Job summary
- Main area
- Divisional Triumvirate
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 9
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (37.5 hours per week)
- Job ref
- 216-AM-A7590571
- Employer
- University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- University Hospital Plymouth NHS Trust
- Town
- Plymouth
- Salary
- £109,179 - £125,637 £109,179 - £125,637Per Annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 24/11/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Divisional Director of Nursing and Integrated Professions
NHS AfC: Band 9
Job overview
University Hospitals Plymouth is embarking on an exciting phase of transformation, moving towards a clinically led, operationally delivered model designed to strengthen frontline leadership, empower teams, and deliver outstanding care to our communities.
We are seeking an exceptional Divisional Director of Nursing & Integrated Professions (IP) to join Division B, providing strategic, professional and operational leadership.
As Divisional Director of Nursing & Integrated Professions, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the culture, quality, and professional leadership of one of the Trust’s largest and most complex Divisions. Working as part of the Divisional Triumvirate—alongside the Divisional Medical Director and Divisional Director of Operations—you will provide visible, credible and values-driven leadership to ensure the delivery of safe, compassionate, high-quality care across all services.
You will lead the Divisional Quality and Patient Experience agenda, ensuring that the voice of patients and staff informs everything we do. As the professional lead for all nursing and integrated professions within the Division, you will be responsible for setting and upholding the highest standards of care, clinical governance and infection prevention.
This role demands strategic vision as well as operational acuity. You will lead workforce transformation, develop emerging leaders, and champion multidisciplinary collaboration across specialties and divisions.
Main duties of the job
Reporting to the Divisional Medical Director and working in partnership with the Divisional Director of Operations and Corporate Nursing and AHP leaders, the Divisional Director of Nursing and Integrated Professions is accountable for overseeing the overall clinical quality and experience at Divisional level.
The postholder provides senior leadership for nursing, midwifery and Allied Health professional staff, ensuring patients and staff are safe, cared for and listened to.
The post holder will be committed to the principles of devolution of decision making to clinical teams. They will be skilled at coaching individuals to enable them to deliver the very best clinical care and will lead the development and delivery of clinical and professional standards and the development of leadership capacity within the Division.
The post holder will be accountable for the review of the nursing and associated AHP workforce across the Division and ensuring safe staffing levels across relevant sites and services. They will work collaboratively with other Divisions to facilitate safe, high quality, patient centred care provision.
They will be accountable for leading the Quality Management System within the Division, fostering strong collaboration between patient voice, clinical teams and operational staff, thereby enhancing the quality and accessibility of services.
Working for our organisation
We are a people business – where every member of staff matters and can make a difference. Patients are at the heart of everything we do. Joining University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust means becoming part of a team of dedicated staff, who are committed to leading the way through innovation, clinical excellence and great customer care. The Trust has great opportunities for career development in a highly progressive working environment. We offer all of this in a vibrant, modern city with a historic reputation for adventure. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL COMMUNICATION WILL BE ELECTRONIC, PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT REGULARLY. If you have any issues with applying online and need additional support including reasonable adjustments with the application process please contact the recruitment manager for this post who will put you in touch with the recruitment team. We recognise that work life balance is important for our colleagues and so we invite requests from applicants around less than full time/flexible working for our advertised roles. Please contact the recruiting manager to discuss this prior to your application submission. We commit to giving this full consideration in each case. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply for our roles, as diversity strengthens our teams. It is sometimes necessary to close vacancies before the closing date. If you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been shortlisted.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. Strategic Development and Service Transformation
a) To lead by example, working within the Trust values to empower and develop leadership of nursing and integrated professions staff in the Division enabling each member of staff to perform to the best of their ability providing high quality patient care within available resources.
b) To create, shape and deliver Divisional Nursing and AHP strategy which supports and delivers the Trust’s Nursing and Integrated Professions strategy within the Division: this will form an integral part of the category within the annual operational work plan.
c) To provide professional advice to the Divisional Medical Director, clinicians, and other senior managers within the Trust.
d) Participate as a senior member of the Divisional Management team for supporting business planning, service developments and operational delivery including achievement of performance targets. This may include representing the Division in system level planning (e.g. ICB engagement, network collaborations).
