Job summary
Are you an experienced clinical leader looking for an opportunity to shape the future of community-based urgent and acute care? We are looking for an experienced Clinical Service Manager to provide strategic, operational and clinical leadership across our Swale Virtual Ward and Urgent Community Response services. This is an influential role with the opportunity to lead services that help prevent avoidable hospital admissions, support earlier discharge and enable more people to receive high-quality care within their usual place of residence.

You will take responsibility for the safe and effective day-to-day delivery of both services while also looking ahead, developing pathways, building partnerships and identifying opportunities to transform how care is delivered. Leading a multidisciplinary workforce including Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Registered Nurses and Healthcare Assistants, you will create an environment where colleagues are supported to develop, innovation is encouraged and patient safety and quality remain at the centre of decision-making.

You will not be working in isolation. Collaboration is fundamental to this position. You will build strong relationships across primary care, ambulance services, acute and community services, Adult Social Care and other system partners to ensure patients can move seamlessly between services and receive the right care at the right time.

Main duties of the job
As a Clinical Service Manager, you will oversee strategic, operational, and clinical leadership for our Virtual Ward and Urgent Community Response services in Swale. In this senior leadership role, you will lead a multidisciplinary team, including Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Registered Nurses, and Healthcare Assistants, ensuring high-quality care is delivered close to home. Responsibilities include driving the development of community pathways, facilitating seamless patient pathways, monitoring service performance, and maintaining effective clinical governance and quality assurance. Your role will include workforce planning, budget management, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. Collaboration is key, requiring building partnerships across health and social care systems. You will be pivotal in transforming service delivery, with a focus on admission avoidance and improving patient outcomes. A full UK driving licence and car access are essential due to travel requirements across service areas.

Package Description
As our Clinical Service Manager for Virtual Ward and Clinical Lead for Urgent Community Response (UCR) Nursing in Swale, you will have the opportunity to lead and shape services that are at the heart of delivering more care closer to home.

This is a key senior leadership position with responsibility for the clinical, operational and strategic delivery of our Virtual Ward and UCR services. You will lead multidisciplinary teams, develop integrated pathways and work closely with partners across health and social care to deliver safe, responsive and high-quality services for our patients.

You will feel valued within HCRG Care Group, receiving access to exclusive rewards and benefits including:

• Band 8a salary with NHS Pension and full Agenda for Change terms and conditions
• Membership of My Reward Hub, giving you access to discounts on everyday purchases, as well as cashback and voucher offers
• Access to your wages as you earn them to help cover life's emergencies and avoid overdraft fees or high interest rates
• Online and face-to-face support with your mental and physical wellbeing, including career coaching and counselling
• Access to eLearning, bespoke career pathways and opportunities for continuing professional development through our Outstanding learning and development team, The Learning Enterprise
• An open, just culture where you are encouraged to have and implement ideas that can help us deliver our purpose: changing lives through transforming health and care
• The opportunity to have a genuine influence on the development of community-based urgent care and Virtual Ward services

Main Responsibilities
As Clinical Service Manager, you will:

• Provide visible strategic, operational and clinical leadership across the Virtual Ward and UCR services
• Lead and develop multidisciplinary teams, including Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Registered Nurses and Healthcare Assistants
• Maintain oversight of safe, effective and responsive day-to-day service delivery
• Drive the development of community pathways that support admission avoidance, early supported discharge and care closer to home
• Lead the continued development and integration of Virtual Ward, UCR and frailty pathways
• Work collaboratively with acute hospitals, Primary Care, ambulance services, community teams, Adult Social Care and other partners to create seamless patient pathways
• Monitor service performance, patient outcomes and experience, identifying opportunities for improvement
• Maintain effective clinical governance, risk management and quality assurance across the services
• Lead and support investigations relating to incidents, complaints and safeguarding concerns, ensuring learning is translated into improvements
• Drive continuous quality improvement and support the implementation of evidence-based practice
• Lead workforce planning, recruitment, retention and succession planning, developing a skilled and sustainable workforce
• Provide professional leadership, coaching and support to senior clinicians and the wider multidisciplinary team
• Manage delegated budgets and ensure resources are used effectively to deliver high-quality, sustainable services
• Balance strategic service development with the demands of a fast-paced operational environment
• Develop and maintain positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders, influencing across organisational and professional boundaries
• Champion innovation and transformation while maintaining patient safety, clinical quality and a positive experience for patients and colleagues

The Ideal Candidate
You will be an experienced and credible clinical leader who can bring together clinical expertise, operational management and strategic thinking.

You will be comfortable leading complex services and multidisciplinary teams while building strong relationships across organisational boundaries. You will understand the pressures facing urgent and community care and be passionate about developing services that enable more people to receive safe, effective care closer to home.

You will have:

• Professional registration as a Registered Healthcare Professional with the NMC, HCPC or equivalent
• A relevant Masters degree or equivalent demonstrable experience
• An Advanced Clinical Practice qualification
• Independent Non-Medical Prescribing qualification where applicable to your professional registration
• Leadership or management training, or significant equivalent leadership experience
• Significant senior leadership and operational management experience within community, urgent care, Virtual Ward, intermediate care, integrated care or a comparable healthcare service
• Substantial post-registration experience, including experience operating at Band 7 level or equivalent in a supervisory or management capacity
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams across professional and organisational boundaries
• Experience delivering service redesign, transformation and complex change
• Strong experience of clinical governance, risk management, safeguarding, quality improvement and incident investigation
• Experience of workforce planning, resource allocation and budget management
• Experience developing integrated pathways across health and social care
• Strong stakeholder-management, influencing and partnership-working skills
• Excellent analytical, decision-making and problem-solving skills
• The ability to manage competing operational and strategic priorities within a complex and fast-moving environment
• The ability to develop, motivate and support high-performing teams
• Strong digital skills and experience using electronic patient records and healthcare systems

You will be a credible, approachable and resilient leader who is comfortable making decisions, influencing change and bringing people together around a shared vision.

Above all, you will share our commitment to delivering high-quality, patient-centred care and be motivated by the opportunity to develop services that reduce avoidable hospital admissions, improve patient flow and enable more people to receive the care they need closer to home.

A full UK driving licence and access to a car are required, as the role involves travel across the service locality and wider health and care system.

Questions about the role? Feel free to reach out to Sam on +44 78846 59420 or sam.wright@hcrgcaregroup.com.

Qualifications
Essential

• Professional registration as a Registered Healthcare Professional with the NMC, HCPC or equivalent; A relevant Masters degree or equivalent demonstrable experience; An Advanced Clinical Practice qualification; Independent Non-Medical Prescribing qualification where applicable to your professional registration; Leadership or management training, or significant equivalent leadership experience.

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.

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Recruitment Team, HCRG Care Group, ask.hr@hcrgcaregroup.com

Closing date: 22 November 2026

HCRG Care Group's privacy notice is available on their website.