Divisional Director Of Nursing

The Princess Alexandra Hospital Nhs Trust; Harlow; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust is seeking a Divisional Director of Nursing for the Family, Diagnostics and Community Division. You will provide visible senior nursing leadership and drive high-quality, patient-centred care across the division, ensuring governance, risk management and learning are embedded.

You will lead workforce planning, recruitment, retention and development, champion staff wellbeing and inclusive leadership, and contribute to division strategy, performance and

Qualifications

• Senior nursing leadership across a major division.
• Delivery of safe, compassionate and patient-centred care.
• Experience in governance, risk, quality improvement and workforce planning.

Responsibilities

• Provide visible senior nursing leadership across the Family, Diagnostics and Community Division.
• Lead quality, patient safety and governance activities and incident learning.
• Oversee nursing workforce planning, recruitment, development and wellbeing.
• Support performance improvement and service redesign across pathways.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Quality governance

Workforce planning

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

Job Overview

The Divisional Director of Nursing provides strategic and professional nursing leadership for the Family, Diagnostics and Community Division, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective, compassionate and patient-centred care. The postholder leads the divisional quality, safety, patient experience and nursing workforce agenda, working collaboratively with medical, midwifery, AHP and operational colleagues to deliver the division's strategic, operational, workforce and financial objectives. They provide visible leadership to senior nursing teams, drive continuous improvement and transformation, and ensure robust clinical governance, risk management and learning across divisional services.

Main duties

• Professional nursing leadership
  • Provide visible senior nursing leadership across the Family, Diagnostics and Community Division.
  • Set and maintain expectations for high-quality, compassionate and patient-centred care.
  • Provide professional leadership and support to Heads of Nursing, matrons and senior clinical leaders.
• Quality, patient safety and governance
  • Lead the divisional nursing contribution to patient safety, clinical governance, risk and quality improvement.
  • Ensure effective oversight of incidents, complaints, risks and learning, with appropriate escalation.
  • Maintain focus on dignity, respect, patient experience and safe standards of care.
  • Ensure compliance with statutory regulations, Trust polices and governance arrangements
• Workforce and culture
  • Lead nursing workforce planning, recruitment, retention and development.
  • Champion staff wellbeing, compassionate and inclusive leadership, and professional development.
  • Build leadership capability and support succession planning across nursing teams.
• Performance and improvement
  • Work with operational and medical colleagues to improve clinical performance, productivity, quality and patient flow.
  • Support transformation and service redesign across family, diagnostic and community pathways.
  • Use quality, workforce, performance and patient-experience information to identify areas requiring improvement.
• Strategic leadership
  • Contribute to the development and delivery of the division's strategy, business plans, workforce plans and business cases.
  • Ensure nursing priorities support wider Trust objectives and national NHS requirements.
  • Provide senior nursing input to support integrated care and community transformation programmes.
• Divisional leadership
  • Work collaboratively with the Divisional Director, Divisional Director of Operations, Director of Midwifery, Chief Pharmacist and Divisional Medical Directors, ensuring quality, operational performance, workforce and finance are considered together
  • Contribute to divisional decision-making and senior governance arrangements.
  • Represent the division at senior Trust forums where appropriate.
• Financial and resource stewardship
  • Ensure nursing resources and establishments are used effectively.
  • Balance quality and safety requirements with workforce availability, productivity and financial sustainability.
  • Contribute to business planning and investment decisions affecting clinical services.
• Partnership and system working
  • Develop strong relationships with Trust teams and external NHS, community, voluntary-sector and local-authority partners.
  • Support integrated care and community transformation, particularly where pathways cross organisational boundaries.

Closing date: 11/11/2026