e) To facilitate and challenge clinical practice and processes and involve relevant staff in improving patient services and quality, involving Directorates as appropriate in the process, developing approaches for the utilisation of best practice and research evidence which supports Nursing and Integrated Professions and improves patient experience. Communicates highly sensitive, confidential information which may involve highly complex, significant challenge from clinicians and other stakeholders where there are differences in planning opinionl
f) As a senior clinical leader in the Trust, deputises for the Divisional Director of Operations and or Divisional Medical Director as required – and at Board level, may be required to deputise for the Director of Nursing and Integrated Professions on clinical and professional matters.
g) At system level, work within Devon and Regional clinical networks to improve clinical pathways and standards.
h) Build effective research and educational strategies and plans with Directorates to drive academic excellence, leading quality improvement in research and innovation in clinical practice and workforce models, developing a research led culture in services.
i) Create and oversee effective workforce planning for nursing and integrated professional staff within the Division.
For a detailed overview of the key responsibilities, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification.
Person specification
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant demonstrable experience of working at a senior manager level and relevant clinical and management demonstrable experience
- Demonstrable experience of working and influencing at a very senior level and leading a group of teams and services
- Demonstrable experience of achieving changed clinical practice.
- Demonstrable experience of developing staff and teams
- Senior operational management demonstrable experience in complex services
- Demonstrable experience of implementing and managing change effectively
- Thorough and up-to-date proven knowledge of nursing theory and best practice and application in practice
- Understanding of NMC/HCPC code of practice and requirements for the practice and behaviour of staff and self
- Significant demonstrable experience of effective budgetary management
- Demonstrable experience of developing business cases/business planning
- Demonstrable experience of involvement in clinical governance
- Demonstrable experience of involvement in service users’ advocacy and complaints resolution
- Demonstrable project management experience
- Well-developed clinical practice
- Demonstrable experience in advising on and implementing improvements to the quality and efficiency of care for patients in wards/units and specialties across Divisions
- Strong proven evidence of compliance and regulation proven knowledge and demonstrable experience at senior level
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered Nurse/Midwife/Allied Health Professional or Scientist-current and relevant registration on NMC/HCPC or relevant professional register
- Post registration qualification/ postgraduate diploma and training educated to master’s level leadership qualification plus additional qualifications/ demonstrable experience as above to doctorate level
Aptitude & Abilities
Essential criteria
- Highly effective communication skills - able to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, to large groups of staff, patients and relatives, ensuring that communication is tailored to the person being addressed
- IT literacy
- Ability to lead, motivate and empower others and lead change through people
- Able to deal with conflict within any of the teams for which this post is responsible, which also may include service users
- Ability to interpret and analyse highly complex data and adapt national and local policy from several sources into Trust standards
- Ability to apply research-based practice and advocate it to improve the quality and efficiency of wards/units and services
- Ability to write complex management reports identifying investigation findings, clearly documented with appropriate judgement and actions needed
- Ability to make judgments on, and changes to, clinical and professional standards
- Able to gain credibility with and influence fellow clinicians, managers and specialty leads
- Demonstrates commitment to an empathetic and caring approach to patients and relatives and ability to motivate staff to demonstrate this ensuring that all patients’ dignity and respect are maintained at all times
- Appropriate skills for professional clinical practice
- Resilient, comfortable in giving and receiving professional challenge/ conveying unwelcome news where progress or outcomes are not yet as expected.
- Strong organisational skills-able to organise own workload and take responsibility for clinical actions and systems/ standards across area of responsibility
DISPOSITION / ATTITUDE / MOTIVATION
Essential criteria
- Positive and effective team worker
- Understands and able to lead by example within the Trust values
- Willingness to work anywhere in the Trust and to travel, on occasions, within the region and nationally
- To be self-aware, have personal integrity and the ability to self-manage.
Other Factors
Essential criteria
- Ability to work flexibly and undertake on call duties as required.
- Able to exert frequent moderate effort for short periods of time when working clinically.
- Ability to travel between sites
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Darryn Allcorn
- Job title
- Chief Nurse and Director of ICP
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01752439084
- Additional information
For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Zoe Duke at [email protected] to arrange a convenient time to speak with Darryn Allcorn.
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