Deputy Head Of Nursing Surgery

Kettering General Hospital Nhs Foundation Trust; Kettering; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 98,000; Full time

Job summary

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust invites applications for an Interim Deputy Head of Nursing for Surgery - Wards and Specialties, from 18 January 2027 to 6 September 2027. The post provides clinical and professional leadership across the Surgical Division, working with General Managers, Clinical Leads and multidisciplinary teams to deliver high-quality, safe patient care.

You will support the Head of Nursing in delivering strategic and operational objectives, ensuring quality,

Qualifications

• NMC–registered nurse with no restrictions
• Master's degree in nursing, leadership or management
• Post-graduate leadership qualification or equivalent
• Evidence of ongoing professional development

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical and professional leadership across the Surgical Division.
• Support delivery of high-quality, safe patient care.
• Lead quality improvement, service development and transformation.
• Promote patient safety, governance and continuous learning.
• Develop and empower multidisciplinary teams.
• Build relationships with key stakeholders across the organisation.
• Monitor performance and implement improvements.
• Support workforce planning and staff wellbeing.

Skills

Leadership

Communication skills

Influencing skills

Stakeholder engagement

Team leadership

Analytical skills

Education

NMC Registered Nurse

Master's degree in Nursing/Leadership

Post-graduate leadership qualification

Professional development evidence

Tools

e-Rostering knowledge

Job description

Job summary

This post is open to internal applicants only.

Are you an inspirational and dynamic nursing leader looking for your next challenge? Do you have a passion for Surgery and a drive to make a real difference to patients, colleagues, and services?

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Interim Deputy Head of Nursing for Surgery - Wards and Specialties from 18 January 2027 to 6 September 2027.

As Deputy Head of Nursing, you will provide clinical and professional leadership across the Surgical Division at Kettering General Hospital, working with General Managers, Clinical Leads and multidisciplinary teams to deliver high-quality, safe and effective patient care.

You will support the Head of Nursing in delivering strategic and operational objectives, ensuring high standards of quality, safety, patient experience, workforce development and performance. Working across a range of surgical specialties, you will lead quality improvement initiatives, embed best practice and support service transformation.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a progressive organisation committed to delivering outstanding patient care. If you are ready for the next step in your nursing leadership career, we would welcome your application.

Main duties of the job

We are seeking an experienced nursing leader with a proven track record of improving quality, patient outcomes, and service performance. You will demonstrate excellent leadership, communication, and influencing skills, with the ability to make effective clinical and operational decisions while maintaining a focus on governance, patient safety, and staff wellbeing.

Main duties include:

• Providing clinical and professional leadership across the Surgical Division.
• Supporting the delivery of high-quality, safe, and effective patient care.
• Leading quality improvement, service development, and transformation initiatives.
• Promoting a culture of patient safety, governance, and continuous learning.
• Developing, supporting, and empowering multidisciplinary teams.
• Building effective relationships with key stakeholders across the organisation.
• Monitoring performance and implementing improvements where required.
• Supporting workforce planning, staff wellbeing, and professional development.
• Acting as a role model for Trust values and compassionate leadership.

About us

We recognise that AI tools can support application writing; however, candidates are asked to keep their use to a minimum. Responses should reflect your own experience, skills and knowledge, as over-reliance on AI-generated content may result in generic answers that do not accurately represent your abilities.

University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) brings together Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust. As a group, we are committed to improving services for our communities through collaboration, modernising care delivery and striving for excellence. Working together enables us to share expertise, strengthen services and create greater opportunities, and there may be a requirement to work across sites depending on service needs.

Our Excellence Values are Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Integrity and Courage. UHN welcomes applications from all backgrounds and is committed to an inclusive working environment. We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and hold the Gold Award under the Employer Recognition Scheme. Candidates who identify as members of the Armed Forces community and meet the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview.

Job responsibilities

For further details please see the attached job description and person specification.

Interviews have provisionally been scheduled to take place on 29th October, however this is subject to change

Person Specification

Education, Training and Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse - with current NMC Registration and no restrictions on practise
• Master's degree in Nursing, leadership or management or relevant subject or evidence of practical application of expertise at this level
• Post-graduate qualification within a leadership programme/study or evidence of practical application of expertise at this level
• Evidence of continuing personal and professional development relevant to post

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• Experience of senior nursing management or professional leadership in a large and/or complex healthcare setting
• Experience of senior professional leadership and operational management across a range of clinical specialities and care settings
• Demonstrable experience managing clinical services and of leading improvements in clinical settings, patient care, and experience across multiple specialities
• Knowledge and experience of human resources management, communicating highly complex and contentious information to individuals and large groups
• Experience of managing budgets and financial resources, including the associated processes such as budget setting and financial planning
• Experience of actively leading service improvements across multiple areas
• Experience of workforce planning and recruitment and retention strategies - budget and resources
• Familiarity with IT applications including e - Rostering
• Demonstrable evidence of highly specialist knowledge of the professional leadership and management of Nurses
• In depth knowledge of the clinical governance agenda including clinical risk and safety
• Up to date with current clinical nursing practice including own area of expertise, to enable deliver of direct patient care if/when required, with excellent clinical skills. Maintain clinical competence as a Registered Nurse
• Shares leadership with and is respected by clinical and non-clinical staff
• Influencing a wide range of stakeholders
• Excellent communicator - providing authentic and clear communication and direction even in times of uncertainty/ambiguity
• Up to date with current NHS policy and strategy
• Can engage with and lead a team, and work as part of a team
• Demonstrates a clear understanding of the continuing acceptance of the need for financial governance and probity
• Ability to produce clear, accurate, written and verbal reports

Skills

Essential

• Highly developed communication skills with the ability to communicate on highly complex matters and difficult situations
• Ability to establish credibility and develop and maintain effective working relationships at Executive and senior management levels
• Has strong influencing and negotiating skills
• Shares leadership with and is respected by clinical and non-clinical staff . Influencing a wide range of stakeholders
• Can engage with and lead a team, and work as part of a team
• High level analytical skills and the ability to draw qualitative and quantitative data from a wide range of sources and present in clear concise manner
• Demonstrates sound judgement in the absence of clear guidelines or precedent seeking advice as necessary
• Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues
• High level professional, people management skills and leadership qualities
• Highly developed presentation skills
• Ability to challenge traditional approaches
• Ability to concentrate frequently whilst dealing with interruptions and moving quickly from one priority to another
• Resilience , coping with adversity and ambiguity
• Computer literate with standard keyboard skills
• Ability to communicate complex information to diverse audiences

Key Competencies/Personal Qualities and Attributes

Essential

• Passionate and committed to bring our Dedicated to Excellence values to life, improving the way we work with each other, particularly focusing on empowerment, equality diversity and inclusion of our staff, patients and service users
• Ability to work on own initiative and organise workload, allocating work as necessary, working to tight and often changing deadlines
• Able to demonstrate a commitment to and understanding of the importance of treating all individuals with dignity and respect appropriate to their individual needs
• All staff are expected to engage in compassionate and inclusive leadership in the provision of high quality
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and negotiating skills
• Engages effectively across boundaries, breaking down silos, while operating in partnership with stakeholders towards a shared vision
• Has effective strategies for dealing and managing own limitations
• Has the drive and energy to make things happen, frequently goes 'above and beyond' the call of duty to achieve outcomes
• Reasonable flexibility in working hours to meet the service needs
• Ability to travel between the Kettering and Northampton hospital sites and other sites often with limited time between meetings
• Ability to participate in On-call rota in line with On-call requirements across UHN

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).