Main area Deputy Head of School Surgery Grade Head of School (HoS) Contract Secondment: 14 months (until 30 September 2026) Hours Part time - 1 session per week (4 hours) Job ref 990-SE-16464-E

Employer NHS England Employer type NHS Site Explorer House Town Southampton Salary In line with HoS sessional payments Closing 14/08/2025 23:59

Deputy Head of School of Surgery

Head of School (HoS)

Our Organisation

The NHS is building a culture that is positive, compassionate and inclusive – and we all have our part to play.

As employers we are committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution and supports us to be an Employer of Choice, while helping our colleagues to deliver high quality services for our patients and communities.

As a flexible employer, we want to support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern. In addition,although the role advertised may have a ‘home’ office base indicated, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

We are an accredited Living Wage Employer which means that every colleague working for our organisation and third-party contractors will earn a real Living Wage. We are one of over 15,000 organisations, who voluntarily chose to pay the real Living Wage.

Job overview

Within NHS England, South East Region, the Wessex Local Office is responsible for the planning, development, education and training of the future and current healthcare and public health workforce across Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Salisbury.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a forward thinking and dynamic Consultant to be the new Deputy Head of School of Surgery. The School provides a framework for partnership between NHS England, The Royal College of Surgeons and local Trusts, to ensure the highest standards of specialty training.

This is a challenging role and requires the ability to demonstrate leadership in postgraduate education, negotiating with key stakeholders and ensuring high standards all the way. There is a busy immediate agenda with supporting the ongoing development of the existing core and higher training programmes and to support service transformation and scope new training opportunities to complement and enhance the current programmes.

Main duties of the job

The Deputy Head of School is professionally and managerially accountable to the Postgraduate Dean. The Head of School will focus upon improvement of learner supervision, assessment and experience, engagement of faculty and ensuring effective educational outcomes, both now and in the future. The role is evolving and will also focus on whole workforce transformation and developing multi-professional links mas well as innovative ways of curriculum delivery and workforce well-being strategies.

Although the main role is to lead and develop the Postgraduate School of Surgery all senior clinicians within NHS England may have wider roles and projects as agreed with the Postgraduate Dean.

Working for our organisation

The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, which will inform the detailed design work and we will achieve this purpose by:

• Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
• Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
• Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
• Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation

If you would like to know more or require further information, please visithttps://www.england.nhs.uk/.

Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.

Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.

If you are successful at interview, we will run an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) in the Electronic Staff Record system (ESR). This transfer gathers valuable information from a previous or current NHS employer to support the onboarding process, including; statutory and mandatory competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You will have the opportunity throughout the recruitment process to inform us if you do not consent.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

0.1 EMC has been allocated for this role. The number of EMCs indicatively equates to the number of PAs for job planning; however, the level of funding for EMCs is fixed and may not equate to your individual personal salary with your employer in relation to your planned activities.

Prior to applying, please ensure you have discussed this role with your local Director of Medical Education to ensure that this work functions as a secondment with time freed up in your job plan to fulfil expectations. The financial contribution to the Trust is then to backfill any clinical time. This will be followed up at interview to ensure support is in place.

The Trust Director of Medical Education will be asked to provide a reference in support of your application.

You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.

Secondments

Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Primary clinical healthcare qualification
• Fellowship of College/Faculty: professional association and/or body
• Attendance at courses aimed to support educational development

Employment/Experience

• Working with learners or doctors in training in an educational context
• Experience of clinical and educational leadership and innovation, including managing a multi-professional team
• Demonstrable track record of delivery of service and education
• Understanding of developments involving the relevant Colleges/Faculties, professional bodes related to NHS
• Understanding of the workforce transformation agenda
• Trained and experienced in recruitment, selection and E&D in the last 3 years.
• Active involvement in and up to date with appraisal process
• Knowledge of the NHS, its structures and processes, including understanding workforce educational context
• Applicants who are doctors require a licence to practise
• Previous or current appointment as a leader in healthcare education
• Awareness of funding streams for healthcare education
• Understanding of current health and social care and education policy

Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrable leadership skills and an ability to influence and motivate others
• A strong sense of vision and an ability to innovate
• Politically astute with an ability to sensitively manage complexity and uncertainty
• Ability to problem solve and maintain objectivity
• Strong interpersonal, communication, written and presentation skills
• Ability to quickly establish personal and professional credibility with colleagues and other key stakeholders
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Committed to own personal development and an ability to support others to develop and progress
• Ability to rapidly establish academic credibility

Our commitments to you

We are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative work environment that delivers better patient outcomes. We strive to ensure our people feel trusted, valued and empowered. We’re passionate about nurturing and developing people. When you join us, we want you to grow and excel, and we offer many opportunities for you to do that. We welcome your talent and enthusiasm irrespective of age, disability, neuro-divergence, sex, gender identity and gender expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances. We have policies and procedures to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability and/or who are neuro-divergent.

We welcome applications from disabled candidates. If you meet all the essential criteria, you will be guaranteed an interview.

If applying for this role on a secondment basis, please make sure you have obtained prior agreement from your current line manager to apply for this position.

Please note that we currently do not accept applications via recruitment agencies.

To comply with the HM Government Functional Standard GovS 007, and specifically the Personnel Security Standards 2024, individuals employed or contracted by NHS England may be required to undergo a Baseline Personnel Security Standards check, dependent on the role.

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