Clinical Team Lead for Specialist Palliative Care

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust; Wigton; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare trust in North Cumbria is seeking a Clinical Team Lead for Specialist Palliative Care. This role involves leading a dedicated team to deliver high-quality care to patients with life-limiting illnesses. The successful candidate will be responsible for service development, clinical expertise, and team coordination while ensuring compliance with governance and safety standards. A strong background in palliative care and leadership is essential. The position offers opportunities for making a significant impact in patient care.

Benefits

27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years

Access to NHS discounts

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Significant experience of leadership & management in healthcare.
• Evidence of collaborative working with multi-professional colleagues.
• Knowledge of budget management and clinical governance.

Responsibilities

• Provide strong clinical and operational leadership to the team.
• Lead the design and implementation of new service models.
• Coordinate activities across health and social care settings.
• Champion continuous quality improvement and audit performance.
• Act as a liaison among stakeholders in the healthcare system.

Skills

Leadership experience

Expertise in palliative care

Strong communication

Critical thinking

Team coordination

Education

1st level Registered Nurse

Educated to degree level

Advanced communication skills training

Non-medical Prescriber course V300

Management course qualification

Job description

Overview

Go back North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

Clinical Team Lead for Specialist Palliative Care

The closing date is 28 September 2025

Specialist Palliative Care Team Lead - An Exciting Opportunity in North Cumbria

This is an exciting opportunity to join the specialist palliative care service in North Cumbria as a Team Lead. You will play a key role in shaping and delivering a new, innovative service model that aims to provide compassionate, high-quality care to patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families.

As the Specialist Palliative Care Team Lead, you will lead a dedicated team, driving improvements in patient care, enhancing collaboration across healthcare settings, and ensuring efficient use of resources. This role offers the chance to make a real difference by combining clinical expertise with strategic leadership to improve outcomes and support patients at a critical time in their lives.

If you are passionate about palliative care and ready to take on a leadership role where you can shape the future of services in a beautiful and supportive region, this opportunity in North Cumbria is for you.

Main duties of the job

Leadership and Management: Provide strong clinical and operational leadership to the specialist palliative care team, fostering a supportive, collaborative, and high-performing environment.

Service Development: Lead the design, implementation, and evaluation of new service models to improve patient care pathways, enhance efficiency, and meet local population needs.

Clinical Expertise: Deliver expert advice on complex symptom management and psychosocial issues, ensuring high standards of care for patients with life-limiting conditions.

Team Coordination: Coordinate multidisciplinary team activities, ensuring effective communication, role clarity, and collaboration across health and social care settings.

Quality Improvement: Champion continuous quality improvement, audit service performance, and implement evidence-based practices to improve outcomes.

Education and Training: Support team members' professional development through training, supervision, and mentorship, promoting a culture of learning and excellence.

Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a liaison between the palliative care team, patients, families, and external partners, including primary care, hospitals, and community services.

Resource Management: Oversee efficient use of resources--staffing, equipment, and budgets--to ensure sustainable service delivery.

Compliance and Governance: Ensure team operates in line with policies, guidelines, and regulatory requirements, maintaining governance and patient safety.

About us

At NCIC, we have an ambition to deliver outstanding healthcare services to the population of North Cumbria. The Trust is committed to creating a centre of excellence in providing rural and remote healthcare and provides a wide range of community and acute services throughout our county.

Our 5 key principles demonstrate our belief in the delivery of 'safe, high quality care every time':

Being a clinically led organisation

Quality and safety at the heart of our Trust

A positive patient experience every time

A great place to work

Managing our money well

As an organisation we are serious about supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our local community and are very much focused on being an inclusive and compassionate place to work.

Across the North East and North Cumbria we are working together to deliver our ambition to be the greenest region in England by 2030. All staff are expected to support sustainability.

Job responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification for further information regarding the role and the essential and desirable criteria required to be met by applicants.

Please note, due to changes implemented by the Government to the UK immigration policy, individuals who require a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa may no longer be eligible for sponsorship where the UKVI salary threshold is not met or if the occupation is not included in the updated Immigration Salary List (ISL). Applicants must check their eligibility to be employed in any role they are interested in applying for, prior to completing an application for employment. Any applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be progressed.

