Head of Admin and Operations in London

Atrom Mindcare is seeking an experienced, resilient and highly delivery-focused Head of Admin and Operations to lead the administrative delivery of our NHS Right to Choose and privately funded patient services. This is a senior, hands-on operational role for someone who understands how busy administrative services work in practice. You will lead the teams supporting NHS and private patients, maintain control of competing priorities, identify problems quickly and ensure actions are followed through to completion.

The role requires strong analytical and administrative capability, sound judgement and the ability to remain calm and decisive under pressure. You will set clear expectations, hold teams accountable and intervene directly when standards, deadlines or patient service are at risk.

Main duties of the job

• Lead, support and coordinate administrative, referral, pathway coordination and patient liaison teams across NHS and private services.
• Oversee daily workflows, rotas, workload allocation, backlogs, capacity and operational priorities.
• Ensure appropriate cover across referrals, private enquiries, appointment booking, patient communications, documentation and report workflows.
• Oversee the end-to-end administration of NHS Right to Choose and privately funded patient pathways.
• Ensure referrals and private enquiries are recorded, checked and progressed accurately and promptly.
• Coordinate appointments against clinician availability, pathway requirements and service priorities.
• Ensure private patients receive clear information about services, fees, appointments, payments and next steps.
• Run regular team meetings and conduct one-to-ones, supervision and performance reviews.
• Set clear standards, address performance issues and provide coaching, feedback and development support.
• Act as the main point of escalation for administrative queries, complex patient issues and capacity concerns.
• Ensure administrative activity complies with SOPs, NHS contract requirements, CQC expectations, data protection and information governance standards.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Experience leading administrative operations and teams, ideally within healthcare, the NHS, mental health or another high-volume service.
• A strong practical understanding of workflow management, service delivery, rota planning and capacity management.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret operational data, identify trends and translate findings into action.
• Excellent administrative, organisational and problem-solving skills, with exceptional attention to detail.
• Proven experience in workload allocation, performance management and process improvement.
• Ability to manage multiple service pathways, competing priorities, backlogs and demanding deadlines.
• Experience setting clear performance expectations and addressing underperformance.
• Confidence using data, spreadsheets, KPIs and operational trackers to monitor performance and capacity.
• Ability to work effectively under sustained pressure without losing control of priorities, detail or communication.
• A clear, professional and compassionate communication style, including when handling sensitive or challenging situations.
• Confidence using Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and administrative or booking systems.
• A good understanding of confidentiality, information governance, safeguarding escalation and accurate record-keeping.

Desirable

• Experience supporting both NHS and privately funded healthcare services.
• Experience working with NHS Right to Choose, ADHD or autism pathways.
• Experience within a CQC-regulated healthcare service.
• Knowledge of e-RS, EPS, Cliniko or similar clinical and booking systems.
• Experience overseeing private patient enquiries, bookings and payment administration.
• Experience producing operational reports, KPIs and capacity-planning summaries.
• Experience leading audits, staff training or operational improvement projects.

Leadership approach

• Lead with a firm, fair and consistent approach.
• Set clear priorities, deadlines and performance expectations.
• Hold colleagues accountable for agreed actions and standards.
• Address underperformance or inconsistent working practices constructively and promptly.
• Remain calm, organised and decisive under pressure.
• Take ownership of operational problems and drive them through to resolution.
• Use data and operational insight to identify bottlenecks, risks and capacity requirements.
• Balance supporting and developing colleagues with maintaining high standards.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.