Community Manager (HART) #1137 in Stoke-on-Trent

The Community Manager (HART) provides strategic, professional and operational leadership for the Hospice Advice & Response Team (HART), alongside operational oversight of the Hospice at Home (HAH) team. This role is central to the delivery of high-quality, responsive palliative and end of life care across the community, ensuring patients and families receive timely, coordinated and compassionate support, 24 hours a day. Working closely with the Head of Community & Dementia Services and fellow Community Manager, the post holder will lead a multidisciplinary team delivering both urgent rapid response and unplanned community care. The role requires a confident and compassionate clinical leader with strong operational management skills, able to manage complex service delivery, lead through change and maintain high standards of clinical governance. We are looking for an experienced registered Nurse or Paramedic with a strong background in palliative or end of life care, proven leadership experience, and a commitment to values-led care. The successful candidate will be an effective communicator, able to build strong partnerships across health and social care, support staff wellbeing, and ensure safe, effective and person-centred services.

Main duties of the job:

• The post holder is responsible for the operational leadership and delivery of the Hospice Advice & Response Team (HART) and Hospice at Home (HAH) team, ensuring safe, effective and efficient 24/7 care.
• This includes oversight of the Adviceline and Rapid Response service, performance management against KPIs, workforce planning, and compliance with clinical governance, safeguarding and CQC standards.
• The role involves leading, managing and developing a multidisciplinary team, providing expert clinical leadership, advice, coaching and mentorship.
• The Community Manager will act as a key link between community services, internal hospice teams and external partners to support integrated care pathways and seamless transitions of care.
• The post holder will contribute to service development, quality improvement, audit activity and change management, while championing compassionate leadership, staff wellbeing and continuous improvement in line with the values and vision of Dougie Mac.

About us:

Dougie Mac provides compassionate care and support for adults, young adults, and children with life-limiting conditions across Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. As a values-driven organisation, we strive to deliver high-quality, person-led, and inclusive care across our inpatient, community, and supportive care services. Following our merger with Approach Dementia Support and expansion into children and young adult services, Dougie Mac now supports more people than ever before across all age groups and diagnoses. Our team is made up of dedicated, skilled professionals who are committed to delivering responsive and meaningful care in line with our hospice values. We offer a collaborative working environment with access to professional development, reflective practice, and staff wellbeing support. Dougie Mac is proud to be a financially independent local charity, offering a competitive salary and benefits package including generous annual leave, contributory pension scheme, funded study opportunities, hospice-paid healthcare cash plan, and free on-site parking.

Details:

• Date posted: 18 February 2026
• Pay scheme: Other
• Salary: £40,000 a year
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time
• Reference number: DMH1178166
• Job locations: Dougie Mac, Barlaston Road, Stoke on Trent ST3 3NZ

Principal Duties & Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the HART and HAH Teams ensuring a high quality of care is maintained to patients and their families and by being a visible presence.
• Be accountable for the operational delivery of the Adviceline and Rapid Response service, including performance against agreed KPIs.
• Provide effective leadership and act as an ambassador for best practice and with honesty and integrity.
• Provide professional clinical expertise to all clinical staff; providing advice, coaching and mentorship.
• Responsible for ensuring the appropriate and equitable allocation of work and resources, including the rotas, ensuring appropriate skill mix and agreed staff to patient ratio, annual leave, study leave monitoring, sickness and absence in the workplace, or delegate as appropriate.
• Provide day to day support to the Care Home Senior Health Care Support Worker, ensuring that any changes or escalation in patient needs are identified and appropriately addressed.
• Oversee the line management of the staff, conducting and ensuring effective and timely performance management (including competence) of individual staff members in line with the hospice's policy.
• To work with the Head of Community and Dementia Services in the timely investigation and developing reports (with conclusions/recommendations) following incidents and complaints.
• Support the Head of Community and Dementia Services with recruitment.
• Participate, contribute, and lead as required, in multi professional meetings, acting as the patients' advocate and representing nursing.
• Maintain effective clear communication systems to keep staff informed and facilitate and encourage two-way communication.
• Ensure compliance with CQC standards, safeguarding requirements, and organisational policies.
• Be an effective change agent.
• Lead and contribute to audits, service evaluations, and quality improvement initiatives.
• Takes professional responsibility for ensuring effective communication between all service providers across the care pathway.
• Act as Designated Safeguarding Lead, champion safeguarding to ensure it remains visible, prioritised, and consistently applied in all aspects of care.
• To recognise and manage the potentially distressing effects of working with terminal illness, maintaining personal resilience while accessing the support, guidance, and resources available through the hospice.

