Deputy Divisional Director of Nursing- Children's Neonates

TThe Deputy Divisional Director of Nursing is a key member of the Divisional Leadership team who will support (and deputise for) the DDoN in the leadership of the nursing and AHP body. The Deputy will inspire and develop the Nursing and AHP workforce within the Division and across the Trust to deliver high quality, patient centred clinical care that meets the needs of the patient using highly specialist knowledge and experience. The post holder will be clinically accountable for the clinical service(s) within the Division. The postholder in partnership with the Divisional leadership team and Care Group teams, play an integral role in the development and implementation of both Divisional and Trust strategy, with particular focus on quality improvement, patient and staff experience and clinical safety. The post holder will motivate and empower the Nursing, Midwifery and AHP workforce working collectively with the Senior Nursing Leadership team. The post holder will also have delegated budget management responsibility.

The Deputy Director of Nursing will support the Divisional Director of Nursing (DDoN) to help lead and manage the nurses and ACP's across all settings within the division, specifically in the Paediatric & Neonatal Care Group and Clinical Support Services. The Deputy will work under the supervision of the Divisional Director of Nursing and in partnership with the Care Group Managers and Clinical Directors and Leads to provide strong and effective leadership to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of services to clinical users and patients. The post holder will have direct line management of the Matrons and CNS's/ANP's/AHP's under their structure. They will provide leadership to these individuals ensuring processes are in place to set objectives, monitor performance and agree, review and deliver personal development needs. The Deputy Divisional Director of Nursing will deputise when required for the Divisional Director of Nursing in day to day activity, to provide a high level of professional, operational and clinical leadership across the Division and wider Trust.

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is an integrated Trust and the only provider of NHS acute care in Walsall, serving a population of 284,300, providing inpatient and outpatient services at the Manor Hospital as well as a wide range of services in the community. Walsall Manor houses the full range of district general hospital services under one roof. The £170 million development was completed in 2010 and the continued upgrading of existing areas ensures the Trust now has a state-of-the-art Critical Care Unit, Neonatal Unit, Obstetric Theatre, and Integrated Assessment Unit facilities.

A new Urgent Emergency Care Centre was opened in March 2023. The two-storey development has significantly improved emergency care facilities and capacity and has provided almost 5,000 square metres of additional clinical space.

The Deputy Divisional Director of Nursing will support the Divisional Director of Nursing (DDoN) to help lead and manage the nurses, AHP's/ACP's across all settings within the division. The Deputy will work under the supervision of the Divisional Director of Nursing. They will provide leadership to the individuals who they line manage, ensuring processes are in place to set objectives, monitor performance and agree, review and deliver personal development needs. The Deputy Divisional Director of Nursing will deputise when required for the Divisional Director of Nursing in day to day activity, to provide a high level of professional, operational and clinical leadership across the Division and wider Trust.

