Head of Nursing - Education and Development

Oxleas; Dartford; On-site; GBP 86,000 - 98,000; Full time

Job summary

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust in Dartford is seeking a Head of Nursing - Education and Development (Band 8c) for permanent, 22.5 hours per week. You will provide strategic leadership for nursing education, practice improvement, and professional standards across the Trust, working with the Deputy Chief Nurse and external partners.

The role requires extensive leadership experience, strong communication, and the ability to drive policies, research, and workforce development for high-quality patient

Qualifications

• Degree level qualification with a relevant masters or doctorate.
• Evidence of continuous professional development.
• Significant experience leading nursing practice.
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal and negotiating skills, written and verbal.
• Ability to teach and facilitate learning for nurses.
• Ability to chair complex meetings
• Presentation skills and public speaking

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic nursing direction for education and development across the Trust.
• Deputise for the Deputy Chief Nurse as required.
• Establish and promote standards of nursing practice, education, research and development.
• Collaborate with University of Greenwich and broader integration work with the nursing workforce.
• Lead on policy development, practice improvement, and governance to improve safety and quality.

Skills

Nursing leadership

Clinical leadership

Communication skills

Presentation skills

Education

Masters or Doctorate in Nursing or related field

Job description

Head of Nursing - Education and Development

Band 8c

Main area Corporate Grade Band 8c Contract Permanent Hours Job share - 22.5 hours per week Job ref 277-8384531-CORP

Site Pinewood House Town Dartford Salary £85,641 - £97,746 pro rata per annum inc Salary period Yearly Closing 01/11/2026 23:59

Job overview

It is an exciting time to joining the senior Nursing Team at Oxleas, where we are committed to ensuring that nurses across the Trust provide care which is of the best quality and that nurses are meeting the highest standards of practice .

This role will be responsible for providing strategic direction and leadership for registered nurses and nursing associates and unregistered support workers in conjunction with the Deputy Chief Nurse.

The role provides Trust-wide professional leadership for nursing, overseeing practice improvement, education, physical health, policy development, research, workforce development, quality, safety and clinical standards.

Main duties of the job

• Support the development, implement and monitor the Trust’s nursing strategy within the Trust in discussion with the Deputy Chief Nurse.
• Deputise for the Deputy Chief Nurse as required.
• Establish standards of nursing practice and promote nursing and nursing education, research and development throughout the Trust.
• The post holder will work collaboratively with University of Greenwich and support any institute of integration work with the nursing workforce.
• The post holder will become involved with research projects as required by the Trust and report on these as required.
• Develop leadership and staff support initiatives across the Trusts nursing workforce, including Professional Nurse Advocate service and annual influenza vaccination campaign.
• Will manage and have oversight of staff supporting practice improvement, including end of life care, physical health and education and development.
• Support the planning and development of annual nursing events such as the nursing conference and the health support worker conference.
• Advise Executive Directors, Directors of Service, the Trust Board, Management Directorate teams, other clinicians and external organisations on all of the above.
• To work with and support governance structures to improve service delivery and safety.
• To work with directorates and HR on clinical competencies to ensure quality service delivery and equity across the Trust and to lead on competency frameworks across the Trust.

Working for our organisation

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We Listen
• We Care

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Work with other key leads to ensure continuous improvement in nursing practice which includes the management of risk, patient safety and clinical record keeping.
• The post holder will lead the development of new clinical policies and practice guidance that will embed practice improvement throughout the Trust and revise relevant existing policies to ensure that they reflect current best practice and regulatory requirements.
• The post holder will ensure that practice improvement initiatives are developed and implemented across the organisation as appropriate.
• The post holder will keep up to date with and interpret NHS policy and strategy and ensure that the information is disseminated to nursing staff through a range of media.
• Organise, lead and manage identified areas of responsibility and report back on progress to the Nursing Directorate and Nursing Executive, and other key nursing and Trust wide meetings
• Assist the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer in the implementation of all national strategies associated with nursing, interpreting health service policy and strategy, in order to establish goals and standards.
• Demonstrates full commitment to the positive performance management of nursing staff throughout the Trust. Providing expert advice and chair disciplinary hearings where appropriate.
• Represents nursing and the Trust by attending and as appropriate presenting at regional and national nursing networks and forums.

