Job summary
- Main area
- Nursing - Acute/Emergency Medicine
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 197-AJ6963
- Employer
- Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- University Hospital Lewisham
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £53,755 - £60,504 per annum plus HCA
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 10/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Matron in Acute Medicine
Band 8a
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.
Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.
To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here
Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.
Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.
LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.
We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
Job overview
The Matron will play a key role in providing strong clinical leadership, supporting the Senior Nurses in both the ward and department to promote excellence in nursing care and enhance clinical standards. The successful candidate will ensure that all patients are treated with compassion, dignity, and respect, while valuing the diversity of the local community and beyond. They will also promote best practices for infection prevention by maintaining a clean and safe environment and ensuring that clinical practices align with Trust policies and best practice guidelines to minimise the risk of infection.
Main duties of the job
The Matron’s key responsibility is to ensure that the patient experience is of the highest
quality, inspiring patient and public confidence. This will be achieved through high visibility,
accessibility and surveillance. The post holder will be expected to work clinically for an
agreed 20% of their time, and where required, will be a specialist in their clinical area. The
post holder will be responsible for ensuring the implementation of the Matron’s Charter in
their area.
The Directors, general managers, and heads of Nursing lead each Directorate. The Matrons report directly to their Head of Nursing, who has overarching responsibility for the Operational management and strategic direction of nursing.
The primary responsibility of the Matron is to ensure that the patient experience maintains the highest quality, fostering confidence among patients and the public. This will be achieved through visible leadership, accessibility, and ongoing monitoring. The Matron is expected to spend 20% of their time working clinically and will be a specialist in their area of expertise as needed. Additionally, the Matron will be responsible for implementing the Matron’s Charter within their designated area.
In each Directorate, leadership is provided by Directors, General Managers, and Heads of Nursing. The Matrons report directly to their respective Heads of Nursing, who are responsible for the overall operational management and strategic direction of nursing services.
Working for our organisation
Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:
- Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities backgrounds, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
- Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
- Improving the experience of staff with disability
- Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
- Making equalities mainstream
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
.
Care Provision
To manage the quality of the provision of nursing care at all times, within their ward / Department by:
- Holding Ward/Departmental Sister/Charge Nurse to account for the delivery of their key performance indicators in clinical areas on the Tendable database
- In conjunction with the Directorate’s Workforce Manager, ensure that effective action is taken when nursing performance is at risk of falling below expected levels and standards are not being maintained.
- Ensuring that the Trust’s Nursing and Midwifery priorities are implemented locally
To take appropriate action on issues of staff discipline, grievance, poor performance and sickness, up to but not including dismissal.
Risk & clinical governance:
- Ensure patients are cared for in a clean and safe environment, including the proper decontamination of multi-use equipment and taking remedial action if standards are not maintained.
- Be champions for driving the infection prevention and control agenda and challenging poor practice.
- Manage and respond to complaints and adverse incidents, including serious untoward incidents. Liaise with the PALS Department regarding informal complaints and, where possible, actively diffuse complaints to avoid escalation.
- Conduct root cause analysis and develop action plans to ensure a change in practice.
- Ensure Risk Assessments are undertaken and action plans implemented in the wards and departments.
- Lead the implementation of patient safety strategies such as Saving Lives and Clinical Performance Indicators.
- Share best practice and drive improvements in patient care through the Matrons’ Forum.
- In conjunction with the Surgical Head of Nursing, the Matron will be responsible for
monitoring and maintaining excellent clinical standards within clinical teams.
Person specification
Qualifications and Training
Essential criteria
- Registered nurse qualification
- Degree or equivalent clinical/advanced practice
- Extensive experience post registration
- Masters Degree or working towards
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of post registration/ qualification
- Management/Leadership qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Clinical expertise relevant to the post
- Experience of managing staff
- Recent experience of working at Band 7 or equivalent in an acute setting.
- Leadership of clinical governance and patient safety
- Achievement of high quality patient care through evidence based practice
- Experience of successfully leading and implementing change
- Ability to think and plan strategically, operationally and creatively and to prioritise work programs in the face of competing demands
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- A good understanding of the changing NHS environment
- Highly developed written and verbal skills
- A strong sense of personal and team accountability coupled with a clear understanding of the boundaries around delegated authority
Desirable criteria
- Ability to work on service development projects
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
- Excellent inter-personal and communication skills
- High level of work organisation, selfmotivation, drive for performance and improvement
- Flexibility in approach and attitude
- Strong sense of commitment to openness, honesty and integrity
- Able to work with staff at all levels across the Trust
- Able to work to tight deadlines and cope under pressure
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Itohan Ibude
- Job title
- Head of Nursing Emergency & Acute Medicine
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07557939072
List jobs with Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust in Nursing and Midwifery or all sectors