Service Manager Ophthalmology in Southend-on-Sea

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust is one of the biggest trusts in the country, following the merger of Mid Essex, Basildon and Southend hospitals in April 2020.

Site Southend Town Westcliff on Sea Essex Salary £57,528 Per Annum (Pro Rata for Part Time) Salary period Yearly Closing 19/11/2026 23:59

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and highly motivated Band 8A Service Manager to join our Ophthalmology service at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

Ophthalmology is a busy, complex and fast-paced service delivering care across multiple sites and a wide range of subspecialties and patient pathways. We are looking for an exceptional operational leader who can provide strong day-to-day management while driving service improvement, performance, workforce development and transformation.

Working closely with the clinical and divisional leadership teams, the successful candidate will take a key role in ensuring that Ophthalmology services are safe, effective, efficient and responsive to the needs of our patients.

Main duties of the job

As Service Manager, you will provide senior operational leadership across Ophthalmology and will be responsible for the effective management and delivery of services within your portfolio.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Providing visible and effective operational leadership across Ophthalmology services.
• Managing service performance, capacity and demand, ensuring patient pathways are actively monitored and managed.
• Supporting delivery against national and local access and performance standards.
• Working collaboratively with clinical teams to maximise outpatient, diagnostic, theatre and treatment capacity.
• Leading and supporting service transformation, pathway redesign and continuous improvement.
• Providing leadership for administrative and operational teams.
• Supporting workforce planning, recruitment, retention, development and succession planning.
• Managing delegated budgets and contributing to financial planning, productivity and efficiency programmes.
• Identifying, managing and escalating operational, workforce, quality and patient-safety risks appropriately.
• Using activity, performance and workforce information to identify pressures and develop sustainable solutions.
• Ensuring robust governance arrangements are embedded throughout the service.
• Building strong working relationships with consultants, nursing and AHP teams, administrative colleagues, corporate services and external partners.

Working for our organisation

Our ambition is to deliver excellent local and specialist services, to improve the health and well being of our patients, and provide a vibrant place for staff to develop, innovate and build careers.

We aim to make the most of our skills and experiences so we can become the best we can be. As one organisation we will recruit the finest and retain more specialist staff due to more employment opportunities across our Trust.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Detailed job description and person specification are attached to provide you with required insight into the role.

qualifications

• Masters degree or equivalent level of knowledge and experience in healthcare management, business management or a related discipline.
• Evidence of continuing professional development in leadership and management.
• Formal leadership or management qualification.
• Project management, quality improvement or Lean qualification.

knowledge and experience

• Substantial senior operational management experience within a complex healthcare environment.
• Significant experience of managing clinical services, patient pathways and access performance
• Experience of workforce planning, recruitment, appraisal, attendance and performance management
• Experience of managing services across multiple hospital sites.
• Experience of business cases and digital or pathway transformation.
• Operational management experience within Ophthalmology.
• Highly developed written, verbal, presentation, negotiation and influencing skills.
• Ability to communicate highly complex, sensitive or contentious information to a wide range of audiences.
• Ability to prepare high-quality reports, business cases and formal responses.

personal and people

• Ability to lead, motivate and develop managers and teams.
• Experience of managing organisational change and supporting staff through uncertainty.
• Coaching, mentoring or leadership development experience

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust is the only acute hospital provider in the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System (ICS), which is a system of health and care partners working together for our local population.

Within Mid and South Essex there are 149 GP practices, operating from over 200 sites, forming 27 Primary Care Networks and one Ambulance Trust. There are also three main community and mental health service providers who work together through a community collaborative.

We collaborate with other valuable partners, including three Healthwatch organisations, nine voluntary and community sector organisations and three top tier local authorities, with seven district, borough and city councils, as well as our local universities.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.