Clinical Service:

• Provide expert clinical leadership and advice to Community Teams. HART and HAH staff and the wider community service.
• To manage unplanned activity ensuring that this can be supported on a day-to-day basis.
• To ensure the appropriate, timely and effective triage, support and discharge of patients.
• Ensure holistic assessment of patients physical, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual needs.
• To work within a team framework, collaborating with colleagues and members of other disciplines.
• To use a proactive and sensitive approach with patients and relatives to enable involvement in advance care planning.
• To ensure provision of appropriate nursing interventions.
• To follow the hospice and Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) standards on Medicines Management.
• To liaise and communicate professionally with colleagues within the multidisciplinary team.
• To foster positive working relations with other healthcare professionals and lead by example.
• As required, attend, and contribute to the writing of clinical policies and be an active member of clinical working groups.

Development:

• To ensure personal and team compliance with hospice compulsory training requirements.
• Responsible for identifying training and education needs for HART and HAH staff in line with service provision with the providing facilitation and support in their development.
• To ensure and assist in orientation of new colleagues.
• To ensure mentoring of colleagues and student nurses is delivered to a high standard.
• To keep abreast of advances in nursing practice and research and take responsibility for your personal continuous professional development and registration.
• Through the ongoing professional development process, to plan your continuing professional and self-development, attending in-house study days and courses as appropriate.
• To support the delivery of supervision, debriefing and reflective practice sessions.
• To promote and engage staff in new ways of working, such as the use of technology.
• To participate in and contribute to the ongoing educational programme of the Hospice.
• Promote a positive, supportive working environment that prioritises staff wellbeing and resilience.

Person Specification:

• Qualifications:
• Essential: Registered Nurse or Registered Paramedic.
• Ability to travel independently throughout the locality with access to suitable vehicle for business purposes.
• Minimum of 18 months working as a Team leader or in another equivalent senior role or proven leadership and people management experience.
• Desirable: Leadership and/or management qualification, Masters level of education or willingness to work towards, Independent Prescribing Qualification, Healthcare Assessment qualification, Advanced Communication Skills qualification or willingness to undertake.

• Experience:
• Essential: 5 years post registration experience, proven experience and knowledge of palliative/terminal care, understanding of the external influences that affect the delivery of palliative care in the community, ability to supervise, support and manage and lead a team, strong clinical assessment and decision-making skills, experience in audit processes, experience of mentoring and/or coaching staff, experience of working collaboratively with external partners.
• Desirable: Experience in performance management and managing conflict, experience of managing people through change, experience in managing triage and providing advice line support, experience of managing KPIs and complex service delivery models.

• Additional Criteria:
• Essential: IT skills including Microsoft Office Suite, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, ability to work with a multi-disciplinary team, knowledge of evidencing the use of clinical guidelines, knowledge of clinical governance, quality improvement, and risk management and CQC requirement, knowledge and awareness of Safeguarding principles, legislation and guidelines, ability to adapt to change, ability to motivate others, experience of dealing with complex and/or sensitive information and unpredictable situations, leadership skills, ability to use own initiative and sound judgement to make decisions, flexible working to meet shift requirements, present a professional appearance appropriate to the role.
• Desirable: Teaching commitment, good understanding of HR processes, ability to exercise initiative for service improvement.

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 to check for any previous criminal convictions. Applicants must have current UK professional registration.