Job summary
- Main area
- Nursing Leadership
- Grade
- ESM 1
- Contract
- Fixed term: 9 months (Secondment only for current NHS employees until 30/09/2027)
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job share
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 990-SE-EC6015-E
- Employer
- NHS England
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- NHSE Office in the South East region
- Town
- NHSE Office in the South East
- Salary
- £100,000 For ESM 1 = per annum (Starting from £100,000)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 27/10/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Deputy Regional Chief Nurse - Director of Stat Funcs, Progs & Imp
ESM 1
Our Organisation
We share the core values set out in the NHS Constitution, which all colleagues are expected to demonstrate.
We support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you and your colleagues. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement, whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern.
As part of our commitment to improving patient safety and maintaining safe and trusted services, all successful candidates will be subject to Baseline Personnel Security Screening (BPSS), which includes a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. By submitting your application, you are confirming your agreement to these checks being undertaken as part of the recruitment process.
Anyone who has received a voluntary or compulsory redundancy payment from NHS England since the start of the 2026/27 financial year is not eligible to apply.
Job overview
The Deputy Regional Chief Nurse, Director of Statutory Functions, Programmes and Improvement is a senior nursing leader responsible for providing strategic clinical leadership, professional oversight and assurance across the region. Reporting to the Regional Chief Nurse, the postholder will lead key statutory functions and programmes, including safeguarding, infection prevention and control, mental health, learning disability and autism, Continuing Healthcare, patient experience and quality improvement.
Main duties of the job
Working collaboratively with Integrated Care Boards, provider organisations, national teams and system partners, the postholder will support the delivery of NHS England priorities, promote high standards of quality and safety, and drive improvement across health and care services. They will provide expert advice on nursing, midwifery, clinical governance and risk, ensuring effective quality oversight and the implementation of national policy and improvement programmes.
The role requires strong system leadership, partnership working and the ability to influence at executive level to improve outcomes, reduce variation and support the delivery of safe, effective and compassionate care. The postholder will deputise for the Regional Chief Nurse as required and contribute to the strategic leadership of the region, helping to deliver the ambitions of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan and the Model Region Blueprint.
Working for our organisation
NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.
Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms — enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.
In March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department.
If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Secondments
Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Current registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council
Experience & Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Up to date experience as an Executive Chief Nurse at Board level within a provider NHS trust/ foundation trust, or ICB.
- Knowledge of the regulatory framework on Nursing and Midwifery, experience of managing complex professional regulatory issues
Skills, Abilities & Attributes
Essential criteria
- Demonstrably committed to and focused on quality, promotes high standards to consistently improve patient outcomes
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Andrea Lewis
- Job title
- Regional Chief Nurse – South East
- Email address
- [email protected]
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