Medical Director in Honiton

As Medical Director, you will be a key member of the Executive Team, working alongside the Chief Executive, Chief Nurse, Executive Directors and clinical leaders to provide strategic leadership for clinical services across the Trust. You will be responsible for leading the Trust's quality, safety and clinical governance agenda, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and patient-centred care while driving continuous improvement in outcomes and patient experience.

This is an exceptional opportunity to play a central role in shaping the future direction of a high-performing and ambitious organisation. You will provide visible, credible and values-led medical leadership, leading the development and delivery of the Trust's clinical strategy, supporting service transformation and innovation, and working collaboratively with partners across the Integrated Care System to ensure services are clinically sustainable and responsive to the needs of the population.

Main duties of the job

• Provide professional leadership for the medical workforce and act as the Trust's most senior clinical leader, ensuring the highest standards of clinical quality, patient safety, governance and professional practice across the organisation.
• Lead the Trust's clinical governance and quality agenda, ensuring effective systems are in place to support patient safety, clinical effectiveness, risk management, learning from incidents and continuous improvement.
• Provide leadership for medical revalidation as Responsible Officer, oversee medical workforce strategy, including recruitment, retention, job planning and succession planning, and support the development of clinical leaders across the organisation.
• Drive innovation, service transformation and performance improvement to enhance patient outcomes, access and experience.

About us

With over 9,000 passionate and dedicated staff, Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides a full array of acute and some community services to the local communities of Bedfordshire. Serving a diverse population of over 620,000 people, we are proud to be rated 'Good' by the CQC, having successfully merged Bedford and Luton & Dunstable hospitals to create our Trust six years ago.

We have undertaken significant investment into our infrastructure and people in recent years, including the 168 million Acute Services Block build that opened in July 2026, and have created a shared set of values for our organisation, THRIVE, to unify the organisation and give a clear mission and pledge to those we serve. We have an annual turnover of 800 million, and as an anchor organisation and a very important employer within Bedfordshire, we are committed to combatting health inequalities and deprivation to support local education training and job opportunities.

We are a key partner within the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes which forms part of Central East ICB and we work closely with a range of health and social care partners to improve and better deliver outstanding care and reduce ill health through preventive measures. The health and wellbeing of our staff remains a fundamental priority within our strategic developments, and we recognise their commitment, passion and dedication to our patients and local population.

Job responsibilities

• Provide visible, credible and compassionate medical leadership across the Trust, promoting a culture of safety, openness and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with professional and regulatory standards including GMC Good Medical Practice and maintain high standards of clinical care across all services.
• Provide professional leadership for the investigation of serious incidents, complaints and clinical concerns, ensuring timely action and organisational learning.
• Promote a culture of innovation, research and evidence-based practice to improve patient outcomes and experience.
• Ensure that clinical services are delivered in line with best practice, national standards and patient need.
• Support the development and implementation of new models of care including care closer to home and integrated pathways.
• Act as a senior clinical leader in major incidents and emergency planning arrangements.
• Lead the development and implementation of medical workforce strategy including recruitment, retention, job planning and succession planning.
• Lead on performance management and disciplinary matters relating to medical staff in line with Maintaining High Professional Standards.
• Lead the Trust's research and development agenda, promoting innovation and ensuring research activity supports improvements in patient care.
• Support the delivery of high-quality undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.
• Provide effective leadership to Deputy Medical Directors and the wider medical leadership team.
• Ensure robust clinical governance systems and processes are in place and operating effectively.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with partners across the Integrated Care System.
• Contribute fully as an Executive Director to the leadership and management of the Trust.

Working Arrangements

The Medical Director is an Executive Director role and will be employed on Very Senior Manager (VSM) terms and conditions. The role is predominantly strategic, and leadership focused with responsibility for providing clinical leadership across the organisation and wider system. Any clinical commitment will be subject to agreement with the Chief Executive and aligned to organisational priorities.