Nurse In Charge

Overall Purpose of the Role

To lead the daily patient-care and operational delivery of the Appointment Clinic, ensuring approved services are safely staffed, ready on time, and delivered through a well-coordinated patient journey. The role is responsible for nursing standards, clinic readiness, patient flow, accurate reporting, and achievement of agreed revenue, conversion, and utilisation targets within approved clinical capacity.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Technical Skills

Revenue Conversion & Utilisation Performance

• Monitor performance against approved Appointment Clinic revenue targets, explain significant operational variances, and implement or escalate corrective actions.
• Track appointment attendance, completion of clinically advised services, eligible same-day service completion, referrals to Main Hospital, and utilisation of confirmed clinic and diagnostic capacity.
• Maintain an accurate register of recommended investigations, procedures, surgeries, and transfers, including authorisation, booking, follow-up actions, and completion status.
• Review pending and overdue cases weekly, assign next actions, and coordinate follow-up, pre-authorisation, and handover to Main Hospital or other approved service points.
• Provide Finance with complete activity and transfer records to support validation of Appointment Clinic and agreed Appointment Clinic-originated revenue.
• Ensure commercial targets never compromise clinical judgement, appropriate care, or patient choice.

Clinic Readiness, Capacity & Patient Flow

• Maintain a rolling eight-week clinic schedule in collaboration with the Head of Patient Services and Medical Director, covering approved capacity, clinician availability, bookable slots, staffing, and required mitigation measures.
• Lead daily readiness meetings covering staff schedules, bookings, equipment, consumables, transfers, and anticipated delays.
• Allocate nurses and ophthalmic assistants for regular, dual-clinician, specialist, and Saturday sessions, including staff leave and transfers to Main Hospital.
• Record and promptly escalate uncovered sessions, clinician delays, cancellations, and capacity constraints.
• Coordinate approved patient communication, rescheduling, and alternative care pathways where necessary.
• Oversee patient flow from reception through assessment, consultation, diagnostics, procedures, payment, discharge, and follow-up.
• Monitor waiting times by clinic and implement approved workflow improvements to reduce avoidable delays.

Patient Access & Experience

• Ensure booked patients receive appointment confirmations and reminders through the agreed process.
• Coordinate with the Appointment Clinic front-office team to record and follow up on cancellations and missed appointments.
• Keep patients informed about delays and next steps, address complaints promptly, and escalate unresolved service issues.
• Monitor patient movement after arrival and coordinate workflow changes where bottlenecks are identified.

Clinical Governance, Patient Safety & Nursing Care

• Ensure nursing care complies with approved clinical protocols, infection-prevention standards, medication controls, emergency procedures, and professional scope of practice.
• Supervise triage, patient preparation, and pre-procedure and post-procedure nursing care.
• Ensure emergency equipment, supplies, and assigned staff are ready for patient care.
• Record and escalate incidents, near misses, unsafe conditions, and repeated scheduling deviations through approved governance channels.
• Follow up on assigned corrective actions until completion.
• Support clinical audits and quality-improvement initiatives.
• Ensure changes to clinical protocols or decisions outside nursing scope receive approval from the Medical Director or designated clinical lead.

Equipment, Inventory & Operational Controls

• Coordinate the availability and appropriate use of diagnostic equipment.
• Work with Biomedical Engineering to report equipment faults and follow up on downtime and repairs.
• Maintain adequate stocks of drugs, consumables, and critical supplies.
• Oversee ordering, storage, dispensing, and movement of supplies in accordance with organisational policies.
• Coordinate monthly stock counts and report material variances, wastage, breakages, expired items, and unexplained usage.
• Protect the confidentiality, completeness, and proper custody of patient, staff, equipment, and operational records.

Data Reporting & Performance Improvement

• Maintain a consolidated Appointment Clinic performance tracker, ensuring patient totals reconcile with booking, attendance, source, and service records.
• Keep unresolved data discrepancies visible and escalate them rather than estimating figures.
• Prepare and submit agreed weekly performance scorecards and accurate monthly operational reports covering clinic capacity, attendance, waiting times, patient sources, completed services, transfers, pending patient journeys, and significant operational exceptions.
• Work with Cashiers, Front Office, and Main Hospital service leads to reconcile operational records and resolve or disclose discrepancies.
• Use performance data to recommend improvements in workflow, staffing, capacity, and service delivery.
• Follow approved improvement actions through to verified completion.

People Management & Leadership

• Lead, coach, and supervise nurses and ophthalmic assistants assigned to the Appointment Clinic.
• Allocate duties, manage attendance and leave, conduct performance reviews, and address conduct or capability concerns through approved HR procedures.
• Exercise day-to-day functional authority over front-office, cashier, and support staff deployed at the clinic in matters relating to readiness, patient flow, safety, and service continuity, while respecting their established reporting lines.
• Provide the Commercial team with verified service information, clinic dates, and bookable capacity to support patient acquisition activities.
• Identify and escalate staffing, equipment, infrastructure, and system requirements using evidence of workload, patient volumes, risk, and service opportunities.

Key Accountabilities & Performance Areas

Performance will be assessed across the following areas:

• Operational Readiness & Capacity - 20%:Clinic scheduling, staffing readiness, service availability, and timely management or escalation of uncovered sessions.
• Patient Flow & Experience - 15%: Waiting times, communication during delays, complaint handling, and patient experience.
• Revenue Conversion & Utilisation - 20%: Finance-validated revenue against targets, appointment attendance, completion of clinically advised services, eligible same-day completion, referral completion, and capacity utilisation.
• Clinical Quality & Safety - 20%: Compliance with nursing and safety standards, timely escalation of significant risks, and completion of assigned corrective actions.
• Data Integrity & Reporting - 10%: Accurate, timely weekly and monthly reporting and reconciliation of source records.
• People Leadership - 10%: Staff deployment, attendance management, performance reviews, training, and completion of agreed team actions.
• Equipment, Inventory & Cost Control - 5%: Equipment availability, stock control, equipment fault follow-up, and explanation of significant variances.

Knowledge, Experience & Qualifications Required

• Diploma or degree in Nursing from a recognised institution.
• Current Nursing Council of Kenya practising licence.
• Higher Diploma in Ophthalmic Nursing is strongly preferred. Candidates with substantial ophthalmic, ambulatory, or specialist-clinic experience and demonstrated leadership capability may also be considered.
• At least five years of nursing experience, including at least three years in ophthalmic, outpatient, or specialist-clinic care.
• Demonstrated experience supervising a clinic or patient-care team.
• Working knowledge of patient flow, clinical scheduling, pre-authorisation, diagnostic and procedure pathways, infection prevention, medication control, and patient-safety reporting.
• Ability to use Microsoft Excel or comparable reporting tools and interpret operational data relating to activity, waiting times, service completion, utilisation, staffing, and inventory.

Behavioural Competencies

• Operational Ownership: Anticipates gaps, acts within authority, escalates issues early, and follows actions through to verified completion.
• Patient-Centred Judgement: Protects patient safety, dignity, access, and continuity of care while balancing demand with available capacity.
• Data Discipline: Uses source records, reconciles figures, and keeps unresolved data gaps visible.
• Leadership & Accountability: Sets clear expectations, addresses underperformance fairly, and maintains professional boundaries.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Secures cooperation across departments while respecting each function's authority and accountability.
• Commercial Awareness: Understands how capacity, service completion, utilisation, cost, and patient experience contribute to sustainable growth without compromising patient care.
• City Eye Hospital Values: Demonstrates integrity, compassion, stewardship, and high standards, reflecting the values of honouring God, valuing people, and pursuing excellence.