Moving a senior nurse into operations management: same level, or start again lower?

Hospital group in Ireland, about 7,500 staff. Our clinical and corporate career frameworks were built separately and each makes sense on its own. The trouble starts when someone crosses over.

Current case: a clinical nurse manager with 15 years' experience wants to move into a hospital operations role. On the corporate framework the job is evaluated two levels below her clinical grade, largely because she would have no team at first. The hiring manager wants her badly. She will not take the drop, and I understand why.

Do others have a rule for cross-functional moves? I can see arguments for protecting the level for a period, and for saying the job is the job.