An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the newly established Community Services Division at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as our Divisional Nursing Director.
This is a unique opportunity for an experienced and inspirational nursing leader to help shape, develop and lead a newly formed Division serving communities across St Helens, Knowsley, Halton, Southport, Formby and West Lancashire. The role offers the opportunity to influence the future direction of community healthcare, strengthen integration across health and care systems and champion the highest standards of patient care, quality and safety.
The newly established Community Services Division brings together a broad range of services delivered closer to people's homes and communities, creating a significant opportunity to improve patient outcomes, reduce health inequalities and develop innovative models of care in partnership with primary care, local authorities, voluntary sector organisations and NHS partners.
The role will be professionally accountable to the Chief Nursing Officer and report to the Divisional Director of Operations. The post holder will work closely with the Divisional Medical Director, and wider Community Services leadership team to provide strategic, professional and operational nursing leadership across the Division. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring the delivery of high-quality, safe and effective services whilst driving continuous improvement in patient experience, clinical outcomes and professional standards.
Why this role?
This is more than a traditional senior nursing leadership role. As Divisional Nursing Director within a newly established Division, you will have a rare opportunity to shape nursing and AHP leadership, influence service redesign, strengthen governance and quality arrangements, and create a culture where innovation, compassion and excellence thrive.
Interviews will be held on Friday 11th September 2026
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
You will work as part of the Divisional Triumvirate to:
Lead improvements in quality, patient safety and patient experience.
Provide professional leadership for nursing and AHP colleagues across Community Services.
Develop highly engaged, high-performing clinical teams.
Deliver quality improvement and transformation programmes.
Strengthen partnerships across neighbourhoods, places and the wider health and care system.
Ensure strong governance, assurance and risk management arrangements are in place.
Support the development of innovative and sustainable models of community care
About You
We are seeking an experienced senior nursing leader who can demonstrate:
Significant senior nursing leadership experience within community services.
A strong track record of delivering improvements in quality, patient safety and patient experience.
Experience of working at senior level across complex healthcare organisations and systems.
Exceptional leadership, engagement and influencing skills.
Experience of managing change and leading service transformation.
A commitment to developing nursing and AHP leadership.
Strong partnership working skills across health, social care and voluntary sector organisations.
The ability to inspire teams and create a culture of continuous improvement and clinical excellence.
You will be a registered nurse with a master’s degree or equivalent experience, substantial senior leadership experience within community services and a passion for delivering outstanding care for patients and communities.
