Safe Staffing Lead

NHS; Wigan; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional healthcare provider is seeking a Safe Staffing Lead to drive staffing improvement initiatives and ensure safe, effective staffing across the Trust. The role requires comprehensive knowledge of safe staffing tools and experience in delivering staffing programmes at a senior level. Key responsibilities include leading workforce planning, monitoring compliance with staffing standards, and fostering a collaborative environment that emphasizes patient care and staff wellbeing. Competitive salary and a supportive work culture await the right candidate.

Qualifications

• Evidence of developing and presenting comprehensive reports.
• Ability to deal with complex, time-critical situations.
• Demonstrable ability to lead, manage and develop successful teams.

Responsibilities

• Drive safer staffing improvement programmes across the Trust.
• Lead and coordinate nursing workforce planning.
• Represent the Trust internally and externally.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Organisational skills

Clinical leadership

Project management

Negotiation skills

Education

Registered with NMC or HCPC

Post registration master's degree or working towards

Post graduate qualification in teaching

Tools

Computer literate

Allocate Rostering System

Job description

Wrightington Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Safe Staffing Lead

The closing date is 22 December 2025

Join Us as Our Safe Staffing Lead - Make a Real Difference!

Are you passionate about delivering outstanding care through safe and effective staffing? We have an exciting opportunity for a motivated and exceptional Safe Staffing Lead to join our Corporate team and play a key role in shaping safer staffing across our Trust.

What will you be doing?

• Driving safer staffing improvement programmes across the Trust.
• Reviewing and enhancing our establishment-setting policy in line with best practice and national guidance.
• Leading benchmarking exercises to ensure our nursing establishments are efficient and comparable.
• Monitoring compliance and reporting outcomes to professional groups.
• Supporting the development of our long-term Workforce Strategy.
• Promoting lessons learned and embedding changes in practice to improve patient outcomes.

What are we looking for?

• Comprehensive knowledge of safe staffing tools, such as the Safer Nursing Care Tool.
• Experience of delivering safer staffing programmes at a senior level.
• Excellent communication and organisational skills to engage with clinical, academic, and operational teams.

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real impact on patient care and staff experience, while contributing to the strategic direction of our Trust. If you're ready to lead change, share your expertise, and work in a supportive environment that values innovation and teamwork, we'd love to hear from you!

Main duties of the job

In this pivotal role, you'll work closely with our Senior Leadership Team to provide clinical and strategic leadership for safe staffing. You'll lead and coordinate our approach to nursing workforce planning in line with national and regulatory standards, ensuring we deliver the very best for our patients and our people.

The postholder will support with an overview and co‑ordinating function for leading and developing the Trust approach to workforce/safe staffing requiring the postholder to work closely with the Senior Leadership Team to provide senior clinical and strategic leadership for Safe staffing.

The postholder will be responsible for reviewing current establishment setting policy in line with best practice and National policy, implementing and embedding any changes to establishment setting process engaging with key stakeholders both clinical and non‑clinical. Reviewing and making recommendations on improvements to safe staffing processes, alongside conducting benchmarking exercises to ensure nursing establishments are comparable and efficient. Monitoring compliance with best practise and safe staffing outcomes and report to relevant professional groups and supporting the development of the long term Workforce Strategy. Contribute to the overall strategic development and direction of the Trust, helping to develop and implement programmes of work associated with improving the staff deployment to improve outcomes of patients.

About us

Choose Well - Choose WWL

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that 'happy staff, makes for happy patients'. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement and living our values.

• People at the Heart
• Listen and Involve
• Kind and Respectful
• ONE Team

WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. We are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

At WWL we value the benefits a rich and diverse workforce brings to our community and therefore welcome applications from all sections of society.

Job responsibilities

• Provide trust wide corporate leadership for areas of responsibility,
• Representing the Trust internally and externally.
• Contribute to nurse management business planning, reviewing and agreeing nursing workforce plans.
• Be visible and accessible as a clinical leader, undertaking clinical shifts, as appropriate, to maintain clinical credibility.
• Deputise for the Director of Nursing and Chief Nurse as requested.
• Represent Chief Nurse/Director of Nursing as safe staffing expert at divisional and corporate committees, enabling a process of communication that ensures key information is disseminated to the relevant people and ensuring that any resulting action plans are progressed.
• Share learning from best practice across the Trust, locally and regionally.
• Take an active / lead role in the co‑ordination and development of staffing research and audit programmes within the nursing arena and apply the outcomes to improve patient care and service delivery.
• Use clinical expertise, underpinned by theory, evidence, policy and experience to provide support to clinical teams in the arena of safe staffing.

Please Note: This role is PENDING AFC SALARY BANDING APPROVAL; therefore, salary cannot be fully confirmed until the Banding is approved.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Registered with NMC or HCPC
• Post registration master's degree or working towards.
• Evidence of professional continuous development and portfolio of learning
• Post graduate qualification in teaching
• Safer Staffing Fellow

Experience

• Evidence of developing and presenting comprehensive reports.
• Evidence of successfully implementing service change.
• Evidence of some strategic working both locally and at national level.
• Evidence of ability to work outside of traditional professional boundaries
• Demonstrable ability to lead, manage and develop successful and effective teams
• Ability to deal with complex time critical situations, working to deadlines and delivering targets
• Good working knowledge of clinical and quality governance, with knowledge of assurance and risk management.
• Experience of working in the NHS or a large, complex, fast moving organisation
• Practical experience of policy development
• Audit or research experience
• Budget management
• Evidence of publication of own work.

Skills

• Computer literate and experience of database management, outlook, power point, word and excel.
• Advanced communication skills, both written and oral with the ability to deal with highly complex, contentious or sensitive issues.
• Able to form and maintain excellent professional relationships with all members of the multi professional team
• Effective communicator with proven ability to influence all levels of staff
• Strong negotiating skills, sometimes in conflicting situations.
• Proven clinical leadership and team leading skills
• Excellent project management skills, able to plan, deliver to timescales, communicate, manage expectations, report progress plans
• Able to respond to change and apply themselves to development in practice.
• Able to establish collaborative working relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders
• Experience at a senior level in an acute health trust

Knowledge

• Expert knowledge of Allocate Rostering System
• Expert knowledge of Safe Staffing methodology and practices
• Ability to articulate NHS Strategic priorities in relation to service redesign and workforce modernisation for now and in the future
• Evidence of Project Management success and introducing innovative ideas, ensuring sustainability.

Additional

• Ability to work both independently and within a team
• Access to transport
• Highly motivated
• Committed to continuous service development and quality improvement
• Ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines and targets
• Ability to synthesize information, consider and evaluate risks and options when making difficult decisions
• Ability to work flexibly to meet the needs of the service
• The ability to understand and behave at all times, towards patients, visitors and colleagues according to the Trust values.

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.

Wrightington Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

£55,690 to £62,682 a year per annum, pro rata