Job summary
- Main area
- Paediatrics
- Grade
- Any Grade of Doctor
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Part time - 5 sessions per week
- Job ref
- 150-CP2621-PC
- Employer
- Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Chailey Clinical Services
- Town
- Chailey
- Salary
- £61,542 - £145,478 Basic salary plus £4,000 Additional Responsibility Payment
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 04/05/2026 23:59
- Interview date
- 14/05/2026
Employer heading
Medical Head of Service - Chailey Clinical Services
Any Grade of Doctor
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.
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 3 PAs / sessions to deliver direct clinical care with caseload responsibility within SCFT's Child Development Centres. Child Development Services provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary child development and disability services, largely focused on children and young people with neurodisability and neurodevelopmental disorders.
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 5 PA / session post comprises:
- 2 PAs / sessions - Medical Head of Service
- 3 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.
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) Provide professional and medical leadership to the Planned Care Division, ensuring frameworks are in place and all medical staff are professionally line managed and are clinically/professionally developed in delivering quality focused care. As a senior leader ensure quality governance objectives are embedded within the division that demonstrate safe, effective care delivery.
b) In partnership with the relevant medical executive director (CMO/DCMO) and the clinical Divisional leadership team and other clinical Heads of Services, develop, lead and implement the Trust’s clinical priorities and strategies ensuring medical staff are engaged and connected to the objectives and plans.
c) In conjunction with the Planned Care Divisional medical director, use a data-based approach to identify and tackle health inequities by driving forward equitable access, excellent experience and optimal outcomes for all.
d) The post holder may deputise for the Planned Care Divisional Medical Director at strategic meetings, when appropriate.
Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification.
Person specification
Qualifications and Professional Registration
Essential criteria
- Qualified doctor with GMC registration and Licence to Practice
Desirable criteria
- Qualification in Business/Medical Management
Experience
Essential criteria
- Proven record in a Medical leadership role, including contributing to operational management of services.
- Experience of working in Community Paediatric Services.
- Experience in management of health services
- 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 in 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.
Skills and Knowledge
Essential criteria
- 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.
- Well-developed presentation skills.
- Word-processing and keyboard skills and ability to use Microsoft Office packages including Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
- 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.
- Strong patient focus.
- Excellent time management, prioritisation and organisational skills and ability to manage and deliver to agreed deadlines.
- 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.
Other
Essential criteria
- Able to travel to meet the requirements of the job
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Selma Stafford
- Job title
- Divisional Medical Director - Planned Care
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Additional information
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