Job overview
Barts Health NHS Trust is seeking an exceptional clinical leader to take on the pivotal role of Group Lead Obstetric Anaesthetist, guiding anaesthetic leadership across one of the UK’s largest and most diverse maternity and neonatal services.
Working closely with the Group Obstetrics Lead, Group Director of Midwifery and Maternity Triumvirate Teams, you will help drive our strategic ambitions for safe, high‑quality, compassionate care. You will play a central role in strengthening governance, supporting clinical transformation, and fostering an open, inclusive culture where learning, innovation and staff development thrive.
This is a unique opportunity for an experienced senior clinician with a passion for improvement, partnership working and multidisciplinary leadership. You will champion excellence across our hospital sites, ensuring services are well‑led, responsive, effective and grounded in best practice. Your leadership will influence clinical quality standards, patient experience, service performance and staff wellbeing.
Main duties of the job
The Group Lead Anaesthetist will work closely with the Group Obstetrics Lead and Group Director of Midwifery as well as site Maternity Triumvirate Leads. As part of this team the post holder will be responsible for strategically supporting the Group Maternity and Neonatal Quality and Safety objectives. The Group Lead Anaesthetist will be required to demonstrate partnership working and collaboration with other senior leaders. Current and potential clinical leads are encouraged to consider whether you have the skills, drive and personality to carry out this exciting and challenging role.
The Lead will provide leadership and direction to Maternity and Neonatal Leadership Teams with a particular focus on providing high quality, safe, well-governed, productive and cost-effective services which support the trust in delivering its strategic objectives.
The Post holder will work closely with leadership teams across the Trust in valuing good performance, addressing poor performance, and enabling staff to identify concerns and ensure that these are resolved. They will provide support to all staff, fostering a culture which will develop strong and effective clinical leadership.
Working for our organisation
The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.
Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.
We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment where staff treat one another with dignity and respect. We aim to create an equitable working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential.
Barts Health supports The Pregnancy Loss Pledge and commits to supporting their staff through the distress of miscarriage
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The full job description and the person specification provide an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, outlining the qualification, skills, experience, and knowledge required.
Please view the attachment below.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria
1. Works at a senior clinician level
2. Experience of leadership and management
3. Experience of clinical governance and of the measures to ensure patient safety
4. Track record of innovation or transformation
5. Interest in managing and developing staff
6. A record of partnership working
Desirable criteria
7. Establishing and sustaining effective strategic direction
8. Track record of addressing poor performance
9. Track record of achieving financial targets
10. Establishing and sustaining effective strategic direction
11. Experience of working across specialties or sites
Skills
Essential criteria
12. Demonstrable leadership skills
13. Able to think and act strategically and to articulate a clear vision and sense of direction
14. Ability to define and implement policy development at departmental level
15. Communication skills, verbal and written
16. Interpersonal skills, able to influence and motivate
17. Able to prioritise and manage competing demands
18. Able to lead continuous change and improvement in services, encouraging the use of new clinical and service technologies with a multidisciplinary team.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
19. An understanding of the current context of health and social care, and of clinical learning and research
20. An understanding of the specific issues in East London
21. A broad understanding of the systems for primary care, social care and commissioning
22. Knowledge of the Trust priorities
Qualifications
Essential criteria
23. Evidence of continuing professional development
Desirable criteria
24. Management qualification
25. Postgraduate qualification
26. Interest or experience in quality improvement methodologies
Other – Attitudes and Values
Essential criteria
27. Understands and supports the vision and values of the Trust
28. Acts as a role model for senior as well as more junior colleagues
29. Team player, able to develop a culture that values colleagues and enables them to engage in problem solving and decision making
30. Motivated for the role
31. Provides a role model for clinical leaders