Divisional Director of Nursing | Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust
| Posting date: | 09 February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £82,906 - £94,632 Per Annum Including HCAS |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 11 March 2026 |
| Location: | Stanmore, Middlesex, HA7 4LP |
| Company: | Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7783718/392-RNOH-1387 |
Summary
The Divisional Director of Nursing (DDoN) will provide professional leadership and expertise to ensure the best experience and outcomes for patients, working closely with others to achieve equitable high standards throughout the Surgery, Cancer and Children & Young People Division.
The DDoN will be accountable for the delivery of nursing services within their division in a safe and effective way, in line with Trust vision and values. Working in partnership with the divisional leadership team the DDoN will provide expert advice on all matters pertaining to nursing and clinical quality.
The DDoN will be a key part of the divisional leadership team and will have line management responsibility for nurses within their division.
The DDoN will support the development and delivery of the strategy and business plan for nursing and clinical services. They will have specific responsibility for professional leadership and operational nursing management to ensure that services are delivered to a high level of quality and safety.
The DDoN will play a lead role in quality governance, including the investigation of incidents and complaints, ensuring recommendations and actions are delivered for improvement and change.
The DDoN will have a corporate nursing role reporting professionally to the Chief Nurse. The postholder will advise the Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Nurse, on all matters pertaining to quality, safety, and patient experience and the education and deployment of the nursing workforce. They will play a leadership role in delivering the Trust strategic objectives for nursing, and take a lead for specific strategic work streams. They will lead innovative quality improvement projects, which support the Trust’s strategy and improve quality of care and patient outcomes, and in partnership with other services and clinical leaders.
The DDoN will deputise for the Deputy Chief Nurse/ Chief Nurse in their absence as required.
At the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH), we are committed to achieving the best staff experience in the NHS. In the 2023 NHS Staff Survey, we proudly:
• Scored above the national average for the People Promises: "We are recognised and rewarded," "We are always learning," "We work flexibly," "We are a team," and for staff engagement.
• Ranked #1 among all Trusts in North and Central London for all People Promises and themes.
• Ranked #1 among all Acute Specialist Trusts for "We work flexibly."
At RNOH, we’re committed to being actively anti-discriminatory and actively inclusive. We recognise our brilliant people do brilliant work, and we offer rewarding careers, no matter what their background. We continue to strive to break down barriers to be the Trust where people come together because what they do matters, makes a difference and where they can thrive.
Joining our organisation means enjoying a wide range of staff benefits, including:
• 24/7 access to wellbeing support through our Employee Assistance Programme.
• A Rewards & Recognition platform, offering opportunities to thank colleagues, send gifts, and access exclusive discounts.
• A dedicated Staff Wellbeing Hub, providing a space to relax and recharge away from the work environment.
• Salary sacrifice schemes for transport (season ticket loans, car and bike), electrical goods, and childcare
At RNOH, we are more than a workplace—we are committed to patients, to excellence and the wellbeing of our staff.
Clinical Responsibilities
Support the delivery of care through visible clinical leadership, working in partnership with senior colleagues, clinical leads and the multidisciplinary team, and maintain oversight of day-to-day operational delivery, quality of care and patient experience.
Work with the divisional leadership team to promote a culture that nurtures and promotes effective multi-professional team working to strengthen quality and safety and promote a culture of continuous improvement.
Have oversight of patient experience and quality of care, working with local clinical teams and service leads, advising the Divisional leadership team and Chief Nurse of any concerns and promoting quality improvement.
Deliver performance indicators in relation to clinical outcomes, clinical efficiency/productivity, quality, safety and patient experience and provide regular reports on key areas of quality/safety, maintaining service dashboards and risk registers and escalating areas of concern.
Work with the relevant multidisciplinary team/leadership teams, leading on the review of patient pathways from a nursing perspective, reviewing practice and identifying initiatives to reduce length of stay, improve discharge planning and improve the experience of patients and families.
In accordance with Trust’s policy for Safe Staffing and Skill Mix levels, formally agree with the Chief Nurse the workforce requirements for all clinical areas and departments, utilising acuity and dependency tools to monitor and review the nursing workforce as indicated, ensuring integration with the local delivery plan, and the optimal deployment of the nursing workforce.
Champion a safeguarding culture that meets the needs of vulnerable adults and escalate issues to relevant others accordingly.
Provide nursing clinical and professional leadership and accountability within the division to ensure that staff are able to provide a service, which delivers high quality and safe patient care in accordance with the NMC Professional Code of Conduct.
Lead on the investigation of incidents and complaints ensuring prompt, compassionate responses, promoting patient and family involvement and ensuring all recommendations and actions address key learning and deliver improvement and change.
Ensure that there are local systems and processes for nursing in place that support the delivery of kind, compassionate and respectful care which is person centred and meets the individual needs of patients.
Develop relationships with patients and families which promote listening and shared decision making and ensure that systems are in place to seek and share feedback from patients and families, and mechanisms are in place to learn and improve in response to feedback.
