About this role
Job summary
Clinical Lead (Band 7)
Hours: Permanent - 30 hours per week (4 days a week) Weekdays with some weekend work if required.Location: Onsite - Helen House, OxfordSalary: HDH Band 7 £51,370 - £58,628 per annum (pro rata)Closing date: 18th August 2026 at 12 noonInterview date: 1st September 2026Inspire. Make Every Moment Count.
At Helen & Douglas House, we believe every child, young person and family deserves exceptional care, compassion and support.
We are looking for an experienced and motivated Clinical Lead to join our dedicated team and help shape the future of children's palliative care. This is an exciting opportunity for a registered healthcare professional who is passionate about delivering outstanding care whilst providing visible clinical and operational leadership across our hospice services. Working closely with the Head of Care, multidisciplinary colleagues and external partners, you will play a key role in ensuring children, young people and their families receive safe, effective and compassionate care. You will also help lead service development, quality improvement, workforce planning and clinical governance activities across the organisation.
Main duties of the job
This unique leadership role combines approximately 50% clinical practice and 50% leadership, management and service development responsibilities, ensuring you remain closely connected to frontline care whilst influencing and developing services at a strategic level.
As a Clinical Lead, you will
Provide visible clinical, professional and operational leadership to nurses, clinical support workers and allied health professionals.Lead and support the delivery of safe, effective and responsive hospice services.Champion excellence in clinical governance, quality improvement and patient safety.Support workforce development, supervision, education and staff wellbeing.Deputise for the Head of Care when required.Maintain a regular clinical presence, delivering direct care to children and young people with complex and life-limiting conditions.Work collaboratively across inpatient, community and multidisciplinary services to ensure joined-up care for families.
About us
Why Join Helen & Douglas House?
We are the world's first children's hospice and remain at the forefront of children's palliative care. Joining our team means becoming part of a supportive, innovative and values-driven organisation where you can genuinely make a difference.
Interested?
If you are an experienced clinician ready to take the next step in your leadership journey and help deliver exceptional palliative care, we'd love to hear from you.
Applications will be reviewed and invited to interview as received. We reserve the right to close the advert at any time, therefore weencourageapplicants to apply as soon as possible.
Please note that everyone working for Helen & Douglas House are required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service check. Helen & Douglas House is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are an equal opportunities employer and value the benefits of a diverse workforce. We positively encourage applications from all areas of the community.
Please contact [email protected] if you require any adjustments during the recruitment process.
Job description Job responsibilities
Summary of the Roles Main Purpose:
As a Clinical Lead, you will provide visible professional, clinical and operational leadership to Nurses, Clinical Support Workers and allied health professionals delivering specialist palliative care to children and young people at Helen & Douglas House.
The role comprises approximately 50% clinical practice and 50% operational, leadership and management responsibilities, ensuring a strong connection between frontline care delivery and service leadership.
You will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care while leading clinical governance, quality improvement, workforce development and service improvement initiatives across the service. You will work collaboratively with multidisciplinary colleagues and external partners to ensure care is responsive to the needs of children, young people and their families. Acting as a clinical expert and professional role model, you will support the development of staff, promote evidence-based practice and contribute to the strategic development of clinical services. You will deputise for the Head of Care and maintain a regular clinical presence, providing direct patient care alongside your management, leadership and governance responsibilities.
Please see the supporting documents for the full job description.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Nursing degree or equivalent professional qualification. Nurse on the Nursing and Midwifery Council Register.
Desirable
Registered Childrens Nurse/ Child Branch. Learning Disability Nurse. Teaching and Assessing qualification. Leadership or management qualification. Quality Improvement qualification/training. Coaching or mentoring qualification.
Experience Essential
Significant experience working in a childrens clinical setting. Considerable experience in line management of clinical staff including (but not exclusively), objective settings, appraisals, development plans, probation, and performance management. Experience leading quality improvement initiatives and service developments. Experience analysing and utilising performance, workforce or quality data to drive service improvement. Experience managing clinical risk, incidents and governance processes. Demonstrable experience of leading teams through change and service transformation.
Desirable
Experience in caring for children in a palliative care setting. Experience of caring for children with complex medical needs. Experience of service development Understanding of wider issues in the delivery of Childrens palliative care.
Additional Criteria Essential
Excellent understanding of childrens needs including communication and wellbeing of the family. Ability to prioritise service workload and maintain quality care in times of pressure. Evidence of teaching / mentoring and coaching. Evidence of a range of clinical competencies appropriate to the role. Effective and proactive management of risk. Ability to influence and lead change across multidisciplinary teams. Ability to interpret and utilise clinical, operational and workforce data. Strong quality improvement and problem-solving skills. Ability to manage competing priorities across clinical, operational and strategic responsibilities. Excellent communication and partnership-working skills.
Desirable
Evidence of developing policies, protocols, and guidance.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check 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 (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Helen & Douglas House
Address 14a Magdalen Road
Oxford
Oxfordshire
OX4 1RW
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.helenanddouglas.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)