If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme or Armed Forces Covenant and you meet all the essential criteria for a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants moving to the region for certain posts. Please see our Policy for eligible vacancies.

Please ensure that you document evidence of meeting all the essential criteria in the supporting information.

If sufficient response is received this post could be closed earlier than the specified closing date, please apply as soon as possible to ensure that your application is considered.

Candidates who have been successfully shortlisted for interview will be asked via an email notification to log on to their Trac account to select an interview time. This will usually be within 2 weeks of the closing date.

For candidates applying using a Hotmail account or have strict firewall settings please ensure the following:

• Junk Mail is checked regularly

Disclosure and Barring Service:

On 28 November 2020, the new Disclosure and Barring Service filtering rules will come into effect.

The changes mean that:

• youth cautions, reprimands and final warnings will no longer be subject to automatic disclosure
• the multiple conviction rule has been removed, meaning that if an individual has more than one conviction, regardless of offence type or time passed, each conviction will be considered against the remaining rules individually, rather than being automatically disclosed.

If you are unsure about whether you need to disclose certain criminal record information, free confidential advice may be sought from one of the charity bodies listed below. These bodies can advise you on what you are legally required to declare and may also be able to advise you on how you can disclose criminal record information to a prospective employer and your legal rights when doing so.

Unlock Tel: [phone], email [e-mail] or complete the online form on the Unlock website

Please note the cost of the DBS check is increasing from 2nd December and the new cost will be

Standard DBS check £21.50, Enhanced DBS check £49.50 + any admin costs.

The Trust is committed to safeguarding adults and children therefore if the post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended) the successful candidate(s) will be subject to a criminal records check with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The cost of the DBS must be met by the successful candidate(s) through salary deduction. DBS charges are as follows if applicable to the post:

Standard Check: £18 + Administration cost of £3.85 = £21.85. Deducted at £6.85 from 1st month salary and £5 deducted from salary over following 3 months.

Enhanced Check: £38 + administration cost of £3.90 = £41.90. Deducted at £11.90 from 1st month salary and £10 deducted from salary over following 3 months.

As part of the one of the largest employers in the UK NCIC future employees will have also access to the following benefits.

A lease car may be available for this position; further details will be provided upon appointment if applicable.

27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years

Access to NHS discounts with retailers and leisure companies

EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) a free, confidential counselling and information service to assist with personal or work-related problems

These schemes are subject to availability

Person Specification

Qualifications

• 1st level Registered Nurse
• Educated to degree Level
• Evidence of Post registration education in related areas
• Evidence of recent study at masters/post graduate
• Advanced communication skills training from a recognised body
• Non medical Prescriber independent prescriber course V300
• Practice Teacher willingness to undertake.
• Previous management course/qualification

Knowledge and Experience

• Significant experience of leadership & management
• Experience at Band 6/7 level in community nursing setting
• Demonstrable contribution to practice developments in community care /chronic disease management/long term conditions/palliative, end of life care
• Evidence of collaborative working with multi-professional colleagues
• Evidence of effective communication across all levels of the organisation Research & Development experience Experience of managing complaints 13 and with all stakeholders
• Awareness of current initiatives within the local & National health economy and of applicable guidelines, protocols, and frameworks
• Knowledge and experience of budget management
• Up to date knowledge of current Government and Local agendas and how these translate into local practice.
• Evidence of providing professional/clinical leadership at postgraduate level
• Good working knowledge of the clinical governance agenda/National & Local priorities
• Research & Development experience
• Experience of managing complaints

Skills and Aptitudes

• Evidence of management and leadership experience
• Ability to communicate complex information where there may be barriers to understanding
• Ability to exercise critical thinking skills
• Ability to analyse date and present information to various audiences
• Ability to implement programmes or work streams leading to service changes
• Demonstrates up to date evidence based clinical knowledge in relation to community nursing
• Forward thinking able to identify opportunities for improvement in service development
• Motivated - able to motivate self and others to deliver a quality service
• Operational planning and delivery of care for complex caseloads including chronic disease management/Long term conditions/palliative care
• Computer literate - ability to use software programmes designed to maximise the contribution to the post

Other Requirements

• Must have access to a vehicle & be able to commute to meet the demands of the role and remain flexible - to meet the demands of the service

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.

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust