District Nurse Team Lead

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust; Wallsend; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

High Cost Area Supplement – Fringe

Job summary

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust is recruiting a District Nurse Team Lead to provide clinical leadership and operational management within the Community Nursing Service. The role focuses on delivering high‑quality, patient‑centred care in patients’ homes and community settings, driving workforce development and continuous service improvement.

You will work with multi‑disciplinary teams and partner agencies to promote independence, manage complex needs, and support safe discharge planning

Qualifications

• Must be an autonomous Registered Nurse with experience in district/community nursing
• Strong clinical leadership and operational management skills
• Ability to mentor, supervise and develop staff
• Experience leading audits, quality improvement and service development

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical leadership and operational management to the District Nursing Team
• Prioritise workloads to ensure safe, effective patient care
• Lead on clinical decision‑making and ensure high standards of practice
• Coordinate care with GPs, social care and multidisciplinary teams
• Lead workforce planning, supervision and staff development
• Promote evidence‑based practice and contribute to service improvement

Skills

Clinical leadership

Team management

Communication

Mentorship

Audit & quality

Job description

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust

District Nurse Team Lead

The closing date is 04 December 2026

Job overviewThe District Nurse Team Lead is a senior clinical and leadership role within the Community Nursing Service, responsible for delivering high-quality, patient‑centred care to individuals in their own homes and community settings. The post holder will provide clinical leadership, operational management and professional support to the District Nursing Team, ensuring safe, effective and evidence‑based care is delivered across the locality. They will work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams, primary care colleagues, social care partners and other agencies to promote independence, prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and support patients with complex, long‑term and palliative care needs. The role contributes to the wider objectives of North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) by fostering excellence in clinical practice, supporting workforce development and driving continuous service improvement.

Main duties of the job

• Provide clinical leadership, operational management and professional support to the District Nursing Team within the locality.
• Manage and prioritise team workloads to ensure effective service delivery and safe patient care.
• Deliver and maintain a high standard of clinical practice, undertaking direct patient care for a significant proportion of the working week.
• Undertake comprehensive assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of care for patients with complex health needs.
• Lead clinical decision‑making and support patients and families to achieve optimum levels of health and self‑care.
• Work collaboratively with GPs, acute services, social care, voluntary organisations and other healthcare professionals to coordinate patient care.
• Support staff development through supervision, mentorship, appraisal, training and performance management.
• Lead and contribute to clinical audit, research, quality improvement initiatives and service development projects.
• Ensure compliance with Trust policies, professional standards, clinical governance and risk management requirements.
• Support recruitment, retention and workforce planning, promoting a positive and inclusive team culture.
• Act as a clinical role model, promoting evidence‑based practice and continuous professional development.
• Maintain accurate clinical documentation and ensure effective use of electronic patient record systems.

About us

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and community services for over 4.9 million people living in the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, and across Essex. We work to ensure our patients, their friends and family, feel confident that their health needs are well met. With an excellent reputation for research and development, our skilled health professionals are at the cutting edge of evidence‑based innovation, opening up the possibilities for better ways of working and delivery of care.

Job responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job description

Job responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The District Nurse Team Lead is responsible for providing strong clinical, professional and operational leadership within the Community Nursing Service. As an autonomous Registered Nurse, the post holder will be accountable for assessing, planning, delivering and evaluating care for patients with complex, chronic, acute and palliative care needs within community settings. They will work in partnership with patients, families and carers to promote independence, enhance health outcomes and support self‑management wherever possible.

The post holder will spend a significant proportion of their time maintaining clinical practice to ensure their skills and knowledge remain current and relevant. They will undertake specialist holistic assessments, develop evidence‑based care plans and provide expert clinical advice and leadership to colleagues. They will support safe discharge planning from acute services, contribute to public health initiatives and work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to deliver integrated care.

A key aspect of the role involves workforce leadership and service management. The post holder will support the recruitment, induction, supervision, appraisal and development of staff, ensuring team members receive appropriate clinical supervision, mentorship and training opportunities. They will lead team meetings, contribute to workforce planning and skill‑mix development, and support performance management processes where required.

The District Nurse Team Lead will actively promote a culture of continuous learning, quality improvement and professional excellence. Responsibilities include leading clinical audits, participating in research activities, contributing to policy and guideline development, and ensuring services meet clinical governance, safeguarding, risk management and quality standards. The post holder will investigate incidents and complaints as required, implementing learning to improve patient care and service delivery.

The role requires highly developed communication and interpersonal skills to build and maintain effective working relationships with patients, carers, GPs, primary care teams, social services, acute providers and voluntary sector organisations. The post holder will communicate complex and sensitive information compassionately and effectively, ensuring patients and families are fully informed and involved in decisions about their care.

The post holder will be expected to demonstrate leadership in clinical practice across a broad range of community nursing interventions, including chronic disease management, wound care, catheter care, palliative and end‑of‑life care, medication management and specialist nursing procedures, while supporting staff to develop and maintain competence in these areas. They will act at all times in accordance with Trust values, NMC standards and relevant legislation, ensuring the highest standards of care, professionalism and patient safety are maintained.

Working for Us

Joining #TeamNELFT means you'll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We're CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London and Essex. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

• The Trust has award‑winning equality and diversity initiatives
• staff health and wellbeing activities
• invest significantly in your development because when you feel valued and supported, we can deliver the highest quality care to our patients
• Level 3 Disability Confident Leader
• Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years
• Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation
• staff networks and training opportunities to foster a just and compassionate culture at NELFT

Our Values 2025 - 2030

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co‑produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT. They are:

• We are kind.
• We are respectful.
• We work together with our communities.

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

Probationary Period This post will be subject to a probationary period.

High Cost Area Supplement – Fringe (Basildon, Thurrock, Brentwood, Harlow and Dartford only) This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 5% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £1,303 to a maximum of £2,198 p.a. pro rata for part time)

Certificates of Sponsorship Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points‑based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High‑Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

Use of AI

We value applications that genuinely reflect each candidate’s own skills, experience and motivations. We therefore strongly discourage the use of AI-generated content in applications.

Applications should be written in your own words and accurately represent your knowledge, skills and experience.

We reserve the right to reject an application where we reasonably believe AI has been used to generate or materially contribute to its content.

For an informal chat or to arrange a visit, please contact:

Name: Bryony Wellman

Job title: District Nurse & Deputy Operational Lead

Contact Number: 0300 555 1201 ext 52234

Email: [e-mail]

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Please see attached Job description

Experience

• Please see attached Job description

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.

Employer name

NELFT North East London Foundation Trust