Job summary
(Fulltime or Parttime Salary dependent on skills and experience- up to £72k)

Barnsley Healthcare Federation is seeking an exceptional Chief Nurse to provide senior professional leadership across nursing, quality, safeguarding, and patient experience. This is a pivotal executive role, shaping the strategic direction of clinical governance and ensuring the delivery of safe, high quality care for our communities.

Main duties of the job
About the Role
As our most senior nursing leader, the Chief Nurse will:

• Provide executive leadership for nursing, quality, safeguarding, and patient experience.
• Lead the development and delivery of clinical and quality strategies aligned with national policy and regulatory requirements.
• Act as Executive Lead for Quality, Patient Safety, Safeguarding, and Infection Prevention & Control.
• Ensure robust clinical governance, risk management, incident reporting, and continuous improvement.
• Offer visible professional leadership to nursing and clinical teams across all sites.
• Support workforce planning, recruitment, retention, and professional development.
• Provide expert clinical advice to the Board and executive leadership team.
• Undertake a defined level of clinical practice to maintain professional credibility and support frontline teams- 3 sessions per week.
• Part time considered for those who dont wish to undertake clinical sessions in primary care.

About us
Barnsley Healthcare Federation has been delivering innovative primary care services for more than 10 years. Operating from our award-winning, purpose-built Priory Campus, we are a thriving, forward-thinking organisation committed to improving healthcare across Barnsley.

Our diverse portfolio includes:

• Delivery of the GP Out of Hours service for Barnsley.
• Management of four GP practices.
• Holding the single Barnsley-wide Primary Care Network (PCN) contract.
• Operating our own successful training and facilities management companies.

We are proud of our collaborative culture, strong clinical leadership, and commitment to innovation, quality, and continuous improvement.

Details
Date posted: 16 July 2026
Pay scheme: Other
Salary: Depending on experience
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: B0243-26-0037
Job locations: B H F Priory Centre, Pontefract Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S71 5PN, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
Clinical Responsibilities and Patient Experience

• Accountable for the Clinical direction of BHF taking the lead in preparing the organisation for inspection and audit
• As the Safeguarding Lead for BHF, you will lead on all aspects of the adult and child safeguarding agenda maintaining clinical/professional competence and credibility across the service including supporting Health care professional on matters which can be complex, emotive or sensitive and working in partnership with other organisations Safeguarding Professionals to ensure that all safeguarding statutory requirements are met
• Be accountable together with the Medical Director for medicine management and provide processes for all colleagues to support better and more cost-effective prescribing, as well as helping patients to manage medications better.
• Support the Medical Director to reduce the likelihood of medication errors and patient harm.
• Act as Clinical Lead for vaccination services, supporting both the wider team and the national booster agenda.
• To monitor Federation performance against activity plans, standards, targets and budgets and intervene and take corrective action where appropriate.
• To put in place and review plans for managing increased demands in practices across the Federation affecting the nursing workforce in demand e.g. during winter.
• Contribute to the corporate management and strategic development of the Federation which will include developing and managing care programmes as appropriate introducing new services
• Lead on public and patient engagement and experience, developing a culture where this is valued and fostered across all specialities and disciplines; ensure Friends and Family data is collated and reported to the Board.
• To promote the delivery of effective strategies and action for the recruitment and retention of nursing staff, management and reduction of sickness absence, continuous professional development and minimisation of agency usage.
• Be the Caldicott Guardian for the organisation ensuring that the personal information about those who use its services is legally and ethically maintained, always ensuring confidentiality.
• To advise, support and provide information to the Board and senior management teams on the quality and safety of care relating to nursing.

