Lead Nurse for Children and Young People's Continuing Care

NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board; Maidstone; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization is seeking a Lead Nurse for Children and Young People's Continuing Care to provide strategic and operational leadership in delivering high-quality care across Kent and Medway. This role requires leading a nursing team, ensuring compliance with care frameworks, and working collaboratively with various stakeholders. The ideal candidate will have a registered nursing background, a master’s degree, and experience in a complex healthcare setting. Flexible working arrangements are available.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Training opportunities

Commitment to equal opportunities

Qualifications

• Registered Children's Nurse with a master's degree or equivalent senior-level experience.
• Extensive expertise in the specialist area with ongoing professional development.
• Experience leading and managing a team in a complex healthcare environment.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and ensure delivery of high-quality care.
• Lead the CYPCC team across Kent & Medway.
• Support safe hospital discharges and promote Personal Health Budgets.

Skills

Leadership skills

Clinical decision-making

Interpersonal communication

Budget management

Education

Registered Children's Nurse (NMC)

Master's degree or equivalent

Job description

Go back NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board

Lead Nurse for Children and Young People's Continuing Care

The closing date is 29 September 2025

The Lead Nurse for Children and Young People's Continuing Care (CYPCC) will provide strategic and operational leadership to ensure the delivery of high-quality, safe, and child-centred care across Kent and Medway. This role involves leading a skilled nursing team, overseeing the continuing care assessment and review process in line with the National Framework, and ensuring robust governance, safeguarding, and commissioning practices.

The post holder will act as the clinical expert within the service, supporting complex decision-making, promoting equitable access to care, and ensuring that services meet the diverse needs of children and families. They will work collaboratively with health, social care, education, and voluntary sector partners to provide integrated, personalised care packages and support safe, timely hospital discharges.

In addition, the Lead Nurse will contribute to service development, quality improvement, and policy implementation, and ensure that the team operates efficiently, accountably, and in line with national and local priorities.

Main duties of the job

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the CYPCC team across Kent & Medway.
• Deputise for the Head of Children and Young People within the All Age Continuing Care (AACC) service.
• Act as the clinical lead for CYP continuing care assessments and reviews.
• Ensure compliance with the National Framework for CYP Continuing Care.
• Oversee timely, holistic assessments with clear recommendations for panel decisions.
• Promote and ensure the offer of Personal Health Budgets (PHBs) to eligible families.
• Work closely with health, social care, education, and voluntary agencies.
• Support safe and coordinated hospital discharges.
• Lead risk assessment and management planning for complex care packages.
• Attend and contribute to safeguarding and commissioning meetings on behalf of the CYPCC team.
• Contribute to audits, service evaluations, and quality improvement initiatives.
• Ensure care provision is safe, equitable, and evidence-based.
• Promote a high-performing, accountable, and motivated team culture.
• Support professional development and foster inclusive, respectful working relationships.

Additional Working Pattern: Monday - Friday 9am-5pm

About us

Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement which will not mean sacrificing time for personal interests or family commitments. We aim to support you to work flexibly in a way that will suit you and us.

We work with staff to agree objectives through regular supervision, annual appraisal, and access to training opportunities.

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity. In order to reflect the diversity of our population, we positively encourage applications from all areas of the community regardless of gender, race, faith, disability, age or sexual orientation.

Job responsibilities

The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this.

Still have questions? The recruiting manager would love to hear from you, their contact details can be found in the job advert.

We can get a lot of applications for some roles so to be in with the best chance of being shortlisted please make sure you apply as soon as possible. A vacancy may close early if there is a lot of interest in the job.

If you need an application form in an alternative format please let our recruitment team know so they can help you with this.

All information you supply on your application should, to the best of your knowledge, be true and accurate.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Registered Children's Nurse (NMC) with a master's degree or equivalent senior-level experience in a specialist field. Membership in a relevant professional body.

Experience

• Extensive expertise in the specialist area, with evidence of post-qualification and ongoing professional development.
• Evidence of being a skilled practitioner in interpreting national policies and researching best practices across sectors to advise on system reforms.
• Experience of successfully leading and managing a team, demonstrating the ability to motivate staff, manage performance, and delivering high-quality outcomes in a complex healthcare environment.
• Knowledge about the roles of Department of Health, NHS England/Improvement, providers, and commissioners.
• Well-versed in current healthcare policies in the Southeast and their implications for service delivery and engagement.
• Experienced in budget management, including setting budgets and understanding financial processes.

Attributes

• Confident decision-maker, capable of handling difficult or contentious issues with autonomy under tight deadlines.
• Comfortable challenging others respectfully and open to receiving constructive feedback for growth
• Maintains calm professionalism and efficiency in clinical and leadership roles.
• Skilled communicator, able to deliver and negotiate complex, sensitive, or contentious information with senior stakeholders and large audiences.
• Exercises sound clinical judgement ensuring safe, effective, and patient-centered care
• Takes full accountability for own role and responsibilities, while confidently holding others to account to ensure high standards of practice and service delivery are maintained.

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.

NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board