Clinical Service Development Lead
Location: Wokingham. Job reference OPR0000755. Date posted 16/06/2026. Salary £60,000 – £65,000 per annum. Full-time, 37 hours per week. Contractual.
Job Details
Salary: £60,000 – £65,000 per year. Full-time, 37 hours per week. Region: South. Contractual hours: 37. Basis full time.
Job Description
Optalis is the adult social care delivery partner on behalf of Wokingham Borough Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Council. Optalis is owned and funded by the 2 Councils. Optalis is not a private provider or an employment agency.
Clinical Services Development Lead, Full Time £60,000 – £65,000
Hybrid, Wokingham & Reading – To start October 2026
Shape the Future of Clinical Quality & Service Excellence at Optalis
Are you a clinically credible NMC‑registered professional who thrives on hands‑on practice, service improvement, and supporting others to deliver safe, high‑quality care? Do you enjoy combining clinical leadership with operational influence? If so, this role could be exactly what you’re looking for.
Why This Role Matters
Optalis is strengthening its clinical leadership and investing in consistent, high‑quality practice across all services. We’re looking for a dynamic, confident, and forward‑thinking Clinical Service Development Lead to help shape clinical standards, strengthen governance, and support our workforce to deliver excellent care.
This is not a desk‑based role. It’s a highly visible, practice‑focused position where you’ll be out in services, developing staff, assessing competencies, supporting governance, and driving improvement every day.
Who We’re Looking For
You’ll be an NMC‑registered clinician with strong, current clinical skills and the confidence to model best practice. You’ll be comfortable working across nursing and residential services and able to support staff with a wide range of clinical tasks, such as:
- Catheterisation
- Venepuncture
- PEG care
- Diabetes management
- Tissue viability
- Palliative and end‑of‑life care
- Wound care and pressure ulcer prevention
You don’t need to be a qualified trainer — what matters is your clinical credibility, your ability to coach others, and your commitment to improving practice.
If you enjoy rolling up your sleeves, showing others how to do things safely and confidently, and seeing teams grow — you’ll thrive here.
What You’ll Be Doing
You’ll play a key role in developing clinical practice and strengthening governance across:
- Two nursing homes and one residential home in Wokingham and Reading
- New homes as they open
- Wider Optalis services requiring clinical training or support
Your work will be varied, meaningful, and impactful. You may be:
- Delivering clinical training and skills development
- Signing off competencies and supporting staff through assessments
- Coaching teams through complex care situations
- Responding to urgent clinical needs requiring timely sign‑off
- Leading clinical supervision and reflective practice
- Supporting clinical governance, audits, and improvement plans
- Helping services achieve and maintain Good and Outstanding ratings
You’ll manage your own diary and workload, balancing planned development work with reactive clinical and operational needs.
Operational Responsibilities
This role also includes operational duties that support service delivery and leadership capacity. These may include:
- Monitoring KPI dashboards and supporting services to address performance issues
- Participating in weekly KPI and performance meetings
- Chairing or supporting disciplinary hearings and HR processes
- Participating in the organisational on‑call rota
- Picking up operational tasks delegated by the Director of Nursing
Your remit will evolve as the organisation grows, giving you opportunities to broaden your influence and leadership experience.
Why You’ll Love This Role
- You’ll use your clinical skills every day
- You’ll directly influence care quality and safety
- You’ll help staff grow in confidence and capability
- You’ll shape clinical standards across multiple services
- You’ll have autonomy, visibility, and real impact
- You’ll be part of a supportive, ambitious leadership team
- Your role will expand as our services develop
This is a rare opportunity to step into a role that blends clinical expertise, leadership, education, governance, and operational influence.
What You’ll Bring
- Active NMC registration
- Strong, up‑to‑date clinical skills
- Experience in community, district nursing, care home or similar settings
- A passion for improving care quality and developing others
- Confidence to coach, challenge, and support staff
- A proactive, solution‑focused approach
- Resilience, adaptability, and a positive leadership presence
- A full UK driving licence and willingness to travel
Benefits
- A Perkbox rewards package offering discounts on cinema, shopping, health, travel and insurance
- 25 days annual leave (pro rata) rising annually to a maximum of 30 days with 8 bank holidays, and an extra day off for your birthday
- An additional health and wellbeing day
- A comprehensive paid training and development programme
- Excellent career progression opportunities and support
- As a valued and integral member of the team you will have a voice in the service and forums to be heard and make a difference
- STAR awards – a reward scheme which recognises staff who have gone the extra mile
- A generous pension scheme
Additional Information
Optalis is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our staff and customers. All successful applicants will be required to undertake a DBS check and will need to provide proof of their right to work in the UK.
This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The DBS clearance level required is Enhanced with Adult Barred list.
For advice and information on disclosing criminal records you can contact Nacro’s support service on 0300123 1999 or helpline@nacro.org.uk.
We anticipate this being a popular role and therefore reserve the right to close early should there be a large volume of applications. We would therefore advise not to wait until the closing date to submit your interest.
To apply: Send your CV details to alison.reeves@optalis.org or apply online.
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