Job summary We are looking to appoint our next executive chief nurse to provide inspirational and professional leadership to the 3,000 nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and care support staff who work and serve our community here at West Suffolk. As part of the executive team and member of the Trust Board, the chief nurse plays a pivotal role in shaping the Trust's clinical strategy, ensuring high standards of care, and providing professional leadership. Reporting directly to the chief executive, the chief nurse will lead on critical priorities including patient engagement, safeguarding, and infection prevention and control. The culture of care is paramount and, with the medical director, the chief nurse will ensure that excellence, compassion and innovation are nurtured to ensure the delivery of equitable, safe and high-quality care. As our next chief nurse, can you help us to build this culture? As we look to the future, we are excited to be making progress in our plans to build a new health and care campus for West Suffolk, co-producing these plans with staff, stakeholders and partners. Our new chief nurse will play a pivotal leadership role in this development as we design and deliver a new healthcare facility for our population. If you are inspired to join us, we would love to hear from you. For an informal discussion with Ewen Cameron, chief executive, please contact Gemma Wixley on 01284 713301. Main duties of the job The Executive chief nurse will provide visible leadership on all professional and managerial matters to the nursing, midwifery and AHP workforce of WSFT, based on principles of openness, inclusion, compassion, collaboration and our FIRST values - Fairness, Inclusion, Respect, Safety and Teamwork. Together with other executive members of the Board of Directors, the Executive Chief Nurse will demonstrate inspirational and compassionate leadership to the entire workforce, ensuring that staff and volunteers are supported and motivated to provide the safest and best patient care, and are at the heart of quality improvement and organisational development. Externally, the role holder will work collaboratively with colleagues across Suffolk and North East Essex ICB to address shared challenges and build a sustainable healthcare system. About us BeKnown at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. By us. By our patients. By our community We are a busy, friendly, rural NHS Trust providing high-quality care and compassion to more than a quarter of a million people across west Suffolk. We care for, treat and support people in hospital, at home and in various community settings. The West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds provides acute and secondary care services (emergency department, maternity and neonatal services, day surgery unit, eye treatment centre, Macmillan unit and children's ward). It has 500 beds and is a partner teaching hospital of the University of Cambridge. Adult and paediatric community services, provided in collaboration with West Suffolk Alliance partners, include a range of nursing, therapy, specialist, and ongoing temporary care and rehabilitation, some at our Newmarket Community Hospital. We do our utmost to achieve outstanding clinical outcomes for patients and our values of fairness, inclusivity, respect, safety and team work guide how we work and behave as a team. With nearly 5,000 staff, from all over the world, we strive to make our organisation a great place to work. Whatever your role or ambition, we want to help you be the best you can be. We promote a diverse and inclusive community where everyones voice counts and you can BeKnown for whoever you are. Join us. What will you BeKnown for? Date posted 28 January 2025 Pay scheme Very senior manager (VSM) Salary Depending on experience Contract Permanent Working pattern Full-time, Flexible working Reference number 6967637 Job locations West Suffolk Hospital Bury St Edmunds IP33 2QZ Job description Job responsibilities contribute to the co-creation of a strategic vision and framework for WSFT so that our clinical divisions are supported and enabled to formulate long-term plans to meet future opportunities and challenges, actively engaging with staff and stakeholders (including patients, families and carers) to ensure their views and experience are at the heart of this process lead strategically and collaboratively with the executive medical director and executive chief operating officer to enhance patient experience, quality of care, ensure patient safety and deliver against operational standards and priorities across WSFT contribute to the development of a culture of speaking up safely, working closely with the executive lead and speak up guardians to ensure all staff feel safe and secure to raise concerns at work, and where they feel their contributions are welcomed and appreciated provide comprehensive advice and support to the Board of Directors on all matters pertaining to clinical quality, safety and patient experience lead, inspire and develop the cadre of senior nurses, midwives and AHPs, and direct reports, in order to deliver the vision and strategy including so that they in turn feel supported to empower their own teams inspiring innovation and team work lead the patient safety, risk and governance agenda of the Trust, to identify and disseminate learning from patient and staff incidents, clinical risk management and complaints, taking action to prevent the recurrence of events as a member of the executive team, maintain a continuous focus on innovation and quality improvement ensuring that learning is captured and embedded, and evidence-based best practice is assimilated, to build the best healthcare services that have the potential to achieve a CQC rating of good or outstanding, including through the implementation of relevant requirements and guidelines hold and effectively discharge the executive lead roles pertaining to child protection, adult and child safeguarding, Director of Infection Prevention and Control, end of life care, patient quality and safety, CQC lead, patient and public engagement and experience, equality and inclusion, chaplaincy and patient affairs and midwifery services lead the organisational arrangements for nursing and midwifery revalidation for all colleagues for whom WSFT is their