Medical Head of Service - Chailey Clinical Services in Ditchling

Main area Paediatrics Grade Medical Contract Permanent Hours Part time - 6 sessions per week (2 Programmed Activities/Sessions Leadership and 4 Clinical) Job ref 150-SK2934-PC

Employer Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Chailey Clinical Services Town Chailey Salary £63,696 - £150,569 Basic salary pa pro rata, + £4,000 Add. Responsibility Payment Salary period Yearly Closing 25/10/2026 23:59 Interview date 13/11/2026

Medical Head of Service - Chailey Clinical Services

Medical

Job overview

Are you passionate about improving the quality of care, access, experience and outcomes for patients? Chailey Clinical Services offer a range of highly specialist multidisciplinary services supporting children, and young people with complex neurodisability and complex or fluctuating health needs. Child Development Services provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary child development and disability services, largely focused on children and young people with neurodisability and neurodevelopmental disorders.

We are seeking a medical Head of Service to provide clinical leadership, alongside the operational, healthcare science and AHP Heads of Service, to shape and develop our Chailey service’s offer. Alongside the leadership responsibilities which are 2 PAs / sessions, this role includes a further 4 PAs / sessions to deliver direct clinical care within SCFT's Child Development Centres.

Depending on the clinical background of the successful applicant, this could include initial health assessments for Children Looked After, or general caseload responsibility in community paediatrics.

This is an exciting opportunity to further transform our pathways of care for patients working closely with our clinical and operational leaders to address unwarranted clinical variation, use a data driven approach to identifying and tackling health inequity, strengthen evidence-based care and enhance personalised care.

Main duties of the job

This 6 PA / session post comprises:

• 2 PAs / sessions - Medical Head of Service
• 4 PAs / sessions - clinical care and caseload responsibility

You will provide operational direction and leadership to Chailey clinical service delivering improvement programmes, developing the medical workforce and ensuring robust clinical governance, job planning and an open learning culture.

The successful applicant will work closely with other medical Heads of Service across the division.

Applications will be welcomed from doctors with a background in General Practice or Paediatrics. A clinical interest in paediatrics, rehabilitation and/or neurodisability is highly desirable, as well as leadership experience.

Informal discussion or visit prior to application is welcomed.

The successful post-holder would be based at Chailey Clinical Services but travel to other sites may be required for clinical activities.

Working for our organisation

We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays.

Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.

Why work for us?

• Positive 2024 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeing
• Varied environments: community hospitals, patients’ homes, and bases across Sussex
• Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retirement
• Excellent training, development, and research opportunities
• Accredited Living Wage Employer, we ensure fair pay for all our staff
• Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brighton
• Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief networks
• Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trust

Our values—Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence—guide everything we do.

We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.

This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

a) The Chailey services Medical Head of Service will demonstrate strong professional clinical leadership and provide medical advice across the services within their portfolio. Acting in support of the Planned Care Divisional Medical Director, the post holder will be a key member of the Divisional leadership team and work as a triumvirate with the Clinical, Health Care Science and Operational Head of Service.

b) The post holder will support the Divisional Medical Director to continually improve equitable patient care, experience, access and outcomes for their service and assist with the implementation of national and Trust initiatives working closely with the Operational, Healthcare Science and Clinical Head of Service.

c) The postholder will play a key role in developing the service to meet the population's needs at locality and regional level and will have a service development portfolio and clinical leadership role. They will ensure services provide safe, effective, personalised and evidence-based clinical interventions and holistic care.

d) The post holder will demonstrate highly visible clinical and professional leadership behaviours, which are underpinned by the values of the Trust, and be a role model for leadership, training, coaching, and facilitating staff development at all levels. The post holder will be expected to provide a medical perspective to Divisional planning and decision-making, interpreting national guidance in relation to all aspects of clinical care delivered by the Trust and advise on implementation within the modernisation and changing environment of all service areas.

e) The post holder will be required to be/become skilled in improvement methodology and practice, role modelling leadership for improvement behaviours, supporting the building of Quality Improvement capability and capacity in the Division and using information to initiate and deliver improvement programmes which result in improved outcomes for patients, efficiency and productivity.

f) Working with the Operational Head of Service, the post holder will support medical recruitment and retention, measuring and improving standards of care and patient experience in accordance with agreed objectives, targets, quality standards, controls and resource constraints.

g) The postholder will, working with the Operational Head of Service and other clinical Heads of Service, be responsible for clinical governance including the identification, reporting, management and mitigation of risk and patient safety.

