End of Life Care Lead

Job overview

The Lead Nurse for End-of-Life Care will provide Trust-wide strategic, clinical and professional leadership to improve care for patients approaching the end of life. Working across all sites and specialties, the postholder will lead the End-of-Life Care strategy, standardise clinical pathways, strengthen governance and assurance, and use data to drive improvement. They will work with patients, families, clinical teams and system partners to ensure care is safe, equitable, compassionate and aligned with individual preferences.

Main duties of the job

• Lead the Trust-wide End-of-Life Care strategy and improvement programme.
• Provide expert clinical and professional leadership across all sites and specialties.
• Standardise pathways for early recognition, advance care planning and treatment-escalation decisions.
• Develop governance, audit, performance measures and Board assurance, including oversight of NACEL actions.
• Translate national guidance, NICE standards and CQC requirements into consistent clinical practice.

• Lead Trust-wide quality improvement using data, audit, patient and family feedback, incidents and mortality reviews to identify priorities, test changes, measure impact and embed sustainable improvements in end-of-life care.

• Work with palliative care, community, hospice and system partners to improve coordination and equitable access.

Working for our organisation

The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. In June 2026, we launched our new strategy for 2026-31. Our vision is to transform healthcare, and we have agreed six strategic ambitions to help us improve care for patients, and the working lives of our staff.

Our six strategic ambitions are delivering high-quality patient care ; creating a great place to work ; leading pioneering research, innovation and education ; building strong and successful partnerships ; providing timely and efficient care ; and ensuring long-term financial sustainability .

We have also agreed four new organisational values – Caring, Collaborative, Inclusive, Innovative – and these underpin everything we do, and how our teams interact with the patients under our care.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The postholder will provide Trust-wide strategic, clinical and professional leadership for end-of-life care, working across all sites and specialties to ensure care is safe, equitable, compassionate and person-centred.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading the development, implementation and evaluation of the Trust’s End-of-Life Care Strategy.
• Providing expert clinical leadership and advice to senior leaders, multidisciplinary teams and frontline staff.
• Standardising evidence-based pathways for early recognition, advance care planning, treatment-escalation planning and shared decision-making.
• Leading Trust-wide quality improvement and service redesign, using data, audit, feedback and learning to test changes, measure impact and embed sustainable improvement.
• Developing governance frameworks, quality indicators, dashboards and assurance reports for senior committees and the Board.
• Overseeing NACEL audit delivery and improvement plans, and ensuring compliance with NICE guidance, CQC requirements and relevant legislation.
• Translating learning from incidents, complaints, mortality reviews and patient and family feedback into measurable action.
• Leading education and workforce development in collaboration with palliative care team.
• Working with palliative care, community, hospice, voluntary-sector and Integrated Care System partners to improve coordination and equitable access.
• Engaging patients, families and carers in service development and representing the Trust at local, regional and national forums.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Registered Nurse
• Master’s degree
• Management or leadership qualification
• Quality improvement training/qualification
• Palliative care/end of life qualification

Desirable criteria

• Project management qualification

Knowledge and Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of leading complex programmes of quality improvement and service transformation across organisational boundaries
• Experience of developing and implementing strategy, policy and service development initiatives
• Experience of working with senior clinical and operational leaders to influence change and improve outcomes
• Experience of governance, risk management and quality assurance systems
• Experience of analysing, interpreting and presenting complex information to support decision making
• Experience of developing performance metrics, audit programmes, dashboards or assurance frameworks

Desirable criteria

• Experience of leading End of Life Care or Palliative Care improvement programmes
• Experience of working across acute, community and system-wide care pathways
• Experience of leading research, audit or evaluation programmes

Skills and Competencies

Essential criteria

• Ability to provide visible and credible leadership across organisational and professional boundaries
• Ability to lead and influence large-scale change programmes
• Ability to influence a sustainable culture that improves quality and experience for all patients
• Ability to hold individuals and teams to account whilst maintaining positive relationships
• Highly developed communication, negotiation and influencing skills
• Ability to communicate highly complex, sensitive or contentious information effectively to a wide range of audiences

IMPORTANT

• Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you
• If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications
• To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert
• Please provide email addresses for referees where possible
• Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust’s criminal records checking policy
• All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
• Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

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• might not be specific or relevant enough to address the criteria in the recruitment profile
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