• Provide clinical leadership, ensuring a professional, visible role model to all nursing and AHP/ACP staff in the Division.
• Create a learning environment including being visible and accessible to both patients and staff in clinical areas.
• Provide professional advice within the Division and undertake the Trust wide on Call Manager rota.
• Ensure that nursing and midwifery practice is delivered in a manner consistent with the NMC Code of Professional Conduct, the NMC 'Scope of Professional Practice', HCPC and other Royal College standards.
• Promote a culture that supports the involvement of patient and carers in actively seeking their views and experiences of services provided in the planning, delivery and evaluation of their care.
• Provide the clinical leadership for nursing and develop an overarching mechanism for sharing learning across the professions which supports all aspects of clinical governance within the Division.
• Monitor retention rates and recruitment of nursing and clinical support staff, supporting Trust recruitment programmes.
• Demonstrate highly skilled leadership skills and develop clinical leadership in others and facilitate effective succession planning.
• Ensure all areas act on and learn from patient, carer and family feedback.
• Provide Clinical leadership to service development projects within the Division.
• Ensure a robust system is in place to ensure all nursing / clinical staff have had access to mentorship and clinical supervision as a means of improving quality of care.
• Through visible clinical leadership, influence positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Enabling individuals, groups and agencies to work in partnership for the benefit of the patient and system.
• provide expert clinical advice and judgement.
• Deputise for the Divisional Director of Nursing as required.
• Participate in and lead performance quality and safety review programmes throughout the clinical areas ensuring care is delivered by appropriately skilled and competent staff e.g. Nursing Quality and Safety metrics, Infection Control KPIs.
• To act as a key member of the Divisional senior management team in being accountable, implementing and maintaining clinical governance and risk management, including evidence of compliance with the Care Quality Commission regulations.
• Working in partnership with the divisional team to ensure effective processes are in place that enable a thorough investigation of all accidents, complaints and untoward incidents with appropriate follow-up action and learning identified, implemented and where relevant subsequently audited.
• Monitor retention rates of nursing/AHP staff supporting ward or departmental manager's local recruitment programmes.
• Support the Director of Nursing in undertaking bi-annual skill mix reviews across the Division with individual ward/departmental managers and ensure these are incorporated in the Annual Planning process as part of service provision and development.
• Ensure that specialties and departments benefit from the application of effective HR policies, procedures and practices for all staff, e.g. recruitment and selection, employee relations, absence management.
• Liaise with the Divisional Finance Partner and Information Analyst to gather both financial and activity data as required for budget planning, clinical activity and performance management purposes.
• To act as an investigating officer when appropriate for complaints; serious incidents or safeguarding adult investigations.
• Develop business plans as appropriate to secure financial resources for developments in service in collaboration with the DDoN, Divisional Director of Operations and Divisional Director.
• Enable people to exercise their rights and actively promote their equality and diversity while embedding a culture of inclusion, equality and diversity, reflecting the best interests of patients, public and staff.
• Proactively ensure the culture within the Division supports staff engagement and devolved decision making at the point closest to the patients so it contributes to the overall Trust culture.
• Supports and actively leads on the Divisional response to the annual staff survey, to ensure issues arising from the Survey are proactively and effectively addressed within the Division.
• Support the development of, interpretation and implementation of national and local policy relevant to the Walsall Healthcare nursing agenda.
• Work as an effective change leader on specific nursing practice improvement/transformational projects at Divisional and Trust wide level.
• Support the DDoN to implement the Trust quality strategy and ensure it is embedded within the Division with clear reporting and performance assurance frameworks.
• Supports the Divisional triumvirate to develop and embed strategic annual plans and objectives to make progress towards realizing the Trust's long term vision/ambitions.
• Work collaboratively with the quality governance team to ensure that learning from events and incidents are translated into learning across all clinical areas in the Division.
• Support Senior Ward/Departmental Managers and Matrons with the development, implementation and monitoring of action plans to improve the quality of care.
• To support the implementation of cost savings schemes, through service and productivity improvement whilst maintaining quality standards.
• Contribute effectively to the Trust financial strategies and plans, maximising opportunities to develop services in support of the national agenda.
• Identify opportunities for change that will improve or assist the development of clinical practice and which leads to improvements in quality and efficiency within the division.
• Develop and implement systems to monitor and control expenditure and investigate any areas of overspend and take prompt corrective action.
• Link with nursing, midwifery, health professional staff, medical, multi-disciplinary team, both internal and external to the Division. Act as Trust-wide representative and as an ambassador of the Trust as appropriate.
• Utilise all forms of communication including verbal, written, electronic, e-mail, formal and informal meetings, taking minutes as required, and ensure effective communication of local, Trust and National information or guidance to all nursing teams, interpreting new information in ways that can be implemented into clinical practice.
• Maintain and handle highly confidential patient and staff information, record keeping, creating and maintaining effective storage system of staff records.
• Communicate highly sensitive and highly complex information to colleagues and external parties.
• Ensure that all direct reports are supported and supervised, that each has appraisals and individual objectives link to corporate issues.
• Ensure that Divisional appraisal compliance includes personal development plans.
• Act as a professional resource for the nursing workforce in order to ensure a high quality learning environment is achieved.
• Work with education providers and the training and development team with regard to the pre and post registration programmes and curriculum content that is required.
• Support the development and delivery of adequate and appropriate mandatory training for all trust staff.
• Support the development of new roles and a blended clinical team to deliver clinical care of the highest standards.
• Support the DDoN in managing & compiling the education demand forecast for the Division.
• Participate in the development and implementation of a workforce plan for the Division, maintain safe staffing and ensure a robust recruitment and retention plan.
• Undertake relevant research and development activity within and external to Division; ensure the engagement of all nurses and allied health professionals.
• Develop nursing practice and services in line with the Trusts strategic objectives, national guidance and local service development plans.
• Make a corporate contribution to the nursing, clinical practice development and strategic decision making within the Division and as a member of the wider trust senior nursing team.
• Develop approaches for the utilisation of best practice and research evidence, which supports nursing and improves patient experience.
• Ensure that nursing policies, protocols and procedures are up to date and based upon the best available evidence.
• Foster an awareness of nursing and AHP research and assist in the development of a nursing research culture.