Modern Matron

Oxford Health NHS Trust; Aylesbury; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS Pension

27 days annual leave + bank holidays

Lease car scheme

Cycle to work

Employee Assistance Programme

Mental Health First Aiders

Staff accommodation

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Job summary

Oxford Health is seeking a Modern Matron to lead two inpatient acute adult wards in Aylesbury on a 12-month secondment, ideal for developing acute mental healthcare leadership. You will provide clinical and professional leadership across wards, collaborate with ward managers and multidisciplinary teams to deliver safe, high-quality care, and drive governance and quality improvement.

This role combines patient contact, carer involvement and managing ward teams, contributing to transformation

Qualifications

• Nurse by background with RMN and/or RGN registration.
• Experience in governance, patient safety and quality improvement.
• Strong leadership and staff development skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide visible, compassionate, and professional leadership within two acute wards.
• Lead and contribute to governance, safety and quality initiatives.
• Support staff engagement, wellbeing, and professional development.
• Drive service improvement projects and organisational priorities.
• Promote a positive culture for patient and staff experience.

Skills

Leadership

Care governance

Mental health nursing

Quality improvement

Staff development

Education

RMN – degree level

RGN or Master’s degree

Job description

We are looking for someone to step into the role of theModern Matron looking after 2 of our wards in Aylesbury. This role is a 12 month secondmentand is ideal for someone looking to gain acute mental healthcare experience or grow their leadership skills.

This is an opportunity for an aspiring or experienced leader to further develop their skills by providing clinical and professional leadershipacross both inpatient wards. The successful candidate will play a key role in supporting the delivery of safe, effective, and high-quality patient care, working collaboratively with ward managers, multidisciplinary teams, and key stakeholders.

The successful candidate will be expected to:

• Provide visible, compassionate, and professional leadership.
• Support quality improvement, patient safety, and governance initiatives.
• Foster staff engagement, wellbeing, and professional development.
• Lead and contribute to service improvement projects and organisational priorities.
• Promote a positive culture that supports excellent patient and staff experience.

This secondment offers an excellentopportunity to gain valuable experience in a senior leadership role while making a meaningful contribution to the continued success of our inpatient services.

This role offers you a combination of patient contact, carer involvement and managing ward teams, leading on the provision of high quality evidence-based mental health nursing care.

Main duties of the job

• You’ll hold a key role as a member of the leadership team for the wards they are responsible for, alongside psychiatry and allied health professionals.
• Demonstrate a level of healthy curiosity about care delivery and become actively engaged in care planning and risk management as required.
• Contribute to the governance of care and lead on the improvement and development of nursing care with a strong focus on quality improvement, ensuring that Care Quality Commission (CQC) essential standards are met and exceeded
• Support and inspire teams within our inpatient services to meet CQC standards of 'Excellent'.

The in-patient wards are also involved in the in-patient mental health transformation programme, including the NHS England Culture of Care programme. You will be a core part of the leadership team driving this transformation to improve quality of care.

Please refer to the job description attached for a comprehensive list of duties.

The ability to travel independently between sites within the Trust is essential for this role.

About us

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the "candidate guide to making an application" and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people's homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: "Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team"

Our values are: "Caring, safe and excellent"

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailersCompetitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality,
• Diversity & Inclusion team

Job responsibilities

Our inpatient services provide high quality care and are currently assessed as Good by the CQC. We are actively working towards 'Excellent'. You'll offer operational and strategic leadership to the in-patient teams at the Whiteleaf Centre and be the clinical and governance lead for two adult acute wards.

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the supporting statement element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview, and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

We are aware that some candidates may choose to use AI tools to support their application. We kindly remind applicants that submissions should remain an honest and accurate representation of their experience and must take care to ensure the use of AI tools does not generate an application that does not accurately reflect their knowledge, skills and values.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• RMN, Educated to degree level
• RGN and/or Master's degree

Knowledge Requirements

• Experience of successful budget and resource management
• Skills and experience in managing poor performance and dealing with misconduct issues
• Extensive knowledge of clinical governance and Care Quality Commission (CQC) essential standards of care

Experience

• Experience of leading teams, and of managing the performance of individuals within those teams.
• Detailed understanding of the key policy issues affecting the delivery of health and social care across local health economy and at national leve
• Experience of leading the planning, delivering, and evaluation of care to address changing needs.

Personal Qualities

• Demonstrate an ability to organise and motivate self and others
• Demonstrate an ability to communicate at different levels and relay information to people with different levels of ability to understand

Contractual / other requirements

• To be available to take part in on-call rota
• To be able to travel to work in different parts of the Trust; if possible to hold a current driving license
• Commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults

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.