Community Hospitals Matron

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust; Ashford; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Community Hospital Matron to provide expert clinical and professional leadership across our community hospital services in Kent. Supporting inpatient rehabilitation, reablement and sub-acute care teams across multiple sites, you will champion clinical excellence, patient safety and high-quality care for patients with complex health needs.

The role involves working with the Lead Matron to drive improvement and ensure services meet standards.

Responsibilities

• Providing visible, credible professional leadership across community hospital sites, promoting excellence in clinical care, safety and patient experience
• Providing clinical support across community hospital sites, including advice and expert opinion for complex patients, clinical assessment, care planning, diagnosis, risk management, education and service delivery.
• Responsible for working with the Lead Matron in delivering strategic quality priorities, including clinical risk management, audit programmes and service improvement initiatives.
• You will plan and organise complex clinical quality, safety and improvement activity across community hospitals, adjusting plans in response to changing priorities, patient acuity, staffing, bed management, patient flow, MDT case conferences and education or training requirements. This includes promoting discharge planning as a shared responsibility across the multidisciplinary team, supporting proactive conversations and timely decision-making to improve patient flow and safe discharge.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Patient safety

Job description

Please note: at this stage, the role is open only to colleagues currently employed within Kent and Medway NHS Trusts, the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Medway Community Healthcare or working on the Staff Bank within these organisations. Nursing and AHP vacancies are also open to Student Nurses and Newly Qualified Nurses/AHPs.

Are you an inspiring clinical leader passionate about delivering outstanding patient care? We are seeking a dynamic Community Hospital Matron to provide expert clinical and professional leadership across our Community Hospital services in Kent.

Supporting inpatient rehabilitation, reablement and sub-acute care teams across multiple sites, you will champion clinical excellence, patient safety and high-quality care for patients with complex health needs. Working closely with the Lead Matron and operational leaders, you will drive continuous improvement, embed a culture of learning and assurance, and ensure services consistently meet Trust, regulatory and national standards.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced senior nurse to influence practice, support professional development and make a real difference to patient outcomes across our community hospitals.

Join us and help shape the future of community healthcare in Kent.

• Providing visible, credible professional leadership across community hospital sites, promoting excellence in clinical care, safety and patient experience
• Providing clinical support across community hospital sites, including advice and expert opinion for complex patients, clinical assessment, care planning, diagnosis, risk management, education and service delivery. This will support safe patient care, strengthen clinical practice and help colleagues develop confidence and competence.
• Responsible for working with the Lead Matron in delivering strategic quality priorities, including, clinical risk management, audit programmes and service improvement initiatives.
• You will plan and organise complex clinical quality, safety and improvement activity across community hospitals, adjusting plans in response to changing priorities, patient acuity, staffing, bed management, patient flow, MDT case conferences and education or training requirements. This includes promoting discharge planning as a shared responsibility across the multidisciplinary team, supporting proactive conversations and timely decision-making to improve patient flow and safe discharge.

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is due to integrate with Medway Community Healthcare on 1 October 2026. Following integration and to align our community services to the new Neighbourhood Model of care delivery, there will be a period of consultation which may result in changes affecting some services, teams or roles. Depending on the area you are applying to work in, this could include potential changes to your role, work base, reporting arrangements, or terms and conditions of employment. Any changes would be subject to consultation and managed sensitively and in line with relevant employment processes. Please do contact the recruiting manager if you have any concerns about this so they can answer any questions you might have.

Rated ‘Outstanding’ by CQC, we deliver high-quality care that improves the health of our communities. We are looking for people who share our values: Compassionate, Aspirational, Responsive and Excellent.

We are proud to be an inclusive, welcoming organisation and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We use protected characteristic information for monitoring only and it is not seen by recruiting managers, except where applicants choose to be considered under our disability guaranteed interview scheme.

We know life outside work matters. As a flexible working-friendly organisation, we welcome conversations about arrangements that help you thrive while supporting excellent care for our patients.

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For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Katie Kennerell Job title: 07584526919 Email address: [e-mail]