Head of Nursing - Education and Development | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust


Company:	Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Salary:	£85,641 - £97,746 pro rata per annum inc
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	Dartford, DA2 7WG
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	23 Oct 2026
Closing date:	22 Nov 2026

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Summary

It is an exciting time to joining the senior Nursing Team at Oxleas, where we arecommitted to ensuring that nurses across the Trust provide care which is of the best quality and that nurses are meeting the highest standards of practice.

This role will be responsible for providing strategic direction and leadership for registered nurses and nursing associates and unregistered support workers in conjunction with the Deputy Chief Nurse.

The role provides Trust-wide professional leadership for nursing, overseeing practice improvement, education, physical health, policy development, research, workforce development, quality, safety and clinical standards.

• Support the development, implement and monitor the Trust’s nursing strategy within the Trust in discussion with the Deputy Chief Nurse.

• Deputise for the Deputy Chief Nurse as required.

• Establish standards of nursing practice and promote nursing and nursing education, research and development throughout the Trust.

• The post holder will work collaboratively with University of Greenwich and support any institute of integration work with the nursing workforce.

• The post holder will become involved with research projects as required by the Trust and report on these as required.

• Develop leadership and staff support initiatives across the Trusts nursing workforce, including Professional Nurse Advocate service and annual influenza vaccination campaign.

• Will manage and have oversight of staff supporting practice improvement, including end of life care, physical health and education and development.

• Support the planning and development of annual nursing events such as the nursing conference and the health support worker conference.

• Advise Executive Directors, Directors of Service, the Trust Board, Management Directorate teams, other clinicians and external organisations on all of the above.

• To work with and support governance structures to improve service delivery and safety.

• To work with directorates and HR on clinical competencies to ensure quality service delivery and equity across the Trust and to lead on competency frameworks across the Trust.

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We’re Kind

• We’re Fair

• We Listen

• We Care

• Work with other key leads to ensure continuous improvement in nursing practice which includes the management of risk, patient safety and clinical record keeping.

• The post holder will lead the development of new clinical policies and practice guidance that will embed practice improvement throughout the Trust and revise relevant existing policies to ensure that they reflect current best practice and regulatory requirements.

• The post holder will ensure that practice improvement initiatives are developed and implemented across the organisation as appropriate.

• The post holder will keep up to date with and interpret NHS policy and strategy and ensure that the information is disseminated to nursing staff through a range of media.

• Organise, lead and manage identified areas of responsibility and report back on progress to the Nursing Directorate and Nursing Executive, and other key nursing and Trust wide meetings

• Assist the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer in the implementation of all national strategies associated with nursing, interpreting health service policy and strategy, in order to establish goals and standards.

• Demonstrates full commitment to the positive performance management of nursing staff throughout the Trust. Providing expert advice and chair disciplinary hearings where appropriate.

• Represents nursing and the Trust by attending and as appropriate presenting at regional and national nursing networks and forums.

The post holder will be able to:

• Think strategically and see both the ‘bigger picture’ and the detail.

• Understand and work within complex and stressful circumstances.

• Successfully negotiate conflict.

• Understand the nature of clinical and social care interventions.

• Proactively participate in management supervision, annual objective setting and PDR/appraisal.

• Participate in development opportunities.

• Maintain knowledge of best practice in health and social care services.

• Implement trust and national policy.

• Work autonomously and make clear decisions in senior forums.

• Use analytical skills and make sound judgements in complex multi-agency situations.

• Liaise with external agencies and coordinate projects across services and corporate departments.

• Chair complex meetings.

• Use and promote the use of digital tools and new technologies.

Management responsibilities

The post holder will lead and have management responsibility for a team of staff supporting nursing education and development, practice improvement and physical health and well-being.

The post holder will work closely with directorates and other departments across the Trust e.g. quality, learning and development, estates, pharmacy and HR to develop systems and processes that will support nursing practice improvements and nursing development and education.

The post holder will be responsible for providing a project plan for each area of work and be able to assess and evaluate the progress of the work within agreed timescales and make adjustments so that the work remains on target.

The post holder will be responsible for arranging and chairing Trust wide meetings.

The post holder will ensure the development of nursing across care pathways through appropriate nursing meetings.

The post holder will attend any further internal or external professional meetings, forums and conferences that are relevant.

The post holder will employ a range of change management facilitation and negotiation skills that enable participation and personal development of nursing staff.

The post holder will have direct responsibility for the nursing education budget to ensure appropriate funding and development of pre and post registration education. including planning with directorates annual spending forecast based on training needs analysis.

Has budgetary responsibility for direct services managed within the nursing directorate and is responsible for authorising expenditure and accountable for the expenditure of that budget.

Manage the education planning for nursing for the academic year.

Leadership

The post holder will work and facilitate the production, publication and implementation of robust clinical nursing policies that will support and sustain evidence based and effective nursing practice.

The post holder will lead on Non-Medical prescribing for the trust, support and develop nursing medicines management and prescribing practices for nurses working across Oxleas.

The post holder will be responsible for providing expert teaching and facilitation for nursing across Oxleas as appropriate .They will be able to utilise a variety of formats to suit and evaluate these training programmes.

This advert closes on Sunday 1 Nov 2026

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