Job summary
- Main area
- Children's nurse
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday 9am-5pm)
- Job ref
- 095-7450141-TS
- Employer
- NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Gail House
- Town
- Maidstone
- Salary
- £55,690 - £62,682 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 29/09/2025 23:59
- Interview date
- 20/10/2025
Employer heading

Lead Nurse for Children and Young People's Continuing Care
NHS AfC: Band 8a
Job overview
The Lead Nurse for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care (CYPCC) will provide strategic and operational leadership to ensure the delivery of high-quality, safe, and child-centred care across Kent and Medway. This role involves leading a skilled nursing team, overseeing the continuing care assessment and review process in line with the National Framework, and ensuring robust governance, safeguarding, and commissioning practices.
The post holder will act as the clinical expert within the service, supporting complex decision-making, promoting equitable access to care, and ensuring that services meet the diverse needs of children and families. They will work collaboratively with health, social care, education, and voluntary sector partners to provide integrated, personalised care packages and support safe, timely hospital discharges.
In addition, the Lead Nurse will contribute to service development, quality improvement, and policy implementation, and ensure that the team operates efficiently, accountably, and in line with national and local priorities.
Main duties of the job
Main Duties and Responsibilities:
- Lead and manage the CYPCC team across Kent & Medway.
- Deputise for the Head of Children and Young People within the All Age Continuing Care (AACC) service.
- Act as the clinical lead for CYP continuing care assessments and reviews.
- Ensure compliance with the National Framework for CYP Continuing Care.
- Oversee timely, holistic assessments with clear recommendations for panel decisions.
- Promote and ensure the offer of Personal Health Budgets (PHBs) to eligible families.
- Work closely with health, social care, education, and voluntary agencies.
- Support safe and coordinated hospital discharges.
- Lead risk assessment and management planning for complex care packages.
- Attend and contribute to safeguarding and commissioning meetings on behalf of the CYPCC team.
- Contribute to audits, service evaluations, and quality improvement initiatives.
- Ensure care provision is safe, equitable, and evidence-based.
- Promote a high-performing, accountable, and motivated team culture.
- Support professional development and foster inclusive, respectful working relationships.
Additional Working Pattern: Monday - Friday 9am-5pm
Working for our organisation
Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement which will not mean sacrificing time for personal interests or family commitments. We aim to support you to work flexibly in a way that will suit you and us.
We work with staff to agree objectives through regular supervision, annual appraisal, and access to training opportunities.
We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity. In order to reflect the diversity of our population, we positively encourage applications from all areas of the community regardless of gender, race, faith, disability, age or sexual orientation.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this.
Still have questions? The recruiting manager would love to hear from you, their contact details can be found in the job advert.
We can get a lot of applications for some roles so to be in with the best chance of being shortlisted please make sure you apply as soon as possible. A vacancy may close early if there is a lot of interest in the job.
If you need an application form in an alternative format please let our recruitment team know so they can help you with this.
All information you supply on your application should, to the best of your knowledge, be true and accurate.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered Children’s Nurse (NMC) with a master’s degree or equivalent senior-level experience in a specialist field. Membership in a relevant professional body.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Extensive expertise in the specialist area, with evidence of post-qualification and ongoing professional development.
- Evidence of being a skilled practitioner in interpreting national policies and researching best practices across sectors to advise on system reforms.
- Experience of successfully leading and managing a team, demonstrating the ability to motivate staff, manage performance, and delivering high-quality outcomes in a complex healthcare environment.
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge about the roles of Department of Health, NHS England/Improvement, providers, and commissioners.
- Well-versed in current healthcare policies in the Southeast and their implications for service delivery and engagement.
- Experienced in budget management, including setting budgets and understanding financial processes.
Attributes
Essential criteria
- Confident decision-maker, capable of handling difficult or contentious issues with autonomy under tight deadlines.
- Comfortable challenging others respectfully and open to receiving constructive feedback for growth
- Maintains calm professionalism and efficiency in clinical and leadership roles.
Competencies
Essential criteria
- Skilled communicator, able to deliver and negotiate complex, sensitive, or contentious information with senior stakeholders and large audiences.
- Exercises sound clinical judgement ensuring safe, effective, and patient-centered care
- Takes full accountability for own role and responsibilities, while confidently holding others to account to ensure high standards of practice and service delivery are maintained.
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
- Heidi Payne
- Job title
- Head of Children and Young People
- Email address
- [email protected]
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