Divisional Director of Nursing - Community Services in Knowsley

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Divisional Director of Nursing - Community Services

NHS AfC: Band 8d

Main area Nursing & Midwifery Grade NHS AfC: Band 8d Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 409-S8187123-A

Site Whiston Hospital Town Prescot Salary £94,356 - £108,814 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 12/08/2026 23:59 Interview date 11/09/2026

Job overview

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.

Main duties of the job

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

Working for our organisation

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

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

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.

Person specification

Values

• We are kind
• We are open
• We are inclusive

Qualifications

• First level registered Nurse
• Specific Community Nursing qualification / experience
• Evidence of continuous professional development in current and previous roles
• Post graduate Leadership qualification or relevant experience

Knowledge & Experience

• Substantial experience at senior nurse level in community setting is essential
• Excellent awareness of and experience of clinical governance, patient safety, patient experience and clinical quality. X A/I
• Experience of managing and motivating professional teams in clinically focused environments
• Experience of delivering organisational change in a complex environment
• Extensive experience of working at senior leadership level in a community and place / system environment
• Experience of leading organisational / service changes to deliver improvement
• Proven ability to achieve targets and objectives within a pressured environment against challenging deadlines
• Substantial experience of working at a senior level in a large complex organisation / system in the NHS or other industry leading on digital, IT and information services
• Evidence of further relevant training e.g., National Performance metrics and their calculation methodologies which ensures Trust meets its legal reporting and recording requirement
• Can demonstrate excellent leadership and engagement skills including the ability to inspire, motivate and innovate
• Experience of managing budgets and delivering year-on-year cost improvement programmes supported by quality impact assessments
• Experience of managing large teams in a matrix structure
• Excellent practical understanding of national standards and best practice in NHS complaints management and experience of working with service users
• An in depth understanding of the statutory framework governing nurses and midwives and care givers.
• Identifying and leading the development of business plans and service objectives.
• A proven record of building partnerships and alliances both internal and external to the organisation
• Excellent practical understanding of national standards and best practice in community services
• Proven management experience in Senior Nursing or AHP’s within a provider organisation. Sub board experience desirable
• Demonstrate leadership skills in nursing & AHP’s.
• A wide knowledge and understanding of the political context, policy environment and financial regime in which a Trust operates.
• Extensive knowledge of compliance framework and code of governance and understanding of the Care Quality Commission requirements.
• Evidence of leading innovative practice/service changes
• Effective written and oral communication skills

Skills

• Experience of managing and developing individuals and senior nurses & AHP’s
• Proven track record of service development
• Strong professional knowledge base
• Ability to act autonomously and to elevate issues appropriately
• Ability to analyse complex information and use judgement to make difficult decisions
• Able to write board level reports and external reports to a high standard
• Ability to act as a role model, encouraging others to value and respect staff with exemplary personal standards of conduct and behaviour
• A decisive and visible leader able to motivate and inspire others.

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.
Certificate of Sponsorship

eVisa Update
For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.
Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.
Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:

• Understand how to generate an eVisa share code

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

You will be expected to undertake the Trusts' commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .

An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

Name Sarah OBrien Job title Chief Nursing Officer Email address Sarah.OBrien2@MerseyWestLancs.nhs.uk Telephone number 0151 430 1371 Additional information

If you are interested in applying for the post, please contact Sarah O’Brien, Chief Nursing Officer on 0151 430 1371.