The post holder will be able to:

• Think strategically and see both the ‘bigger picture’ and the detail.
• Understand and work within complex and stressful circumstances.
• Successfully negotiate conflict.
• Understand the nature of clinical and social care interventions.
• Proactively participate in management supervision, annual objective setting and PDR/appraisal.
• Maintain knowledge of best practice in health and social care services.
• Implement trust and national policy.
• Work autonomously and make clear decisions in senior forums.
• Use analytical skills and make sound judgements in complex multi-agency situations.
• Liaise with external agencies and coordinate projects across services and corporate departments.
• Chair complex meetings.
• Use and promote the use of digital tools and new technologies.

Management responsibilities

The post holder will lead and have management responsibility for a team of staff supporting nursing education and development, practice improvement and physical health and well-being.

The post holder will work closely with directorates and other departments across the Trust e.g. quality, learning and development, estates, pharmacy and HR to develop systems and processes that will support nursing practice improvements and nursing development and education.

The post holder will be responsible for providing a project plan for each area of work and be able to assess and evaluate the progress of the work within agreed timescales and make adjustments so that the work remains on target.

The post holder will be responsible for arranging and chairing Trust wide meetings.

The post holder will ensure the development of nursing across care pathways through appropriate nursing meetings.

The post holder will attend any further internal or external professional meetings, forums and conferences that are relevant.

The post holder will employ a range of change management facilitation and negotiation skills that enable participation and personal development of nursing staff.

The post holder will have direct responsibility for the nursing education budget to ensure appropriate funding and development of pre and post registration education. including planning with directorates annual spending forecast based on training needs analysis.

Has budgetary responsibility for direct services managed within the nursing directorate and is responsible for authorising expenditure and accountable for the expenditure of that budget.

Manage the education planning for nursing for the academic year.

Leadership

The post holder will work and facilitate the production, publication and implementation of robust clinical nursing policies that will support and sustain evidence based and effective nursing practice.

The post holder will lead on Non-Medical prescribing for the trust, support and develop nursing medicines management and prescribing practices for nurses working across Oxleas.

The post holder will be responsible for providing expert teaching and facilitation for nursing across Oxleas as appropriate .They will be able to utilise a variety of formats to suit and evaluate these training programmes.

Person specification

Education

• Degree level qualification with a relevant masters or doctorate
• Evidence of continuous professional development.
• Significant experience leading nursing practice
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal and negotiating skills, written and verbal.
• Ability to teach and facilitate learning for nurses.
• Ability to chair complex meetings
• Presentation skills and public speaking

Experience and leadership

• Evidence of strong clinical and professional leadership resulting in high clinical standards and best professional practice.
• Evidence of leading on cultural change to embed new ways of working across a range of dispersed and diverse services and teams
• Evidence of successfully involving patients and families in the development and improvement of services.
• Evidence of successful leadership of transformational change across services, involving other statutory and third sector providers and supporting other providers, teams and individuals to achieve objectives.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes and supports individuals of all abilities. Remember, if you meet the minimum criteria for this role and you have a disability, you can be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme - Please ensure you select this on your application form. We would encourage you to be open about your needs so we can work with you to design a comfortable and accessible interview experience. Any information you provide regarding a disability or a need for adjustments will be treated in confidence and will only be shared with colleagues who are supporting this request.

If you require any adjustments to participate fully in the interview process, please let us know by adding the relevant details when scheduling your preferred interview date and time. Please feel free to contact the appointing manager to discuss your needs.

We encourage applicants to contact the hiring manager before their interview, if they have any questions about the role or the process. This is a great way to get clarity and prepare effectively for the interview.

If you have declared you are part of the armed forces community, you may be asked to provide evidence during the recruitment process. If you misrepresent this information, your offer may be withdrawn. For Armed Forces specific support, see our webpage: https://oxleas.nhs.uk/armed-forces-community/

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

If you choose to use AI or other tools to assist in writing your application, it's essential to personalise this information, particularly your supporting information section. While AI can help streamline the writing process, these tools cannot fully grasp the context or requirements of the job you’re applying for. There is also a risk that it can generate false or misleading information. AI-generated job applications can often be generic, impersonal and may not accurately reflect your qualifications, knowledge, skills, and experiences. It is crucial that you personalise your supporting statement by articulating these in your unique voice. Relying solely on AI to write your application or supporting information section is not advocated by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and could negatively impact your chances of success in the application process.

We monitor applications for any behaviour that could create an unfair advantage, and we check all references carefully. You are likely to be tested on your experience at interview, so be honest and make sure all the information in your application is correct.Please note that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited during the interview process.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.