Provide leadership and oversight to the annual winter vaccination campaign, as directed by the Chief Nurse, ensuring safe, effective operational rollout Trustwide, timely and reporting, and internal/external stakeholder communications.
Professional Leadership and Management
Be a visible, clinical credible nurse leader and be well networked in nursing and associated specialties, ensuring that RNOH is well placed as a centre of excellence for orthopaedic/MSK nursing.
Through using highly developed leadership skills develop an environment in which staff deliver high quality services and are able to innovate and raise any concerns openly and safely.
Exercise delegated authority on behalf of the Deputy Chief Nurse/Chief Nurse to resolve day-to-day issues within clinical services.
Ensure sufficient nursing data is available within the division to monitor and track quality and performance through service line dashboards and to satisfy reporting requirements.
Provide appropriate input and challenge to clinical and business corrective action plans, where necessary.
Ensure local plans support all clinical quality internal and external accreditation, peer review regulation and regulation.
Promote a culture of inclusivity and lead on equality and diversity initiatives within the division, as required.
Oversee the environmental inspections and work programme across the division to achieve cleaning, catering, infection prevention and control and health and safety targets.
Ensure that all records are maintained as detailed in Trust policies and procedures and contribute to the ongoing development of Trust wide electronic patient records providing expert advice in relation to nursing and clinical care.
Be responsible for the performance management and monitoring of sickness, absence and appraisals for direct reports and ensure oversight throughout the divisional nursing structure, working with the HR business partner to identify trends and address any issues.
Directly manage the nursing budget, contribute to efficiency and improvement initiatives across services, and ensure that there are adequate controls in place in relation to financial governance and efficiency, together with quality and equality impact assessments.
Workforce and Education
Work in conjunction with the Training and Education Department to develop and maintain clinical learning environments that are fit for purpose, in line with quality assurance guidelines and other external regulatory bodies.
Ensure the division meets its responsibilities to provide clinical experience and mentor support for pre and post registration nurse education, and high-quality preceptorship across all areas, in line with external standards.
Provide professional leadership for nursing recruitment and retention across services and ensure timely recruitment takes place with the aim of maintaining vacancy factor targets and remove reliance on temporary staffing.
Work with senior nurses and HR colleagues to develop innovative recruitment and retention approaches and support the introduction of new ways of working, promoting innovation in nursing and workforce.
In collaboration with the Deputy Chief Nurse and other senior clinical colleagues, develop and review nursing workforce plans including a six-monthly review of nursing skill mix.
Lead on the review of nursing competencies, ensuring the nursing workforce has the appropriate skills and competencies within the speciality of orthopaedic/MSK nursing, working with the education/learning and development team to ensure the appropriate education programmes are in place.
Foster and develop a culture within nursing that values continuing professional development and strives for excellence in the delivery of patient care, developing effective relationships with university partners, other specialist centres and networks.
Quality Governance
Together with the Divisional Medical Director oversee delivery of the divisional quality governance agenda, to ensure timely and effective responses and provide assurance to the Trust Executive.
Lead on all matters of nursing quality governance and standards across the division, offering support, direction and advice but also ensuring that nurses contribute and fulfil their obligations in relation to quality and governance within their teams. The post holder will ensure adherence to timelines as they relate to investigation and response for their service.
Advise on all matters pertaining to quality, safety and patient experience across the Division and on behalf of corporate nursing and lead on key investigations, improvement initiatives, complaint responses and actions plans, as requested by the Chief Nurse/Deputy Chief Nurse.
Contribute to the development of evidence-based guidelines, policies and procedures, ensuring Trust wide documents are implemented and used across the service, submitting audit data as required.
Foster a culture which promotes high standards of safety and quality governance and values learning for improvement, ensuring that actions/recommendations and innovations are impactful and designed to deliver and demonstrate change and improve quality of care and patient experience.
Work collaboratively with colleagues to ensure that all risks are identified and included as appropriate on the organisational risk register and are progressed appropriately to reduce the risk profile.
Undertake Patient safety Incident investigations and learning responses working collaboratively with colleagues to ensure learning and change is embedded as a result of complaints and incidents ensuring appropriate monitoring, reporting and oversight of improvements.
Foster a spirit of appreciative enquiry and practice development, and promote learning from and celebration of excellence, and encourage continuous quality improvement through celebrating positive change and achievement.
Contribute to the development and implementation and monitoring of a robust system to deliver patient safety assurance.
Work with clinical teams and the PALS/Complaints department to resolve difficult and complex complaints by co-ordinating the investigations about nursing care and incidents related to nursing within the division, ensuring appropriate responses and implementation of action plans effectively resolve issues identified.
Ensure the nursing workforce adheres to health and safety requirements and promote a safe environment at all times, taking prompt actions to address shortfalls and manage risk.
Develop a culture of continuous quality improvement through ensuring processes and systems are in place to monitor and improve quality and patient experience (e.g. ward accreditation).
Please refer to the attached JD/PS for full details
This advert closes on Monday 23 Feb 2026
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