About this role
Job summary
This is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic, experienced and highly motivated Registered Children's Nurse to join our senior nursing leadership team as Matron for the Children's Emergency Department.
The Matron will provide visible, professional and operational nursing leadership, ensuring children, young people and their families receive safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality emergency care.
Working closely with the Head of Nursing, senior medical colleagues and the wider multidisciplinary team, the postholder will lead the day-to-day delivery of the Children's Emergency Department, with a strong focus on patient safety, safeguarding, clinical quality, workforce, patient flow, performance and experience.
We are looking for an experienced and credible clinical leader who can lead effectively within a busy and rapidly changing emergency care environment. You will provide oversight of staffing, clinical standards, governance and risk, ensuring learning from incidents, complaints and patient feedback drives continuous improvement.
This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Children's Nurse with strong leadership skills and a passion for developing high-quality paediatric emergency care.
Main duties of the job
The Children's Emergency Department Matron will provide visible, professional and operational nursing leadership, ensuring safe, effective and high-quality emergency care for children, young people and their families.
The postholder will lead the day-to-day management of the Children's Emergency Department, working closely with the Head of Nursing, senior medical colleagues, operational teams and the wider multidisciplinary team.
Key responsibilities include providing clinical leadership and professional oversight; ensuring safe staffing and an appropriately skilled workforce; supporting recruitment, retention and staff development; and effective management of resources.
The Matron will oversee patient safety, safeguarding, clinical governance, incidents, complaints, risks and quality improvement, ensuring learning is embedded into practice.
The role will support safe patient flow and operational performance, responding to increased demand and escalating risks appropriately. The Matron will monitor quality and performance, ensure compliance with professional and regulatory standards, and lead continuous improvement.
As a senior nursing leader, the postholder will promote a compassionate, inclusive and accountable culture, supporting staff to deliver excellent care and experience for children and their families.
About us
We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with fivehospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference'. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.
Please note that if you require a Certificate of Sponsorship to work in the UK you must declare this on your application form, even if you currently have a certificate of sponsorship or a work permit for another role and are already working in the country. Please note we are only able to sponsor candidates on a Skilled Worker Visa applying for roles Band 5 and above.
Job description Job responsibilities
Please scroll down to access the full Job Description and Person Specification located in Documents to download.
If you have further queries please dont hesitate to contact the line manager using the contact details below
Person Specification
Experience Essential
RN Child ENB 998/997 or equivalent Evidence of post registration education at degree level IT training at intermediate level eg EDLC or equivalent experience Leadership or management qualification EPALS/APLS
Desirable
Master's degree in a relevant clinical/leadership subject, equivalent level of knowledge and experience, or evidence of working towards Master's level study ATNC/ALS qualification
Skills Essential
Substantial post-registration experience in paediatric emergency/urgent care, including significant experience in a senior nursing leadership role at Band 7 or equivalent. Experience of working in partnership with multidisciplinary teams and across organisational/professional boundaries Demonstrable experience of leading and managing change and quality improvement within a clinical environment. Knowledge of current developments and national standards in paediatric urgent and emergency care. Experience of leading and developing a nursing workforce, including appraisal, recruitment, retention, performance and complex HR processes Experience of clinical governance, incident investigation, risk management, complaints and learning from patient safety events Experience of paediatric safeguarding leadership and application of safeguarding procedures in practice. Experience of workforce planning, safe staffing and effective use of temporary staffing Experience of budgetary/resource management and delivering services within available resources Ability to use data, audit, patient experience and performance information to identify variation, lead improvement and demonstrate impact
Desirable
Experience of contributing to research and audit programmes Experience of delivering presentations
Governance Essential
Comprehensive understanding of clinical governance, patient safety, risk assessment and quality improvement Clear and current understanding of safeguarding children and young people, including escalation and multi-agency working Ability to provide assurance through audit, outcome measures, incident learning and improvement data Understanding of the needs of children and young people presenting with mental health crisis and the interfaces with CAMHS and safeguarding services
Personal and Professional Attributes Essential
Ability to work independently and as part of a team Ability to effectively prioritise and organise own workload and workload of others Excellent oral and written communication skills Leadership skills
Other Requirements Essential
Flexible to meet service needs Able to work collaboratively across organisational and professional boundaries, recognising changes in circumstances and to incorporate them into practice. Ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines Demonstrates awareness of priorities, deals with workload, adapts to changing requirements, and uses initiative
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.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
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 East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
Address William Harvey Hospital
Kennington rd
Willesborough
TN24 0LZ
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.ekhuft.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/ (Opens in a new tab)