Operational Team Leader
Hours: This role is offered at 37.5 hours per week. Applications are welcome from candidates seeking to work 32 hours per week or more over 4 days, subject to service requirements.
St Gemma’s Hospice Community Services is seeking an experienced, compassionate and registered nurse to provide operational leadership to our Community Specialist Palliative Care Team.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a highly regarded community service and play a key role in supporting the delivery of safe, responsive, equitable and person-centred specialist palliative and end of life care for patients, families and carers across the community.
As Operational Team Leader, you will provide day-to-day operational leadership and oversight for the Community Specialist Palliative Care Team. You will support effective service coordination, referral flow, triage arrangements, safe staffing, caseload management, prioritisation, escalation of risk and service responsiveness.
You will line manage and support Band 7 Senior Clinical Nurse Specialists and work through them to support consistent leadership, practice and performance across locality/cluster teams. You will also play an important role in staff wellbeing, professional development, performance conversations, workforce planning and creating a positive, inclusive and psychologically safe team culture.
Working closely with the Leeds Hospices Integrated Community Specialist Palliative Care Services Lead, the Nurse Consultant for the City-Wide Inclusion Service, medical colleagues and wider multidisciplinary partners, you will support the implementation of agreed service priorities, pathways, quality improvements and consistent ways of working across the service.
We are looking for someone who can combine strong operational leadership with specialist clinical credibility in palliative and end of life care. You will be confident supporting complex clinical decision-making, managing competing operational pressures, using service data to inform decisions, and leading with compassion, clarity and professionalism.
To be a successful candidate, you will need:
-
Registered Nurse professional qualification, Adult.
-
Significant recent experience in specialist palliative care or equivalent.
-
Proven experience at Band 6 or above, including senior clinical decision-making and leadership.
-
Experience of community-based service delivery.
-
Experience of leading and developing clinical teams.
-
Experience of managing operational priorities, including caseload, capacity, staffing or urgent clinical pressures.
-
Ability to apply specialist palliative care knowledge to support complex symptom management, clinical prioritisation and escalation.
-
Excellent communication, negotiation and influencing skills
-
Ability to support staff through complex and emotionally demanding situations.
-
Ability to use service data to identify risks and support service improvement.
-
A commitment to equity, inclusion, psychological safety and high-quality care.
-
Non-medical prescribing qualification.
-
A full UK driving licence with no restrictions and be able to travel as required.
-
Ability to travel across community settings and work flexibly over seven days if required.
This role would suit a compassionate and confident leader who is motivated by improving services for patients, families, carers and staff, and who can bring stability, clarity and energy to a developing community service.
For informal enquiries, please contact Jo Neiland at [email protected]
We encourage informal visits or conversations for anyone interested in the role. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to take part in a stakeholder panel and formal interview as part of the selection process.
Closing date: Wednesday 26th August 2026 at noon
Interview and stakeholder panel dates: Date to be confirmed
We encourage early applications and reserve the right to invite candidates to interview prior to the closing date and/or close this vacancy early if sufficient applications are received.
St Gemma’s Hospice is a Leeds-based charity providing expert care and support for local people with life-limiting and terminal illnesses. We offer care to patients and their carers in the Hospice’s In-Patient Unit, through the St Gemma’s community team, and via our day services, which include a Day Hospice and Out-Patient Department.
St Gemma’s welcomes and provides care to everyone regardless of people’s age, gender, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or diagnosis. Our care is always completely free of charge.
St Gemma’s is the largest hospice in Yorkshire and one of the largest in the UK.
