Band 6 nurse supporting statement: show leadership

A Band 6 nurse supporting statement should connect the vacancy's requirements to decisions you made, colleagues you supported and work you helped organise. Start with your own person specification, then choose examples that show the responsibility you actually held. A specialist NHS Grampian pack offers a concrete way to plan that evidence.

Read the senior post in its setting

NHS Grampian's pack is headed "Band 6 Job Description SMS 2022". It names a Community Mental Health Nurse in the Aberdeenshire Drug & Alcohol Service. Read on 9 November 2026, it is a Scottish specialist example; its requirements should not be treated as a national definition of Band 6.

The job purpose says: "In the absence of the Team Leader, assumes leadership and provides guidance to all staff." It also describes teaching, supervision and assessment of students and junior staff. These duties give you questions to ask of your experience: when did you guide someone, what did you decide, and what happened afterwards?

For Band 5 application evidence, see the Band 5 nurse guide. For a senior vacancy, keep the emphasis on the responsibilities in that vacancy's pack.

Turn the requirements into evidence prompts

The quoted lines below are essential requirements in the knowledge, training and experience section of Grampian's job description. The final column contains planning prompts, not additional employer criteria.

Requirement in the Grampian document	Responsibility to explain	Evidence to recall
"Evidence of developing leadership qualities and proven decision making skills."	A decision you owned and who you consulted	A change in priorities, the reason and what followed
"Knowledge and experience of mentorship within clinical practice."	Your role in supporting another person's learning	What you observed, feedback you gave and the next review
"Ability to deliver presentations and teaching sessions."	The teaching you prepared and delivered	The learning need, content and feedback
"Evidence of effective communication skills."	How you adapted information for the people involved	A discussion, handover or explanation you handled

Copy the wording from your own pack into your notes. Check the person specification as well as the job description: Grampian's attached specification also lists NMC registration and experience as a Practice Supervisor/Assessor as essential. A teaching example alone does not establish that you meet a specific qualification or experience requirement.

Show your contribution to the team

Write down the starting problem before drafting. If you changed work allocation, what needed attention? Explain what authority you had, how you agreed the change and how you checked progress. If a senior colleague made the final decision, identify your part accurately.

For teaching, recall the learner's need and what you did about it. A list of sessions attended belongs with your development evidence. An example about teaching someone else needs the preparation, explanation or feedback you personally provided.

Grampian also asks for experience of developing or being part of a developing service in its person specification. If your vacancy has a similar line, choose a change you can explain from start to finish. State your contribution and the outcome you observed. Keep team achievements separate from the decisions you made yourself, and use figures only when you can verify them.

Plan one leadership example

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT advises applicants to demonstrate all the essential criteria in their supporting information and recommends STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result. The prompts here apply that approach to Grampian's leadership line; they are not a completed answer.

Criterion: "Evidence of developing leadership qualities and proven decision making skills."

• When and where: identify the service and occasion, then describe the competing needs and your responsibility at that time.
• What you did: explain the decision, the information you used, who you involved and how you supported colleagues after the decision.
• What happened: describe the result you observed, any feedback and what you changed on reflection.

Read the action back on its own. Could someone tell what you did? Replace broad phrases such as "supported the team" with the particular conversation, allocation or check that shows it.

Before you submit

• Match every example to the wording and essential or desirable status in your own pack.
• Check that registration, qualifications and any assessor experience are stated accurately.
• Remove patient identifiers and details that are unnecessary to explain your action.
• Follow your application's stated length limit; the NHS Jobs form guide covers that form separately.

You can check your draft against the person specification before submitting it.