responsible body, ensuring compliance with all associated NMC and NHS England standards lead the development of an inclusive and respectful environment of care for all patients from all backgrounds, heritage and protected characteristics ensure the operation of sustainable workforce planning approaches for nursing, midwifery and AHP teams, including the effective implementation of job planning for senior roles, to support colleagues and best meet the needs of patients within available resources oversee the organisations provision of non-medical clinical training and education, in order to provide a high quality, supportive environment for learning and career development work collaboratively with colleagues across the Suffolk and North East Essex ICS to deliver the future development, integration and transformation of health and care services across the geography, including within the West Suffolk Alliance build strong and effective relationships with all internal and external stakeholders, to ensure the organisation is a collaborative partner within the ICS, and regionally and nationally, and build and enhance the publics confidence in WSFTs capability in common with all WSFT colleagues, advocate, exemplify and consistently act as a role model by championing our WSFT vision and exhibiting our values, including providing constructive challenge to behaviours at all levels that do not reflect our values take part in the organisations strategic on-call rota Job description Job responsibilities contribute to the co-creation of a strategic vision and framework for WSFT so that our clinical divisions are supported and enabled to formulate long-term plans to meet future opportunities and challenges, actively engaging with staff and stakeholders (including patients, families and carers) to ensure their views and experience are at the heart of this process lead strategically and collaboratively with the executive medical director and executive chief operating officer to enhance patient experience, quality of care, ensure patient safety and deliver against operational standards and priorities across WSFT contribute to the development of a culture of speaking up safely, working closely with the executive lead and speak up guardians to ensure all staff feel safe and secure to raise concerns at work, and where they feel their contributions are welcomed and appreciated provide comprehensive advice and support to the Board of Directors on all matters pertaining to clinical quality, safety and patient experience lead, inspire and develop the cadre of senior nurses, midwives and AHPs, and direct reports, in order to deliver the vision and strategy including so that they in turn feel supported to empower their own teams inspiring innovation and team work lead the patient safety, risk and governance agenda of the Trust, to identify and disseminate learning from patient and staff incidents, clinical risk management and complaints, taking action to prevent the recurrence of events as a member of the executive team, maintain a continuous focus on innovation and quality improvement ensuring that learning is captured and embedded, and evidence-based best practice is assimilated, to build the best healthcare services that have the potential to achieve a CQC rating of good or outstanding, including through the implementation of relevant requirements and guidelines hold and effectively discharge the executive lead roles pertaining to child protection, adult and child safeguarding, Director of Infection Prevention and Control, end of life care, patient quality and safety, CQC lead, patient and public engagement and experience, equality and inclusion, chaplaincy and patient affairs and midwifery services lead the organisational arrangements for nursing and midwifery revalidation for all colleagues for whom WSFT is their responsible body, ensuring compliance with all associated NMC and NHS England standards lead the development of an inclusive and respectful environment of care for all patients from all backgrounds, heritage and protected characteristics ensure the operation of sustainable workforce planning approaches for nursing, midwifery and AHP teams, including the effective implementation of job planning for senior roles, to support colleagues and best meet the needs of patients within available resources oversee the organisations provision of non-medical clinical training and education, in order to provide a high quality, supportive environment for learning and career development work collaboratively with colleagues across the Suffolk and North East Essex ICS to deliver the future development, integration and transformation of health and care services across the geography, including within the West Suffolk Alliance build strong and effective relationships with all internal and external stakeholders, to ensure the organisation is a collaborative partner within the ICS, and regionally and nationally, and build and enhance the publics confidence in WSFTs capability in common with all WSFT colleagues, advocate, exemplify and consistently act as a role model by championing our WSFT vision and exhibiting our values, including providing constructive challenge to behaviours at all levels that do not reflect our values take part in the organisations strategic on-call rota Person Specification Covering letter Essential Please use the supporting information section to evidence how you meet the person specification Person Specification Covering letter Essential Please use the supporting information section to evidence how you meet the person specification 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. Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab). From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab). UK Registration Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window). Additional information 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. Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab). From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab). UK Registration Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window). Employer details Employer name West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust Address West Suffolk Hospital Bury St Edmunds IP33 2QZ Employer's website https://www.wsh.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)