Entry on the GMC Specialist Register for Paediatrics (or expected within 6 months of the interview date or Entry on the GMC GP Register and inclusion on the NHS England GP Performers List (England) or Meet the minimum contractual entry requirements for the Specialty grade or
Meet the minimum contractual entry requirements and Generic Capabilities Framework for the Specialist Grade.

Person specification

Qualifications and Professional Registration

• Recognised Basic Medical Degree
• Full GMC Registration and Licence to Practice
• Entry on the GMC Specialist Register for Paediatrics (or expected within 6 months of the interview date)
• OR Entry on the GMC GP Register and inclusion on the NHS England GP Performers List (England)
• OR Specialty Doctor - completed at least four years’ full-time postgraduate training (or its equivalent gained on a part-time or flexible basis) at least two of which will be in a specialty training programme in a relevant specialty or as a fixed term specialty trainee in a relevant specialty; or shall have equivalent experience and competencies
• OR Specialist Doctor - completed a minimum of 12 years’ medical work (either continuous period or in aggregate) since obtaining a primary medical qualification of which a minimum of six years should have been in a relevant specialty in the Specialty Doctor and/or closed SAS grades. Equivalent years’ experience in a relevant specialty from other medical grades including from overseas will also be accepted. Meet the Specialist Grade generic capabilities framework.
• Qualification in Business/Medical Management

Experience

• Proven record in a Medical leadership role, including contributing to operational management of services.
• Experience of working in Community Paediatric Services at GP, SAS or Consultant Grade
• Experience in management of health services

Skills and Knowledge

• Word-processing and keyboard skills and ability to use Microsoft Office packages including Word, Powerpoint and Excel

Skills and Knowledge

• Knowledge of NHS Human Resource Policies and Procedures.
• Knowledge of clinical and operational governance, patient safety and complaint handling and its application to services.
• Knowledge of multidisciplinary team working and an understanding of differing professional roles boundaries.
• Knowledge of clinical operational processes, including budget management, target setting, and action planning and performance management.
• Knowledge of NHS targets and regulatory requirements.
• Ability to monitor and maintain standards of care across a range of clinical services.
• Ability to identify, assess and manage Clinical and Operational Risks.
• Able to translate complex information and make it meaningful to staff at all levels and across all professions both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to occasionally manage distressing and emotional circumstances with staff, patients and their carers.
• Ability to deal with competing demands, priorities and deadlines whilst managing operational imperatives and frequent interruptions.
• Ability to engage stakeholders through discussion, presentation and direct liaison.
• A natural curiosity backed by excellent critical analytical skills.
• Ability to lead quality improvement and promote research.
• Able to effectively challenge poor conduct and behaviours.
• Skilled in writing clear and coherent operational business cases, reports, and service plans.
• Demonstrate understanding of the unique qualities and needs of a team and ability to provide a caring, safe environment to enable everyone to do their jobs effectively.
• Use and interpret varied information and data to generate new ideas and make effective plans for improvement or change.
• Excellent time management, prioritisation and organisational skills and ability to manage and deliver to agreed deadlines

Experience

• Experience of monitoring, analysing and assessing clinical operational performance across multiple services.
• Experience of managing performance across multiple services, including the drafting, implementation and monitoring of remedial action plans.
• Experience of contributing to service level business plans, local standard operating procedures, and policies.
• Experience of managing budgets.
• Significant experience of staff management, including recruitment and retention of staff, performance management and managing sickness absence and misconduct.
• Experience of managing staff including job planning, medical appraisal and personal development planning.
• Experience of partnership working with a range of statutory and non-statutory service providers.
• Experience of assessing risks across clinical services and developing risk management plans.
• Experience of managing multi-disciplinary teams.

Other

• Able to travel to meet the requirements of the job

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name Selma Stafford Job title Divisional Medical Director - Planned Care Email address s.stafford@nhs.net Telephone number 07786 769739 Additional information

s.stafford@nhs.net

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