Skip to main content

This site is independent of the NHS and the Department of Health.

Please wait, loading

Job summary

Main area
Nursing and Midwifery Registered
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8b
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
214-CEN-7182841
Employer
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
King's Mill Hospital
Town
Sutton-in-Ashfield
Salary
£62,215 - £72,293 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
29/05/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust logo

Associate Director of Nursing - Patient Experience and Complaints

NHS AfC: Band 8b

Thank you for your interest in this role, we would be delighted to welcome you to Sherwood Forest Hospitals.

Sherwood is nationally recognised as being an excellent place to work and deliver care. We are rightly proud of the 5,500 colleagues who work here annd know that happy colleagues deliver better care.

Our teams work in a supportive, inclusive environment, which nurtures wellbeing and has opportunities for development and progression. We do not just care for our patients, we also care for you.

We would love you to join us.

_______________________________________________________

Job overview

Are you a compassionate, visionary nursing leader with a passion for improving patient experience and outcomes? We are seeking an exceptional Associate Director of Nursing for Patient Experience and Complaints (ADON) to join our senior leadership team and help drive our Trust’s ambition to deliver outstanding, patient-centred care.

This is a high-impact role where you will lead the Trust’s Patient Experience and Complaints function, ensuring it meets both internal goals and external regulatory requirements. You will be instrumental in shaping our patient engagement agenda, embedding a culture of continuous improvement, and ensuring that the voices of our patients and communities are heard and acted upon.

As ADON, you’ll provide expert guidance and support to clinical and non-clinical teams, enabling them to deliver high-quality, compassionate care. You will also represent the Trust at local, regional, and national forums, keeping us at the forefront of developments in patient experience and regulatory compliance.

This role offers a unique opportunity to make a real difference across the organisation—supporting governance, influencing strategic direction, and ensuring we continually strive for excellence in how we listen to, learn from, and care for our patients.

Apply now to join our team!

Main duties of the job

To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Working for our organisation

We are an award-winning NHS Foundation Trust working alongside health and social care colleagues across the county to provide acute and community healthcare services to more than 420,000 people across Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, and parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire. 

We put the patient at the heart of everything that we do and it is our aim to make sure that every patient is treated as we would want a member of our own family to be treated. At the same time, we expect our staff to be caring, kind and courteous to each other and to look out for each other. We believe that we are truly a clinically-led organisation. 

We are proud that our Trust colleagues have voted us the best acute Trust to work for in the East Midlands for seven years running in the National NHS Staff Survey, while the Care Quality Commission has rated our Trust as ‘outstanding’ for care and our King’s Mill Hospital as the only ‘outstanding’ NHS-run hospital in the East Midlands. 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

Knowledge Requirements

Essential criteria
  • Proven knowledge of the broader nursing, education and professional issues
  • Extensive working knowledge of contemporary health care issues and professional standards
  • Understanding of the complex dynamics of a multiprofessional environment
  • Excellent presentation and teaching skills
  • Excellent report writing skills and action planning
  • Ability to work under pressure
  • Computer literate
  • Sound general management experience – budget management skills, business case preparation, staff management
  • Evidence of operational and strategic development of patient safety initiatives and strategies
  • Experience in education and professional development
  • Experience in delivering change and improvement projects
  • QSIR Practitioner, understanding of methodologies of change and technique

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Educated to a Masters Level or equivalent
  • PRINCE II qualification or equivalent
  • Evidence of continuous professional and management development showing a combination of short courses, structured self study or formal management courses
  • Clinical background, current registration with appropriate body

Further Requirements

Essential criteria
  • Highly motivated and resourceful with a proactive approach to innovation
  • Ability to act autonomously with minimal supervision

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Extensive senior nursing experience within a complex organisation/NHS
  • Experience of working towards Care Quality
  • Commission and the NHS Resolution standards
  • Significant experience with service improvement methodologies
  • Analytical skills to collate and understand data
  • Ability to write sound reports in a timely manner
  • Proven track record in leadership and management
  • Evidence of participating in and leading organisational change that has led to changes in quality
  • Proven experience of operating and communicating effectively with clinicians and Directors
  • Complaints Management
  • Experience of working with external agencies and influencing internal change
  • Experience of initiating, conducting and evaluating risk assessments and investigations
  • Previously responsible for a budget, involved in budget setting and working knowledge of financial processes

Contractual Requirements

Essential criteria
  • Regular attendance
  • Ability to work flexibly
  • NMC Registration

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPathway to excellenceCare quality commission - GoodCarer Friendly Employer 2021Mindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerCare4NottsTime to changeFair Train Silver StandardStep into healthNational Preceptorship for Nursing Quality MarkArmed Forces Covenant

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

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Candice Smith
Job title
Director of Nursing Quality & Governance
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01623 622515
Additional information

Sally Whittlestone

Deputy Director of Nursing Quality & Governance

[email protected]

01623 622515 ext 4328

Apply online nowAlert me to similar vacancies