Ward Leader

Main area Elderly Care / Medicine for Older People/General Medicine/Integrated Medicine Grade Band 7 Contract Permanent:
Full time Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday) Job  

Employer Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust Employer type NHS Site Royal Cornwall Hosptial Town Truro Salary £49,387 - £56,515 pa pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 29/11/2026 23:59

Are you an exceptional nurse leader ready for your next challenge?

As Ward Leader, you will provide visible, compassionate, and effective leadership to a multidisciplinary team, ensuring the delivery of safe, high-quality, patient-centred care within a busy inpatient environment. You will be professionally accountable for the operational management of the ward, leading on quality, patient safety, workforce development, patient flow, and service improvement.

You will work closely with the Clinical Matron, medical colleagues, and the wider multidisciplinary team to create a positive culture that promotes excellence, continuous learning, and innovation. As a role model for professional practice, you will inspire and support staff to deliver outstanding care, ensuring patients and their families receive the best possible experience.

The successful candidate will be an experienced registered nurse with strong leadership skills, a passion for developing others, and a commitment to driving quality improvement. They will be responsible for maintaining high standards of clinical care, ensuring compliance with governance and regulatory requirements, and leading the team to achieve key performance, safety, and quality objectives.

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and forward-thinking leader who is committed to making a lasting difference to patient outcomes, staff wellbeing, and the future development of the service.

The Ward Leader provides clinical, operational, and professional leadership to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, and compassionate patient care.

Key responsibilities include:

Leading the day-to-day management of the ward and maintaining safe staffing levels.

Providing visible leadership and support to nursing and multidisciplinary teams.

Promoting high standards of patient safety, quality, and patient experience.

Managing incidents, complaints, risks, and safeguarding concerns, ensuring learning is embedded into practice.

Supporting patient flow, bed management, and effective discharge planning.

Leading staff recruitment, appraisal, performance management, wellbeing, and professional development.

Ensuring compliance with Trust policies, clinical governance, and professional standards.

Managing ward resources effectively, including workforce, equipment, and budgets.

Leading audits, quality improvement, and service development initiatives.

Working collaboratively with the Clinical Matron and multidisciplinary teams to deliver operational and strategic objectives.

Acting as a role model for Trust values through compassionate, inclusive leadership.

Supporting service transformation and continuous improvement to enhance patient outcomes.

The post holder will maintain clinical credibility and contribute to direct patient care when required.

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) is at the heart of acute and specialist care for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We care for a population of around 470,000 people, a number that increases during visitor seasons. We employ around 6,700 staff, united by a shared commitment to deliver safe, high‑quality care. We provide services across three main hospital sites, with around 780 inpatient beds:

As a teaching hospital, we’re proud to work in partnership with the University of Exeter Medical…