Deputy Chief Nurse


Company:	NHS Jobs
Salary:	£121,528 - £138,529
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	London, EC1V 2PD
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	19 Aug 2026
Closing date:	31 Aug 2026

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Summary

Main duties of the role Deputise for the Chief Nurse and Executive Director of Allied Professionals across the full breadth of the portfolio, including representation at Trust Board, executive, system, regional and national meetings. Working with a high degree of autonomy, lead the nursing and allied professionals change programme to deliver the trust and nursing strategic objectives Provide visible, compassionate and professional leadership across Moorfields, role modelling integrity, kindness, equity, excellence and psychological safety. Lead agreed corporate nursing portfolio areas, including safeguarding, infection prevention and control, patient experience and engagement. Provide strategic and operational leadership to strengthen clinical standards, professional practice, quality governance, risk management, assurance and continuous improvement. Work with divisional, corporate and system partners to ensure safe staffing, effective workforce planning, role development, education, digital transformation and professional development across nursing and allied professional groups. Ensure that patient, family, carer, community and staff voices inform service design, quality improvement, strategic priorities and Board-level assurance. Support the Trusts regulatory, quality and safety agendas, including preparation for and response to internal and external reviews, inspections and assurance processes. Write clear, high-quality Board-level assurance reports, drawing together data, risks, themes, controls, gaps in assurance and improvement actions to support effective executive and Board decision-making. Lead quality assurance meetings for agreed portfolio areas, ensuring that risks, performance, patient experience, safeguarding, IPC and improvement themes are reviewed, escalated and translated into clear actions. Participate in the senior management on-call rota and provide senior leadership in response to operational, professional or patient safety issues. Strategic and professional leadership Provide senior professional nursing leadership across the Trust, supporting the delivery of Moorfields organisational strategy, nursing strategy and quality priorities. Act as a strong voice for nursing, raising the profile and impact of nursing within the organisation and across the wider system. Lead the development and delivery of agreed areas of the corporate nursing and AP portfolio, ensuring clear objectives, robust governance and measurable outcomes. Support the Chief Nurse in developing and implementing nursing and allied professional strategies, professional standards, education priorities and workforce transformation plans. Promote a culture of compassionate leadership, equity, kindness, professionalism, openness, learning and continuous improvement. Portfolio leadership: safeguarding, infection prevention and control, patient experience and engagement Provide executive-level professional leadership for safeguarding adults, children and young people, ensuring statutory responsibilities, governance, escalation, training, supervision, assurance and learning arrangements are effective and embedded. Line management of the Leads for Safeguarding, IPC, Patient Experience and Engagement, Lead for Major projects and Medication Safety. Work with named and designated safeguarding professionals, divisional teams, local safeguarding partnerships and system colleagues to strengthen safeguarding practice and ensure safeguarding is understood as everyones responsibility. Provide senior nursing leadership for infection prevention and control, working with the Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC), IPC team, estates, facilities and clinical divisions to maintain safe environments and high standards of IPC practice. On Behalf of the Chief Nurse, convene and chair performance review meetings following incidents related to infection prevention and control and safeguarding, ensuring clear discussion of contributing factors, learning, accountability, improvement actions and assurance requirements. Ensure effective IPC governance, audit, surveillance, outbreak management, decontamination standards, education and assurance reporting are in place and aligned with national guidance and local policy. Lead patient experience and engagement programmes so that the voices of patients, families, carers and communities inform service design, quality improvement, strategy and Board-level assurance. Champion inclusive engagement and co-production, ensuring feedback is actively sought from diverse and underserved communities and translated into meaningful improvement. Ensure learning from complaints, concerns, compliments, incidents, safeguarding reviews, IPC incidents and patient feedback is triangulated and used to improve care and reduce risk. Quality, safety and governance Provide assurance to the Chief Nurse that effective controls are in place for the post holders portfolio areas and that gaps in assurance are identified, escalated and addressed. Work with the Director of Quality and Safety, Chief Medical Officer, Associate Chief Nurses and divisional teams to strengthen quality governance, patient safety, clinical effectiveness and regulatory compliance. Ensure that portfolio risks are identified, assessed and reflected on appropriate risk registers, with clear mitigations, owners and review mechanisms. Support implementation of recommendations from serious incidents, patient safety reviews, complaints, safeguarding reviews, audits and external inspections. Use data, audit, patient feedback, workforce intelligence and quality indicators to inform improvement, assurance and decision-making. Workforce, education, research and digital transformation Work closely with the Director for Workforce to support nursing and allied professional workforce transformation, including role redesign, career pathways, succession planning, leadership development, recruitment and retention. Work with education, research and divisional colleagues to support access to pre-registration and post-registration learning, professional development and research opportunities. Support the development of nursing research, innovation, quality improvement and evidence-based practice across the Trust. Contribute to the digital transformation agenda, including EPR implementation and adoption, ensuring clinical workflows, professional practice and patient safety are central to digital change. Provide professional leadership and support to clinical informatics roles and maintain effective links with digital clinical safety and digital medicine colleagues. System leadership and partnership working Represent Moorfields and the non-medical professions across North Central London, regional and national networks as agreed with the Chief Nurse. Build effective partnerships with integrated care system colleagues, higher education institutions, professional bodies, safeguarding partnerships, local authorities and voluntary sector organisations. Support work to reduce health inequalities, widen access, improve population health and enhance engagement with communities served by Moorfields. Influence system-wide workforce, quality, safeguarding, IPC, patient experience and digital transformation agendas.Management, finance and accountability Line manage corporate nursing teams and specialist leads as agreed with the Chief Nurse, ensuring clear objectives, effective appraisal, professional development and compassionate performance management. Be accountable for delegated budgets and support the Chief Nurse in managing resources effectively within agreed financial constraints. Lead and support complex professional, clinical management, conduct, capability and investigation processes where senior nursing input is required. Participate in the senior management on-call rota and provide leadership during periods of operational pressure, escalation or incident response. Professional Leadership Lead the delivery of excellence in professional practice supporting the Pathway to Excellence accreditation and the shared decision-making councils programme On behalf of the CN, develop the revised nursing strategy/framework. Promote the national nursing agenda with colleagues influencing change and advising on professional nursing matters. Be a visible professional leader within the organisation as a whole, modelling the leadership qualities of integrity, compassion (kindness), equity, clear leadership direction and excellence. Lead on complex disciplinary and other types of investigations and clinical management issues which require nursing input and support the Chief Nurse in the management of professional performance including disciplinary panel.

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