Clinical Governance Lead

Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, experienced, motivated and inspirational leader to join our team of supportive and dedicated Nursing, Midwifery and Medical staff as we strive to further enhance the outstanding 5-star patient care provided by all.

The post holder will play a key role in supporting the senior team in quality improvement initiatives and the implementation of National recommendations alongside co-ordinating internal and external reporting requirements in relation to risk management and Governance.

They will work alongside the Deputy Divisional Director of Nursing in ensuring an effective, robust and safe service with a commitment to achieving excellence in clinical care. They will provide professional leadership and management responsibility with direct line management responsibility of the Quality and Safety team and specialist nurses

The successful candidate will be responsible for providing the maternity service with expert knowledge and advice on all Quality and Assurance requirements based on relevant legislation, national and local agreements. They will support service modernisation; workforce planning and play a vital role in the response and delivery of key maternity drivers and National recommendations.

Please note the job description and person specification is under AfC review.

An Enhanced DBS with barred lists for both Adults & Children is required for this post.

Main duties of the job

• Provide effective clinical and professional leadership acting as a role model for all staff within the women's and children's division.
• Line manager responsibility for the quality and safety team and for the team in the post holder's portfolio.
• Develop and support mechanisms to guide and empower staff in developing and strengthening leadership skills and meeting the responsibilities of their role.
• Actively work to support and empower all staff to develop and utilise clinical leadership, audit and risk reporting skills, ensuring they are supported in appropriate levels of authority to undertake their role effectively in an accountable manner.
• Ensure effective communication systems, written, verbal and the use of Information Technology is embedded in the maternity service.
• Liaise with all support services and departments to ensure they and the organisational cultures are meeting the needs of women and their families in the clinical areas. Facilitate and negotiate change and new ways of working where necessary to support new care delivery process within the directorate.
• In conjunction with the Divisional Deputy Director of Nursing develop a prioritised action plan for the implementation of identified safety standards, building on current skills, expertise and practice within the department

About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:
- Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Details
Date posted: 27 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year per annum
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 409-S8135573
Job locations: Ormskirk Hospital, Wigan Road, Ormskirk, L39 2AZ, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.

Advertising date: 27th July 2026
Closing date: 16th August 2026
Shortlisting date: 17th August 2026
Proposed Interview date: 25th August 2026

Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Person Specification
Values
Essential

• We are kind
• We are open
• We are inclusive

Qualifications
Essential

• NMC Registrant
• Evidence of post registration education
• Degree in Nursing
• Management/Leadership qualification

Desirable

• Masters qualification or evidence of working towards

Knowledge & Experience
Essential

• An in-depth understanding of all aspects of evidence-based practice
• Ability to demonstrate knowledge of governance processes within women and childrensservices
• Able to demonstrate significant personal involvement in change management
• An understanding of confidentiality issues.
• Relevant recent experience encompassing a wide range of experience.
• Demonstrable experience of developing and implementing new systems
• Experience of staff management and support
• Able to demonstrate an understanding of the National vision for women and childrens services and the wider health service
• Able to demonstrate commitment to continuous improvement
• Experience of conflict management
• Ability to design and develop support programmes and engagement plans, evaluation and monitoring of plans
• Evidence of guideline, research and audit experience
• Experience and knowledge of the NHSR processes

Skills
Essential

• Ability to communicate effectively with staff at all levels in a sensitive manner.
• Effective leadership skills
• Excellent communication skills, written, verbal and IT skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and able to engage and build effective relationships
• Ability to present to large groups of people
• Evidence of excellent report writing skills
• Experience of teaching / facilitating learning in a variety of settings
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills
• Proven ability to negotiate, persuade, influence, motivate, support and gain the respect of other health care professionals
• Able to apply action learning and other methods to facilitate staff development
• Able to work within a given resource and demonstrate imaginative and effective use of resources

Other
Essential

• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Ability to work without supervision and use own initiative
• Ability to support reflective practice
• Ability to work flexibly and manage completing priorities

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).