Job summary
- Main area
- Nursing Management
- Grade
- Band 8c
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 197-R-LC8652
- Employer
- Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £79,504 - £91,609 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/09/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Head of Nursing - Surgery
Band 8c
Please refer to the Applicant Guide via this link for key information:- Applying to LGT Guide - Key Information for Applicants
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.
Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.
To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here
Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.
Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.
LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.
We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
Job overview
Lead, Inspire, Transform
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and ambitious senior nursing leader to join Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust as Head of Nursing for Surgery at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
This is a pivotal leadership role within our Surgical Directorate, offering the opportunity to influence strategic decision-making, drive quality improvement and lead the delivery of outstanding surgical care across a diverse portfolio of inpatient, outpatient and perioperative services.
As Head of Nursing, you will provide professional, operational and strategic nursing leadership, ensuring the highest standards of patient care, safety, quality and experience. Working closely with the Clinical Director, General Manager, Matrons and multidisciplinary teams, you will play a key role in shaping and delivering the Directorate's vision, supporting service transformation and achieving excellence in clinical outcomes.
This role is ideal for an inspirational and compassionate leader who thrives in a complex environment and is passionate about developing services, supporting staff and achieving the best outcomes for patients.
Main duties of the job
Provide strategic and professional nursing leadership across Surgical Services.
Ensure the delivery of safe, effective, responsive and high-quality patient care.
Lead on nursing quality, patient safety, safeguarding, patient experience and clinical governance.
Drive continuous improvement and innovation across surgical pathways and services.
Support the development and implementation of directorate and Trust-wide strategies and objectives.
Work collaboratively with medical, operational and corporate colleagues to improve performance and patient outcomes.
Lead workforce planning, recruitment, retention and succession planning initiatives.
Foster a culture of compassionate leadership, inclusion, accountability and continuous learning.
Ensure effective management of quality indicators, regulatory requirements and performance standards.
Champion evidence-based practice, research, education and professional development.
Lead and support service redesign programmes that enhance efficiency, productivity and patient experience.
Working for our organisation
Please refer to the Applicant Guide via the link below for key information:- Applying to LGT Guide - Key Information for Applicants
Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:
- Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
- Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
- Improving the experience of staff with disability
- Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
- Making equalities mainstream
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Current NMC registration.
Significant senior leadership experience within acute hospital services, ideally within Surgery or an associated clinical specialty.
A proven track record of leading quality improvement, service transformation and operational performance.
Strong experience in clinical governance, patient safety and workforce leadership.
The ability to influence and build effective relationships across multidisciplinary teams and organisational boundaries.
Excellent communication, leadership and organisational skills.
Experience of managing complex change within a large healthcare organisation.
A commitment to staff wellbeing, inclusion and professional development.
Educated to Master's level or equivalent senior leadership experience, with evidence of ongoing professional development.
Person specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential criteria
- Post graduate training in Clinical Specialty, or Business or NHS Management in progress or completed
- Formal education to first degree level or equivalent ability
- RN part 1
- Master’s degree or equivalent ability/evidence of skill
Experience
Essential criteria
- Minimum 3 years operational management in an acute NHS Trust, including senior level experience & management of specialist services
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
- Shelly Rose
- Job title
- Divisional Director of Nursing and Governance
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07353101065
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