Job summary
Please note: at this stage, the role is open only to colleagues currently employed within Kent and Medway NHS Trusts, the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Medway Community Healthcare. Nursing vacancies are also open to Student Nurses and Newly Qualified Nurses.

Are you passionate about developing others and improving the quality of patient care? We are seeking an enthusiastic and motivated Practice Development Nurse to provide visible professional leadership and clinical education across our community hospital teams.

Working closely with matrons and operational leads, you will support both registered and non-registered nursing colleagues to develop, maintain and evidence clinical competence. You will play a key role in improving standards of care, strengthening patient safety, and embedding learning from incidents, complaints, audits and quality improvement initiatives.

As a clinically credible practitioner, you will maintain your own clinical skills while leading education and practice development across services throughout Kent. This varied role includes designing and delivering clinical education programmes, workshops, study days and simulation-based learning; supporting competency assessment; identifying learning needs; and developing training solutions that enable staff to provide safe, effective and evidence-based care.

Main duties of the job

• Provide visible professional nursing leadership across community hospital services, promoting high standards of clinical practice and patient care.
• Develop, coordinate and deliver high-quality clinical education programmes, workshops, study days and simulation-based learning activities.
• Support registered and non-registered nursing staff to develop, maintain and evidence clinical competence.
• Assess, monitor and provide assurance regarding staff competencies, skills development and professional practice standards.
• Identify clinical skills and knowledge gaps, designing and implementing appropriate learning and development solutions.
• Work collaboratively with matrons, operational leads and multidisciplinary teams to support clinical practice, leadership development and workforce capability.
• Facilitate learning from patient safety incidents, complaints, audits, supportive measures and quality improvement initiatives, ensuring lessons learned are embedded into practice.
• Support the delivery of safe, effective and evidence-based care through education, supervision and practice development activities.
• Promote a culture of continuous learning, reflective practice and professional development across community hospital teams.
• Contribute to the monitoring of patient safety, quality standards and improvement plans, supporting teams to achieve service objectives.

About us
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust is due to integrate with Medway Community Healthcare on 1 October 2026. Following integration and to align our community services to the new Neighbourhood Model of care delivery, there will be a period of consultation which may result in changes affecting some services, teams or roles. Depending on the area you are applying to work in, this could include potential changes to your role, work base, reporting arrangements, or terms and conditions of employment. Any changes would be subject to consultation and managed sensitively and in line with relevant employment processes. Please do contact the recruiting manager if you have any concerns about this so they can answer any questions you might have.

Rated 'Outstanding' by CQC, we deliver high-quality care that improves the health of our communities. We are looking for people who share our values: Compassionate, Aspirational, Responsive and Excellent.

We are proud to be an inclusive, welcoming organisation and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We use protected characteristic information for monitoring only and it is not seen by recruiting managers, except where applicants choose to be considered under our disability guaranteed interview scheme.

We know life outside work matters. As a flexible working-friendly organisation, we welcome conversations about arrangements that help you thrive while supporting excellent care for our patients.

Job responsibilities
As a community Trust, many of our roles require individuals to be able to drive to perform their duties. Where driving is a requirement of the role, you will be asked to confirm that you hold a full UK driving licence or a full driving licence issued by an EU country (not exchanged from a non-EU country) to proceed with your application. We are committed to supporting candidates with disabilities into employment. If you are unable to drive due to a disability, please contact the Recruitment Team via kentchft.recruitment@nhs.net, quoting the vacancy reference number, so we can support you further.

The job description and person specification gives you all the information you need about this role. Please look carefully at the criteria in the person specification and tell us what you have done that shows you meet this in your application. If you need an application form in an alternative format please let our recruitment team know. All information you supply on your application should, to the best of your knowledge, be true and accurate.

Still have questions? The recruiting manager would love to hear from you, their contact details can be found in the job advert.

We can get a lot of applications for some roles so to be in with the best chance of being shortlisted please make sure you apply as soon as possible. A vacancy may close early if there is a lot of interest in the job.

At KCHFT we strongly encourage colleagues in clinical and non-clinical roles who have direct or social contact with patients to be fully vaccinated. In this way we will be doing all we can to ensure your safety and that of your colleagues and the patients we serve.

Find out more about the community difference here.

Good luck! We cant wait to meet you and welcome you to #teamKCHFT, #cometocommunity.

Person Specification
Qualifications, training and experience
Essential

• You'll need to be a registered health care professional, with Nursing and Midwifery Council registration for this nursing role.
• You will need a health-related degree or equivalent qualification and evidence of relevant post-graduate development at Level 6.
• Evidence of specialist qualifications relevant to the area of practice, such as mentorship, coaching, clinical education or clinical expertise, is essential.

Desirable

• PTLLS, DTLLS, PGCE, Certificate in Education or working towards master's level study

Knowledge and skills
Essential

• You will need to be able to use Microsoft Office and a range of Trust IT systems to record activity, analyse data, monitor outcomes and produce reports.
• You will maintain up-to-date clinical practice, use evidence-based approaches, and support colleagues to apply competency frameworks, clinical effectiveness standards and learning from quality improvement activity.
• You will have strong analytical skills and the ability to focus on the details, interpreting quantitative and qualitative information to identify trends, risks and opportunities for improvement.
• You will need awareness of developments within the NHS, National Service Frameworks and NICE guidance, and the ability to interpret and apply policy, evidence and professional standards within practice.

Working environment
Essential

• A full, valid UK driving licence or a full driving licence issued by an EU country (not exchanged from a non-EU country) and the ability to travel independently are essential for this Kent-wide role. Should you require workplace adjustments under the Equality Act 2010, we are committed to supporting you to meet the mobility requirements of the role wherever possible

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).

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.