Leadership, Management and Administration

• Provide strong and visible leadership to the workforce and wider community and promote openness and involvement of stakeholders in all areas of the Federation.
• To monitor nursing resources for effective and efficient deployment.
• Responsible for promoting professional standards and development of those standards. Managing staff and holding individuals to account, in line with Federation policies. This includes ensuring effective two way communications and continuous staff development through the Federations Personal Development Review process.
• To contribute and where appropriate provide advice, guidance, information, training and support to BHF at all levels, in relation to Emergency Planning/Resilience/Business Continuity matters, covering all the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) ensuring operational coordination of immediate response
• Accountable for the Organisations compliments and complaints procedures and processes
• To practice and promote effective two way communication and involve the board and federation members in the planning and review of new services.
• To support student nurses on their placements, liaising with both the clinical and admin team to support the nurses in their development

Clinical Governance

• Ensure that effective quality governance systems and structures are in place to ensure the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality healthcare.
• Ensure there are systems in place to monitor and continually improve standards of care and meet legal and NHS requirements.
• Maximise the contribution of all colleagues and in particular front line colleagues in the development and implementation of the quality governance agenda.
• Promote a culture where quality governance and risk management are everyones responsibility.
• Ensure Serious Incident (SI) process is followed amongst staff, ensuring good practice in investigations to ensure high quality learning and visibility of the themes and action taken.
• Use benchmarking tools and techniques to identify best practices from the wider health community and their relevant application locally.
• Drive service improvement by encouraging learning from benchmarking surveys.
• Lead and promote the implementation of changes and improvements to practice and systems in support of the national patient safety and complaints agenda.
• Ensure delivery of a robust risk management system that identifies risk and manages it accordingly.

Organisational Development

• To ensure the visibility of senior management throughout regular presence and other means of communication.
• To promote the integration services across sites, ensuring that effective team working is encouraged, and service viability is maximised.
• To ensure that the incentives driving behaviours and activities within BHF are aligned with the corporate strategy and agreed objectives.
• To establish mechanisms that facilitate open discussion leading to sound, co-ordinated operational management of all areas within BHF CIC
• To lead and support, in conjunction with other SMT members the development of management skills and capabilities throughout the organisation.
• To contribute to the embedding of Just Culture
• To act as a Nurse Ambassador and contribute to the wider health and organisational agenda in the region and as appropriate.

Infection Prevention and Control

• Provide assurance to the Board that Infection Prevention and Control policies are fit for purposes and ensure effective systems for the prevention and control of infection are embedded across the organisation and audited.
• Act as the focal point for integrating prevention and control of infection within the Local clinical governance/patient safety systems.
• Ensure that the protection of patients from infection received the highest priority across the BHF CIC
• Ensure that the Board and SMT are aware of issues concerning the prevention and control of infection and that these are considered when corporate decisions are taken.
• Lead the development and oversee the implementation of BHF annual prevention and control of infection annual audit programme.
• Produce an annual report on the state of healthcare associated infection in BHF CIC and act as an ambassador for infection prevention and control at a local level
• Oversee infection control policies and their implementation.

Quality

• The post holder will strive to maintain quality within the Federation and will
• Act as a BHF CIC Lead with Medical Director for Quality Agenda.
• Work with the Chair / Chief Operating Officer / Medical Director ensuring mechanisms are in place for the production of an annual quality update.
• As a lead for Quality, ensure that there are mechanisms in place across the organisation for improving the Patient Experience.
• Alert other team members to issues of Clinical Governance, quality and risk and participate in Significant Event Analysis reviews
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and teams activities and make suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.

Any other delegated duties considered appropriate to the post. This job description is not meant to be exhaustive and simply gives a broad outline of the duties involved. The post holder will be expected to take on other duties and responsibilities in accordance with the salary. This job description is subject to review and amendment in consultation with the post holder in order to reflect any changes/development of this position.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Current NMC registration as a Registered Nurse.
• Masters degree or equivalent senior level experience.

Experience
Essential

• Extensive senior nursing leadership experience
• Strong background in clinical governance, quality improvement, and regulatory compliance.
• In depth knowledge of safeguarding, IPC, NHS policy, and professional standards.
• Highly developed leadership, communication, negotiation, and analytical skills.
• Ability to lead through complexity, change, and challenging clinical environments.
• Emotional intelligence, resilience, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

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: Barnsley Healthcare Federation
Address: B H F Priory Centre, Pontefract Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S71 5PN, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://barnsleyhealthcarefederation.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Chair
Dr Ghani
mehrban.ghani@nhs.net