The closing date is 31st Jul 2026
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Anticipated Interview date(s) 13th August 2026
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Job summary
The Director of Nursing and AHPs holds explicit professional accountability to the Chief Nurse. This includes responsibility for ensuring that nursing and AHP standards, governance, quality, and professional practice are maintained in line with organisational, regulatory, and national requirements. The Director acts under the professional direction and delegated authority of the Chief Nurse, and Deputy Chief Nurses, providing assurance that safe, high-quality, patient-centred care is delivered across all services within their remit. They are accountable for advising the Chief Nurse and Deputies on professional matters, escalating risks appropriately, and supporting the delivery of the Chief Nurse's strategic priorities.
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Main duties, tasks & skills required
The role provides visible, compassionate leadership, modelling Trust values and behaviours while supporting the delivery of the Trusts strategic aims. Working collaboratively with service group leadership teams, the post holder will ensure the development of services that meet current and future needs, aligned with the devolved leadership model and the 10 year plan for health. The post holder will be skilled in the use of data and intelligence to drive improvements in quality and safety standards. They will lead on clinical governance, patient safety, workforce planning, and quality improvement, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and high quality care. The role includes developing a sustainable workforce plan for nursing and AHPs, driving innovation and service redesign, and upholding the full range of professional standards across the group.
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About us
At Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, we're committed to supporting our employees with a range of benefits designed to enhance your professional and personal life. We offer:
Flexible working options to help you balance work and life
NHS pension scheme for long-term financial security
Generous annual leave allowance to recharge and relax
A strong focus on career development to help you grow and achieve your potential
Additionally, you'll gain access to our Blue Light Card, unlocking exclusive discounts on shopping, dining, and leisure activities, as well as NHS-specific perks to support you both inside and outside of work.
We are proud to foster a diverse, skilled, and inclusive workforce, and we encourage applications from all backgrounds.
Why Somerset? Somerset offers the perfect blend of idyllic countryside, outstanding areas of natural beauty, and breathtaking coastlines, with vibrant cities like Bristol, Bath, and Exeter just a short drive away - and only two hours to London.
The region is home to excellent educational facilities, and with affordable housing compared to other parts of the country, it's a great place to build both your career and your future.
Somerset truly has it all - the peaceful countryside and cosmopolitan city life, with something for everyone to enjoy.
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Job description
The Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professionals is a senior leadership role within the Service Group, working as part of the triumvirate leadership team alongside the Service Group Director and Associate Medical Director. The post holder will provide professional leadership, strategic direction and assurance for nursing and allied health professional practice, ensuring that services deliver safe, effective, inclusive and high-quality care for patients, families and communities.
The post holder will be responsible for setting and maintaining professional standards across the Service Group, supporting clinical teams to deliver excellent patient outcomes and ensuring that nursing and AHP services are aligned with organisational, regulatory and national priorities. They will hold delegated professional accountability to the Chief Nurse and Midwife, providing assurance on quality, safety, governance, workforce and professional practice.
A key part of the role will be to provide visible, compassionate and inclusive leadership. The post holder will work with senior nursing, midwifery and AHP colleagues to create a positive professional culture, promote learning, strengthen accountability and ensure that colleagues are supported to work at the top of their scope of practice. They will also support workforce planning, role development, recruitment, retention, succession planning and education across nursing and AHP teams.
The Director of Nursing and AHPs will share responsibility with the Service Group leadership team for the delivery of operational performance, quality, patient safety, governance, transformation, workforce and financial objectives. They will use data, intelligence and evidence to identify areas for improvement, reduce variation, address inequalities and support informed decision-making. This will include reviewing patient safety events, complaints, claims, audit findings, patient experience feedback and workforce data to identify themes, learning and improvement priorities.
The role will lead and support the development of robust clinical governance arrangements across the Service Group. This includes oversight of patient safety, quality assurance, risk management, safeguarding, infection prevention and control, patient and carer experience, compliance with regulatory standards and readiness for external inspection. The post holder will ensure that learning from incidents, complaints and reviews is embedded into practice and that patients, families, carers and colleagues are appropriately involved in improvement work.
The post holder will contribute to strategic service planning, transformation and redesign, ensuring services are responsive to current and future needs and aligned with the Trust's ambitions and wider system priorities. They will support the implementation of national standards, guidance and evidence-based practice, and will promote innovation, research, service evaluation and quality improvement across nursing and AHP professions.
