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As our Joint Chief Nurse, you will play a key role in providing strategic leadership across both Trusts as well as with partners in the wider systems. Responsible for patient experience and quality assurance, you will inspire confidence through your knowledge and expertise, ensuring that our Boards of Directors keep quality of care at the heart of all decision making. This role will be vital as a visible leader and role model for our values and behaviours, championing inclusivity, patient safety and quality, and improvement at all levels.

We are seeking an experienced senior nursing leader, with a track record of operating at board level to deliver continuous improvement and high-quality, safe care in complex health and care environments. You will possess the ability to inspire and influence across a diverse and varied range of stakeholders, bringing exceptional communication and interpersonal skills. Your ability to demonstrate our values as you empower our dedicated staff and collaborate with stakeholders and partner organisations across two Integrated Care Systems, will be crucial to driving positive change in the transformation of our health and care services to achieve outstanding healthcare for all.

We are keen to attract candidates who can bring diverse perspectives, and we welcome expressions of interest from the widest possible range of backgrounds, particularly those who are under-represented at board level in the NHS.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust are recruiting a Joint Chief Nurse to join us in a key leadership role across both Trusts. Nicola Firth has successfully established this joint position over the last two years and will retire in early 2026. We are now seeking to recruit her successor and provide the new postholder with a smooth transition to become a voting member of the Boards of both organisations, reporting to our highly experienced Joint Chief Executive, Karen James OBE.

The Organisations

Our Trusts have a long history of partnership working as geographical neighbours, with some of our Executive Directors sitting across both Boards, driven by our shared commitment to enhancing patient care, improving health outcomes, and ensuring the sustainability of services for the benefit of our patients and communities. Both Trusts provide integrated acute and community services for the populations they serve.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust delivers acute hospital services across the Stockport locality of Greater Manchester, supporting around half a million patients every year from across Stockport, East Cheshire, and the High Peak area of Derbyshire. We have an annual budget of £400m and 6,500 staff. Our latest CQC rating was Requires Improvement overall, with a rating of Good in the Caring domain, and we continue to make progress in our transformation journey.

Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust supports around 250,000 patients in Tameside, Glossop working across the ICBs in both Greater Manchester and in neighbouring Derbyshire. We have an annual budget of £290m and 4,150 staff, with a CQC rating of Good overall. Our strategy is focused on reducing inequality and improving the population health of our communities.