Chief Nurse

We are the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We offer a range ofongoing benefitsto our valued workforce. From an active health and wellbeing programme to regular recognition events, we work hard to provide varied benefits that make a difference to your work-life balance.

Here are some clips of our Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust staff, speaking about their role and why they enjoy working for us

Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you.

Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement.

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Job overview

Thank you for your interest in joining Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. Our patients and staff are at the heart of everything we do. As Chief Executive, I am proud of the incredible commitment and compassion shown by our teams across Kent and Medway. This is an exciting time for us, as we continue to evolve our culture and have a relentless focus on quality, in addition to the opportunities presented by the NHS 10-year plan and the launch of our new five-year strategy.

The Chief Nurse is a critical role for the organisation and will be fundamental in successfully delivering our quality improvement plan (QIP). We are committed to providing high-quality services for our local population, ensuring that we improve patient outcomes, working in collaboration with our partners to deliver care closer to home in local neighbourhoods. You will help us turn that ambition into better outcomes and experiences for the people we serve.

Through your leadership you will support the delivery of high quality, compassionate care and provide strategic advice to the Trust Board on patient safety, quality assurance and regulatory standards. You will be the lead executive for our relationship with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

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As a member of our executive team and Trust Board, you will also play a key role in shaping our culture and leading improvement across the organisation, recognising that a positive, inclusive culture and the quality of care we provide are intrinsically linked. You will champion the voices and experiences of patients, families and carers, ensuring they shape how we improve and develop our services.

We are seeking an experienced senior mental health/learning disability nurse leader who brings extensive experience of the key areas of quality, patient safety, workforce development, and infection prevention and control. Finally, you will lead our approach to the identification, mitigation and management of risk. You will have the experience and ability to operate at Board level and work as part of a highly engaged executive team.

You will be a visible and compassionate leader who aligns people behind our vision to help communities stay well and live well, and who embodies our values: caring in how you lead and the standards you set; inclusive in how you listen and bring people together; curious about how we can continually learn and improve; and confident in constructively challenging and taking action when things need to change.

Working for our organisation

We are Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway and are rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Our teams support children, young people and adults with a wide range of mental health needs. We also provide specialist services, including all-age eating disorder services and neurodevelopmental assessments for children and young people, such as autism and ADHD.

Because we work across the whole county and across hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the people we serve.

Our vision is simple: we are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It’s why we’re passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. Everything we do is guided by our values: caring, inclusive, curious and confident.

Join us if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that’s working well together.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see application pack and job description attached for the full responsibilities of the role.

Closing date is midnight, Wednesday 30 September 2026

Informal candidate conversations with Sheila Stenson will be held via Microsoft Teams on:

• Friday 11 September 2026 (15-minute slots)
  Friday 18 September 2026 (15-minute slots)

Focus groups and interviews will be held in-person on Friday, 30 October 2026. Please see application pack attached for further details.

We are serious about diversity and inclusion, and we are working hard to build this into our DNA. We warmly welcome applications for any of our roles from people from diverse backgrounds, and we are proactively encouraging applications from under-represented communities for our more senior roles, like this one.

The post holder must hold a full, valid UK driving licence for business purposes, unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010. Do you meet this requirement?

Important Information:

In cases where we receive a high volume of applications for a post, it may be necessary to bring the closing date forward. Please submit your completed application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

Due to the high volume of applications received, it is not possible to respond individually to your application. Should you not hear from us within six weeks of the vacancy closing, please assume that your application has not been successful.

Probation Period. New employees external to the trust are subject to a six-month probationary period.

To deliver an effective service it is essential in some of our roles that you are able to travel between work bases in a timely manner.

Production of false or forged documents/qualifications in order to obtain employment is a criminal offence and will be reported to the Police.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check.
Certain roles are subject to criminal record checks called Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Therefore, you will be required to submit a completed Disclosure form to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust are signed up to NHS England's Sexual Safety in Health Care Organisational Charter

The trust takes a systematic zero-tolerance approach to tackle any unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviours within the workplace and in our care provision. We are committed to sexual safety which encompasses prevention, support and decisive action against perpetrators. We are committed to keeping you and our patients safe.

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Relying solely on AI to write your application may result in generic, impersonal, and potentially inaccurate content. Always review and refine any AI-generated text to ensure it effectively communicates your experience, skills, accomplishments, and aspirations, and demonstrates your suitability for the position.