The Director of Nursing and AHPs will work closely with the Chief Nurse and Midwife, Deputy Chief Nurses, Director of AHPs, senior clinical leaders and corporate teams to deliver professional priorities. They will also build strong relationships across service groups, partner organisations, external networks, regulators, staff-side representatives, education providers and community stakeholders. The post holder will represent the Service Group and the Trust in internal, system, regional and national forums as required.
The role will require the post holder to manage complex, sensitive and sometimes highly emotive situations with professionalism, sound judgement and resilience. This may include supporting responses to serious incidents, patient safety concerns, complaints, professional conduct matters, workforce risks, service pressures and complex operational challenges. The post holder will be expected to communicate clearly and confidently with a wide range of audiences, including patients, carers, colleagues, professional groups, partner organisations and senior leaders.
The post holder will provide line management and professional support to senior registered colleagues across services and professions. They will ensure that clear systems are in place for supervision, appraisal, statutory and mandatory training, specialist training, leadership development and professional governance. They will also support advanced practice, education and research agendas, ensuring safe and effective professional practice across the Service Group.
The Director of Nursing and AHPs will support the effective use of resources, including workforce, continuing professional development budgets and quality improvement resources. They will work with operational and clinical leaders to ensure that resources are used safely, equitably and efficiently, and that financial and productivity decisions take account of quality, safety, workforce and patient experience impacts.
This is a demanding and rewarding role requiring a senior professional leader with substantial experience in nursing, midwifery or allied health professional leadership. The successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate credibility, compassion, integrity, professional curiosity and the ability to lead through complexity. They will need to influence at senior level, build effective relationships, support teams through change and maintain a strong focus on improving outcomes for patients, communities and colleagues.
The post holder will be expected to work across organisational and professional boundaries, contribute to Trust-wide nursing and AHP priorities, and participate in relevant on-call arrangements. They will model the Trust values of kindness, respect and teamwork, and will play a key role in developing a culture that supports high standards, continuous improvement, inclusion, accountability and learning.
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Person specification
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Qualifications
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Essential
Registered Nurse or Midwife with current registration with NMC or Registered AHP with current registration with HCPC
Evidence of ongoing professional and managerial development, which meets NMC/HCPC requirements
Master's Degree in a relevant health-related subject and evidence of further advanced study, doctoral level learning, or equivalent level of professional development
Management or leadership qualification, for example NHS Leadership Academy or MBA, or equivalent postgraduate study in a relevant subject
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Desirable
Coaching qualification or willingness to work towards one
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Experience
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Essential
Extensive experience at a senior level in a relevant acute, community or mental health environment
Significant senior experience of managing teams, including professional development and conduct issues
Experience of leading a range of nursing and/or AHP colleagues
Experience of leading professionals outside own professional group
Experience of effective financial management, including budget management and cost improvement of service-wide budgets
Experience of managing robust governance and performance management systems
Experience in working with patients and their families/carers to improve patient experience
Experience of managing service changes, including role redesign and workforce planning
Experience of leading evidence-based transformation programmes informed by research, data and advanced analysis, including the management of service change, operational process improvement and cost reduction
Evidence of developing a culture committed to high quality, people, finance and performance
Demonstrable success in improving colleague experience and engagement
Experience of contributing to, leading, or applying research, service evaluation, or innovation that advances professional practice
Experience of leading change that improves equitable and inclusive outcomes for workforce and/or patient groups
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Desirable
No desirable experience criteria specified
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Additional Criteria
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Essential
Willingness to use technology to improve standards of care and support to our patients
Ability to demonstrate and uphold the Trust values of kindness, respect and teamwork
Ability to travel across Trust sites as required for the role
Willingness to participate in relevant on-call arrangements
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Desirable
No desirable additional criteria specified
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Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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UK Professional Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.
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For help with your application, contact:
Abbie Furnival
[email protected]
07917555292
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Pay scheme
Agenda for Change
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Band
Band 8d
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Salary
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£94356.00 to £108814.00 Yearly
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Contract
Permanent
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Working pattern
Full-Time
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Reference number
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Job locations
Bridgwater Community Hospital
Bower Lane
Bridgwater
Somerset
TA6 4GU
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