Director of Nursing and Quality, HUC

HUC (formerly Herts Urgent Care) is a clinically led, values driven social enterprise delivering a wide range of integrated urgent and primary care services. Since our beginnings in 2007 as a GP-led out-of-hours provider, we’ve grown significantly to provide NHS 111, out-of-hours GP care, urgent treatment centres, dentistry, and clinical assessment services across both the East and South West of England.

We now support over 4.5 million patients annually through a committed team of around 1,400 employees and 370 GPs and clinical professionals. Our culture is defined by our values, caring, dynamic, innovative, and respectful, and by a shared commitment to putting patients at the heart of everything we do.

Dear Applicant
Thank you for your interest in the role of Director of Nursing and Quality at HUC. This is a pivotal new position, the first of its kind within our organisation, offering a rare opportunity to shape and define how nursing, quality, and governance are led across our growing portfolio of urgent and primary care services.
As our clinical workforce becomes more diverse, expanding beyond GPs to include nurses, allied health professionals, and other key roles, we’re committed to building the leadership and infrastructure that support safe, high-quality, and inclusive care. This role will be central to that ambition.
You will have the scope to shape our approach to clinical education and professional development, build robust quality assurance frameworks, and ensure the patient voice is embedded in how we design, deliver, and evaluate our services. Your leadership will help drive our aspiration to be outstanding in all areas of quality.
At HUC, innovation and integration are part of our DNA. We are constantly exploring how to improve access, reduce duplication, and make better use of digital tools – including AI and self-service technologies – to enhance the patient experience and support our workforce.
We are passionate about investing in our clinicians offering career development, flexible portfolio roles, and celebrating excellence across all professions. As Director of Nursing and Quality, you’ll play a key role in creating the environment and structures that allow our teams to thrive.
If you’re a senior nursing or healthcare leader with a strong commitment to quality, education, and patient-centred care and you’re ready to help shape something new we’d be delighted to hear from you.
Thank you again for your interest in HUC. We look forward to learning more about what you could bring to this essential role.
Warm regards
David Archer
Chief Executive Officer
HUC is a clinically led, not-for-profit social enterprise delivering integrated urgent and primary care services to more than 4.5 million people across the East and South West of England. Since our origins as a GP-led out-of-hours provider in Hertfordshire in 2007, we’ve grown into a regionally diverse organisation delivering services such as NHS 111, urgent treatment centres, community hubs, intervention vehicles, dental urgent care, out-of-hours GP care and clinical assessment.
Our growth has been shaped by the needs of the communities and systems we serve. Over the past year, we’ve deepened our role in Somerset and Cornwall, expanded infrastructure with a new contact centre in Bedford, and strengthened our clinical governance with the introduction of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework. We were proud to receive a 'Good' rating from the CQC for our Integrated Urgent Care services in the East, recognising the quality, professionalism and compassion our teams bring every day.
Click here for the full candidate pack and job description
This newly created Director role reflects HUC’s commitment to elevating the voice of nursing and allied professionals, strengthening clinical governance, and building a unified culture of continuous improvement. Reporting to the CMO, the Director will be the organisation’s most senior nurse and CQC Nominated Individual, responsible for quality and safety across all services.
The creation of this post comes at a time of structural evolution within HUC, as the organisation responds to the increasing scale and complexity of its operations. Historically, quality and assurance functions were embedded in operational teams or led by clinicians without formal nursing leadership at the top table. This role will provide dedicated focus, expertise and professional leadership across nursing, safeguarding, IPC and clinical governance.
The Director will shape and lead the quality and safety strategy, ensuring consistency and driving improvement across HUC’s dispersed and multidisciplinary clinical services. This is a role that demands visible, compassionate and technically assured leadership.
Key Responsibilities:
- Serve as HUC’s senior nurse and CQC Nominated Individual.
- Lead professional standards, governance, safeguarding, quality improvement and incident management.
- Provide strategic leadership and oversight of CQC compliance, assurance systems and regulatory engagement.
- Champion the role of nurses and AHPs within a wider clinical model, promoting development, recognition and integration.
- Build cohesive governance frameworks across all regions, reducing variation and driving improvement.
- Foster a culture of openness, learning and psychological safety.
We expect the successful candidate to:
- Be a Registered Nurse with experience in a senior quality, governance or nursing leadership role.
- Have a strong grasp of regulatory frameworks including CQC, safeguarding and clinical risk.
- Be comfortable engaging at Board level, while retaining practical credibility with frontline teams.
- Be an advocate for continuous improvement and multidisciplinary working.
- Possess personal credibility, emotional intelligence and a collaborative style.
This post may suit an established Director of Nursing seeking a new challenge or a Deputy ready to step into a full Director post. The role offers the chance to build something new, establishing systems, teams and influence from the ground up. We are open to leaders from the NHS, social enterprises or charity providers, provided they bring the requisite governance expertise, leadership style and commitment to improvement.
All applications must include:
- A full curriculum vitae/resume
- Quoting the relevant role reference number: A040961
- A covering letter highlighting the aspects of the job description and HUC that particularly attract you to the post (Microsoft Word document)
- Contact details for three referees, these will not be contacted without your permission. (References should validate a minimum period of six years employment)
- A completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form (which you will be redirected to once you have submitted your application) *
Right to work checks
If you are successfully shortlisted, our partner, Yoti, will contact you to complete an online right to work check. This is a quick and secure process, ensuring that all necessary legal requirements are met before proceeding further in the recruitment process.
Monitoring
One of Alumni Global’s and HUC’s objectives is to ensure that its workforce is reflective of the local community and therefore we actively encourage applications from under-represented groups. So that we can successfully achieve these aims, while it is not mandatory we would encourage every applicant to complete the “Equal Opportunities Monitoring form” so that we can measure the effectiveness of our efforts. The Recruiting Manager does not have access to the Monitoring Information Sections of the application form at any stage of the process and the information provided will be kept entirely confidential.
For a confidential discussion on this role please contact:
Thomas Patterson, Managing Director or Michael Earnshaw, Director of Research on +44 77 1905 59 71.
Candidate adjustment
If you require any reasonable adjustments to be made as part of the recruitment process please can you advise us so that we can ensure this is accommodated.
Closing date: 29th September 2025
Final Interviews: TBC
Please ensure you have made a note of the final interview date(s). We recommend that you bookmark this microsite, as any potential updates regarding the role will be posted online.