Clinic Operations Director (Turnaround)

We are part of a leading international group of fertility specialists, including CREATE Fertility and IVI London, providing world-class reproductive healthcare across the UK.

Our clinics are at the forefront of innovation, offering Natural and Mild IVF alongside a full range of advanced fertility treatments including IVF, IUI, ICSI and fertility preservation.

We are committed to evidence-based treatment, innovation and personalised, patient-focused care.

ROLE SUMMARY

The Clinic Operations Director (Turnaround) is the senior operational leader for our St Paul’s cluster, based at CREATE Fertility’s flagship London clinic.

This is a hands‑on leadership role with accountability for stabilising performance, restoring operational grip and delivering a measurable turnaround across patient experience, productivity, workforce, culture and financial performance.

Working closely with the Hub Medical Director and wider leadership team, you will establish clear priorities, strengthen management capability and ensure St Paul’s operates as a high‑performing, patient‑centred and commercially sustainable clinic.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Turnaround Leadership and Delivery
• Complete a rapid assessment of operational, financial, workforce and patient pathway performance.
• Develop and deliver a clear, time‑bound turnaround plan with measurable outcomes and accountability.
• Establish strong daily, weekly and monthly performance routines.
• Translate strategic priorities into practical clinic‑level actions.
• Balance immediate recovery requirements with longer‑term improvements to create a sustainable operating model.
• Commercial and Financial Performance
• Hold joint accountability with the Hub Medical Director for the financial performance of St Paul’s, including revenue, cost control, profitability and delivery against budget.
• Drive improvement in consultation volumes, conversion, cycle starts, treatment mix, cancellations, patient retention and other agreed commercial driver metrics.
• Lead robust management of pay, non pay and capital expenditure, ensuring that resources are aligned to activity, patient need and business priorities.
• Work with Finance to ensure accurate forecasting, clear variance analysis and rapid corrective action where performance is off plan.
• Identify and deliver sustainable productivity and efficiency opportunities without compromising safety, quality or patient care.
• Operational Excellence and Patient Flow
• Take overall responsibility for the day to day operational running of the clinic and for ensuring that services are safe, responsive, efficient and well coordinated.
• Redesign patient pathways where required to reduce delays, duplication, hand offs, cancellations and avoidable failure demand.
• Lead demand and capacity planning across doctors, nurses, laboratory, theatre, scanning, patient coordination and reception to maximise utilisation and improve patient flow.
• Ensure that appointment templates, rotas and clinic schedules support productivity, timely access and an excellent patient experience.
• Introduce and maintain clear standard operating processes, management controls and service standards across all non clinical functions.
• Use patient feedback, complaints, NPS and operational data to identify recurring themes and deliver practical service improvements.
• Partnership with the Hub Medical Director and Clinical Leadership
• Work as the operational partner to the Hub Medical Director, jointly leading the clinic dyad and contributing to the wider Hub Leadership Team.
• Ensure operational decisions support clinical quality, patient outcomes, workforce capability and regulatory compliance.
• Partner with the Hub Medical Director, Nurse Manager and Laboratory Manager to align priorities, resolve cross functional issues and improve whole clinic performance.
• Support effective clinical workforce planning and ensure that operational systems enable clinicians to maximise patient facing time.
• Maintain clear boundaries of accountability while promoting collective ownership of clinic performance and patient care.
• People, Leadership and Culture
• Lead, coach and hold to account the clinic’s operational and non clinical management team, including any Deputy Hub Manager, Administration Manager, Patient Coordination, Reception, Customer Service and other relevant roles.
• Work collaboratively with professional leads in the management of Nursing and Laboratory teams where operational responsibilities are shared.
• Review the local leadership structure, role clarity and capability, making recommendations and implementing changes where required.
• Build a culture of ownership, pace, teamwork, openness and professional accountability, addressing behaviours that undermine performance or patient care.
• Ensure effective workforce planning, recruitment, onboarding, performance management, succession planning and development in partnership with HR and professional leads.
• Improve staff engagement, communication and retention, with clear action plans based on workforce data and employee feedback.
• Lead difficult decisions fairly and decisively, following company policy and seeking appropriate HR advice.
• Performance Management and Data
• Establish a concise and reliable clinic performance dashboard covering financial, operational, workforce, patient experience, quality and clinical interface measures.
• Ensure data is understood and used by local leaders to make decisions, prioritise action and manage accountability.
• Chair or lead regular clinic performance reviews, ensuring actions are documented, owned and completed.
• Intervene early where performance is below expectation and implement structured recovery plans.
• Provide clear, honest and timely reporting to the UK Operations Director and relevant senior leadership forums.
• Quality, Governance and Risk
• Work with the Hub Medical Director, Quality Team and HFEA Person Responsible to ensure all operational and regulatory requirements are met.
• Ensure robust local governance for incidents, complaints, risks, legal matters, business continuity and audit actions.
• Act as the senior operational lead for serious operational incidents and ensure learning is translated into sustained improvements.
• Serve as the clinic Health and Safety lead, ensuring statutory obligations are met and risks are escalated where they cannot be resolved locally.
• Ensure all estates, facilities and non clinical equipment are fit for purpose, safe, appropriately maintained and consistent with the standards expected of a flagship clinic.
• Growth, Brand and Flagship Standards
• Position St Paul’s as the operational benchmark for CREATE Fertility, demonstrating excellent patient care, strong commercial performance and high professional standards.
• Work with Marketing, Sales and clinical colleagues to support growth, referral development, conversion and the launch or expansion of priority services.
• Ensure operational readiness for new initiatives, technology, service developments and changes to the patient proposition.
• Identify practices that can be standardised and shared across the wider UK network once proven at St Paul’s.
• Represent St Paul’s confidently with senior internal stakeholders, external partners and regulators where required.
• EXPERIENECE AND QUALIFICATIONS
• Degree level education or equivalent senior operational experience.
• Significant senior operational leadership experience in a complex, regulated and customer or patient facing environment.
• Demonstrable track record of leading a successful business, service or clinic turnaround, with measurable improvements in financial, operational and people performance.
• Strong commercial and financial capability, including ownership of budgets, forecasts, cost improvement and revenue growth.
• Experience of using data and performance routines to create operational grip and improve results.
• Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, strengthen management capability and address underperformance.
• Experience of leading complex change at pace while maintaining engagement, service continuity and quality.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and the credibility to work in close partnership with senior clinical and professional leaders.
• Excellent judgement, resilience and the ability to remain calm and decisive in a high pressure environment.
• Senior operational leadership experience in fertility, private healthcare or another HFEA, CQC or similarly regulated setting.
• Formal qualification in business, healthcare management, programme management or continuous improvement.
• Experience of improving patient pathways, conversion, capacity utilisation and workforce productivity.
• Experience of opening, redesigning or materially scaling a healthcare service.
• Leadership Behaviours
• Visible, hands on and action oriented.
• Commercially astute while consistently putting patient safety and experience first.
• Clear, honest and direct, with the ability to bring people with them through change.
• Comfortable challenging established ways of working and making difficult decisions.
• Collaborative, respectful and able to build an effective partnership with the Hub Medical Director and wider leadership team.
• Leads by example and consistently reflects the organisation’s values.
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