Evidence of continuing personal and professional development
• Leadership course evident or working towards
• Mentorship course, Management experience in clinical NHS environment
• Excellent understanding of the management of safe staffing
• Significant experience of people management and effective leadership
• Ability to lead the service areas with vision and determination
• Ability to offer encouragement and support to others to foster both personal and professional development, Hold a full valid driving licence and access to a car to use regularly for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010). Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust are one of just five mental health trusts to achieve an overall rating of 'Outstanding' from theCare Quality Commission.

Our family of over 4,500 members of staff provide health and social care for people with mental ill health, physical ill health and learning disabilities across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Norfolk, delivering these services within the community and several inpatient settings. Everything is underpinned by choice, independence and equality, with our Trust values embedded throughout