Deputy Head of Nursing - Haematology

An exciting opportunity has arisen for the role of Deputy Head of Nursing in Haematology, Cellular Pathology & Supporting Services. This is a complex and highly specialist directorate at Guys and St Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust., The Oncology & Haematology Clinical Trials team is a large team of clinical research nurses and clinical research practitioners supporting trials from early phase through to phase 3. Their portfolio includes gene therapy and other immune effector cell therapies., The Deputy Head of Nursing works within the Senior Management Team to provide senior leadership for all of the services in the directorate (including Clinical Haematology, Haemostasis & Thrombosis, Blood Transfusion, Oncology & Haematology Clinical Trials, Cellular Pathology and Chaplaincy & Spiritual care)
The Deputy Head of Nursing will work with and support the Head of Nursing and will be instrumental in delivering on all aspects of governance, risk, professional and operational leadership. You will support the Head of Nursing to ensure the consistent delivery of evidence-based, safe and effective nursing, infection prevention, and safeguarding standards.
The successful candidate will have experience in clinical governance and human resources management, demonstrate an understanding of the nursing contribution and role in relation to performance of the directorate and have a leadership style which inspires others to develop and drive the teams to reach their potential.
The successful candidate will be expected to provide compassionate and visible leadership and be able to create a culture of excellence, driving forward service improvements whilst maintaining patient-centred care. We are looking for a dynamic and committed nurse, with the ability to communicate effectively across multi-professional boundaries., Specific Roles and Responsibilities will agreed between the DHoN and HoN but will include the following:
Performance Management and Leadership
+ To have responsibility for the clinical governance agenda across the Directorate ensuring the services are delivering within their areas of responsibility and that nursing performance and quality of service delivery does not fall below expected levels and standards
+ Provide leadership in Clinical Governance forums within the Directorate and be the Directorate representative at Trust Governance forums.
+ To be a key player in leading the discharge agenda across the Directorate working closely with the multi-disciplinary team to ensure effective working, clear care pathways and protocols.
+ Work with service and department managers, identifying any developmental needs whilst maintaining high quality standards of care. Ensure necessary support mechanisms are in place.
Clinical Leadership
+ To ensure effective clinical practice and the highest of professional standards from the clinical and professional workforce.
+ To lead a culture of professional accountability and responsibility to patients, ensuring that staff learn from complaints, near misses, clinical incidents and all forms of patient feedback. To ensure that any investigations are appropriately undertaken and that root cause analysis informs action plans which are properly implemented and monitored.
+ To ensure that robust personal and clinical supervisory processes are in place and recorded appropriately. To ensure that appraisal systems reflect service and organisational priorities and individual learning and development needs of staff.
+ To lead motivate and develop staff to achieve the highest levels of performance and to lead the development of improved productivity initiatives.
+ Lead and continue to develop the service, establishing a culture which focuses on responsiveness, multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working, and high standards of performance and quality.
+ Contribute and deliver the wider admissions avoidance and out-of-hospital care agenda.
+ Play a key role in service transformation in inpatient areas and specialist services developing and leading effective partnership working across health and social care providers, GP practices, multidisciplinary teams, voluntary/third sector organisations and commissioners.
+ Ensure that the patient experience is of the highest quality, inspiring patient and public confidence and that all patients are treated with compassion, dignity and respect.
+ To deputise for the Head of Nursing as required.
Quality Assurance
+ Ensure evidence-based practice is embedded in the practice of all staff and oversee the implementation of relevant national and local guidance and standards.
+ Ensure senior clinicians maintain high professional standards through professional supervision and competency development, the GSTT appraisal process and clinical supervision to meet agreed core nursing and service objectives in line with CQC standards and requirements of professional registration bodies via the revalidation process.
+ Ensure clinical governance & quality assurance systems and monitoring are in place in all service areas.
+ Deliver a co-ordinated approach to quality, risk management, audit and positive performance management delivering a set of reports that includes a balanced scorecard which achieves reliable key performance indicator data, for managers, commissioners and clinicians.
