Lead Professional Practice & Development Nurse - INTERNAL in Wideopen

This is a Fixed Term/Secondment vacancy until 12/6/2026. If you are a Hywel Dda University Health Board employee and are applying for this post as a secondment, agreement for the secondment is needed from your current manager prior to application.

An opportunity for an 8 month secondment as The Lead Practice and Professional Development Nurse in the health board.

This role is within the Professional and Practice Development Team sitting within the wider Professional Standards Corporate Nursing team. The post holder will be responsible for coordinating and supporting nursing practice development initiatives and programmes across the health board as directed by the Lead Nurse in Professional Standards. They will work directly with Heads of Nursing and Senior Nurse Managers, developing creative and accessible work-based learning opportunities for nurses. They will have responsibility for leading improvement work on key nursing objectives. They will lead a Team of Quality Improvement Professional and Practice Development nurses based across the health board. The Professional Practice & Development Nurses are based on each acute site in the health board and the Lead nurse would oversee these. Therefore the successful candidate will be required to travel across the health board.

Interviews to be held on 27/8/2026.

Main duties of the job:

• Work autonomously as a specialist and accessible professional role model for nursing staff providing professional and practice development advice.
• Lead on creating an active learning culture for nurses, enhancing learning opportunities and encouraging staff to participate in learning initiatives.
• Lead on the development, delivery and evaluation of formal / informal teaching sessions as well as work-based learning programmes and devising and developing training programmes, to support the development of registered nurses and multi-disciplinary clinical teams.
• Lead on initiatives that result in changes in existing practice and systems of working that have been highlighted as needing change in line with national and professional nursing standards.
• Promote critical analysis of current evidence-based research encouraging staff to apply to nursing practice.
• Lead and manage the Quality Improvement Professional Practice and Development Team, signing off expenses and undertaking PADRs and regular reviews.
• Lead in the development and review of policies, procedures, care pathways, protocols in nursing.

Hywel Dda University Health Board plans and provides NHS healthcare services for people living in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, and bordering counties. We have over 13,000 staff and together we provide primary, community, in-hospital, mental health and learning disabilities services. We work in partnership with the three local authorities, as well as public, private and third sector colleagues, including our valued team of volunteers.

Our services are provided in four main hospitals: Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth; Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen; Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli; and Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest. Five community hospitals: Amman Valley and Llandovery hospitals in Carmarthenshire; Tregaron Hospital in Ceredigion; and Tenby and South Pembrokeshire hospitals in Pembrokeshire. Two integrated care centres: Aberaeron and Cardigan in Ceredigion, and several other community settings. 47 general practices (six of which are health board managed practices); dental practices (including four orthodontic); 99 community pharmacies; 43 general ophthalmic practices; and 8 ophthalmic domiciliary providers. Numerous mental health and learning disabilities services.

Hywel Dda University Health Board operates a bilingual policy. All applicants are invited to apply in Welsh; any application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application made in English.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR APPLICANTS: Applications for our roles are carefully reviewed and shortlisted based on specific criteria, which varies from job to job. Using a generic application to apply for multiple roles or relying on automated AI application services may not provide the necessary information, leading to your application being overlooked. To ensure your application is given full consideration, we recommend submitting a tailored application that directly addresses the criteria listed in the Person Specification section of the advert.

By submitting your application to NHS Jobs/Trac, you are giving your consent for elements of your application data to be transferred to the NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR) and other secure, internal NHS Workforce systems in order to support and manage your recruitment and employment within your employing organisation; to be used by Recruitment for purposes of checking your Professional Registration online (where applicable). These processes are in line with Fair and Lawful processing in line with current Data Protection Legislation.

If you are successfully appointed, by completing the application form you authorise the UHB to obtain any previous NHS service details including all electronically held sickness information, via the Inter Authority Transfer process on the national Electronic Staff Record (ESR).

To work in the UK, all candidates who are not UK or Republic of Ireland (RoI) nationals require sponsorship to obtain either a Health and Care visa or Skilled Worker visa, unless you have permission to work via another route. Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply should self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship by visiting Work in the UK. If you are eligible for the Health and Care visa, application costs are lower and you do not need to pay the annual Immigration Health Surcharge.