Directorate Manager for Pathology

At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 600,000 people across East Lancashire and the surrounding area. We employ over 9,500 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work.

Job overview

We are recruiting to the role of Pathology Directorate Manager at ELHT. This is an exciting opportunity for a senior leader working in pathology to join our leadership team, working closely with the Clinical Director and Senior Operational Leads, to ensure the delivery of safe and effective pathology services. The post holder is responsible for the day-to-day operational management of a team of Pathologists, Clinical Scientists, Biomedical Scientists, Mortuary Technicians, and a range of support staff to deliver a cost effective clinical pathology service.

This role requires individuals with substantial experience in a Pathology Department, a track record of achieving sustained service change and improvement, experience of building effective and productive working relationships with a wide range of people and partners, and a collaborative management style. You will create an empowering environment for teams to thrive in, inspiring them to achieve excellence in all they do.

ELHT is part of a wider collaborative pathology network that is progressing towards a unified, single service model. Initially, the interim Pathology Directorate Manager will focus on leading the pathology services within ELHT, ensuring high-quality operational management and service delivery. Over time, as the network matures the interim person will be charged with contributing to the development of that single service.

If this sounds like you, then we would really like to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

• Accountable for overseeing the delivery of the Pathology service.
• Engage clinical and non-clinical staff in the business of the Trust and Directorate.
• Maintain Directorate focus and commitment to performance targets at all times.
• Embed a service improvement focus into everyday practice and lead the Directorate in delivering improvements and service redesign to provide a cost effective and sustainable pathology service.
• Engender and maintain a culture of financial control and recurrent financial awareness amongst both clinical and non-clinical staff including the delivery of cost improvement programmes.
• Hold specific responsibilities to the Divisional Director of Operations for ensuring that cross-Directorate working is managed and that the Directorate is fully involved and engaged in a Trust wide system of working, policy and practice.
• Lead on the move towards a single pathology service across Lancashire and South Cumbria.
• Lead, manage and motivate staff within the Pathology Directorate, ensuring that appropriate management structures, policies and practices are in place to achieve high levels of performance.
• Genuinely promote and support delivery of national and local healthcare targets as one of the ways of raising healthcare standards.

Working for our organisation

Established in 2003 East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) is a large integrated health care organisation providing high quality acute secondary healthcare for the people of East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Responsible for the leadership, management, quality, efficiency and strategic development of the Pathology Directorate, delivering a range of outcomes, ensuring that fundamental and underlying activities to organisational success are achieved.

The role encompasses the overall operational and strategic management of all the Pathology Disciplines across East Lancashire covering approximately 200 staff. Working with the Clinical Director the post holder is responsible for managing a revenue budget of £21 million.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• State Registered Biomedical Scientist with MSc or FIBMS
• Post Graduate Management or Leadership Qualification

Desirable criteria

• Management qualification at masters level eg MBA

Experience

Essential criteria

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience at a senior manager level within the NHS
• Evidence of continuous professional development
• Proven capability to manage at a senior level (eg management of resources, priorities, personnel, problems)
• Proven ability to use own initiative of judgement and prioritise work accordingly.
• Experience of successfully managing a large budget.
• Operational management experience in an acute hospital or equivalent complex environment.
• Proven ability to manage a large number of staff.

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience of managing more than one single laboratory discipline
• Involvement in NHS service development and reconfiguration.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Demonstrable understanding of NHS policy in relation to performance management, capacity planning, payment by results, the development of independent sector and foundation trust issues.

Personal Attributes

Essential criteria

• Proven ability to manage priorities under pressure.
• An ability to manage complex issues through a range of approaches to communication.
• Ability to work to precise timescales.

Desirable criteria

• Ability to exercise political judgement.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions. #J-18808-Ljbffr