+ Ensure infection control standards across all areas meet national guidelines, and are monitored with effective action taken.
+ Manage and respond to complaints and adverse incidents
Communications and Partnership Working
+ Be responsible for delivering effective communications to all staff, stakeholders and colleagues.
+ To create and facilitate effective networks and partnership, inside and outside the trust, include integrated working with other local and social health care providers, and independent providers in the development of clinical care pathways.
+ To work closely with senior managerial and clinical colleagues to ensure joined up approach to care, development of whole system care pathway.
+ Lead on meaningful involvement of patient and public at all levels of service provision, working closely with local groups e.g. carers groups, and engaging users in the change programme wherever possible.
Strategy and service improvement
+ To participate in service improvement projects and programmes that contribute to the modernisation of patient services providing both professional and clinical advice as necessary.
+ To take a clinical leadership role in the development, redesign and implementation of intermediate care pathways, in conjunction with clinical colleagues and the multidisciplinary team.
+ Work in close partnership with appropriate Matrons, Clinical Leads and Service Managers to ensure all local, corporate and national initiatives and targets are met.
+ Identify and take forward the specific contribution nursing can make to the development of the service, + Support the development and implementation of education and training programmes within area of responsibility for nurses, ensuring effective use of education commissioning system.
+ Be responsible for developing own skills and knowledge and contribute to the development of others.
+ Work in collaboration with the Matrons, Sisters/ Charge Nurses to regulate training and development of all staff.
Professional standard and patient experience
Promote excellent standards in all departments through:
+ Promotion of a nurturing environment for patients, relatives, visitors and staff through monitoring, measuring and actioning and evaluating.
+ Advocating for patients at all times.
+ Regular ward rounds and monitoring observations of care.
+ Visible and accessible in clinical settings, contributing to patient care, e.g. clinical Fridays
+ Ensuring patient feedback in the departments through the use of Comment Cards, displaying results and responding to adverse outcomes
+ Driving the privacy and dignity challenge.
+ Provide leadership on clinical supervision for nurses across the directorate
+ Lead the implementation of the safety initiatives across the directorate
+ To provide professional leadership on medicines management, protocols and PGDs across nursing teams.
+ Provide leadership across the Directorate for key domains for CQC.
Please see attached Job description for full details
Guy's and St Thomas' celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study's at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual's personal circumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.
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The directorate has a wide portfolio of services operating across the Guy's & St. Thomas's sites. These include 3 acute haematology/oncology wards and a new Young Adult inpatient and ambulatory unit opening in early 2025. The Directorate manages a haemostasis & thrombosis service on the St. Thomas's site and a haematology day unit on the Guy's site. The haematology day unit includes a large apheresis service providing one of the countries largest red cell exchange service, and cell collections to supporting our growing advanced therapies service., We are looking to recruit a senior nurse with experience in workforce management, patient safety and and service development who will be able to positively lead the team to deliver the directorate and nursing strategy including the expansion of our apheresis services and the establishment of our new wards.

Guy's and St Thomas' is among the UK's busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy's is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas' has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children's Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King's Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King's College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of 'good'. Our adult community services achieved a rating of 'outstanding'.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS., Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK's best known hospitals - Guy's, St Thomas', Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield - as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.
We are among the UK's busiest, most successful foundation trusts. We provide specialist care for patients including heart and lung, cancer and renal services as well as a full range of local hospital and community services for people in Lambeth and Southwark.
We have a long tradition of clinical and scientific achievement and - as part of King's Health Partners - we are one of England's eight academic health sciences centres, bringing together world-class clinical services, teaching and research.
We have around 22,700 staff, making us one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country and one of the biggest employers locally. We aim to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and continue to develop new and existing partnerships with local people, patients, neighbouring NHS organisations, local authorities and charitable bodies and GPs.
We strive to recruit and retain the best staff as the dedication and skills of our employees lie at the heart of our organisation and ensure that our services are of the highest quality, safe and focused on our patients.