Job Description
Portsmouth Pathology is a large and modern diagnostics service with 300 staff working from a purpose-built facility on the Queen Alexandra Hospital site. It provides a broad range of pathology services, from high throughput analysers to very specialist, low volume testing. Total workload figures for the service per annum are approximately 2.5 million blood samples, 400,000 microbiology investigations and 45,000 tissue biopsies. This is delivered by a dedicated team of scientific, technical, admin and clinical staff. Core services operate 24 hours a day, every day, supporting clinical decision making in the busy Queen Alexandra hospital and the surrounding community. It also includes a busy mortuary service. The breadth and depth of the scientific services, coupled with high demand, makes this a dynamic and exciting service to lead.
As the Care Group Manager for Pathology at PHU, you will provide senior operational leadership to the pathology services including the mortuary.
Working in a triumvirate partnership with the Clinical Director and Senior Biomedical Scientist, you will lead the strategic and financial planning for the Care Group. You will be responsible for navigating the transition towards integration with Isle of Wight pathology services and the development of the Southern Counties Pathology Network business case into proposed new model across the network. You will provide direct leadership to the Business Manager, whilst supporting the Heads of Service, ensuring that laboratory supports RTT and cancer targets and the further digitisation of pathology services.
Key Responsibilities
* Technological Strategy: Lead the development of business cases for capital investment in laboratory automation and digital pathology.
* Operational Excellence: Maintain a rigorous focus on national access standards and laboratory turnaround times (TATs).
* Workforce Innovation: Develop a resilient workforce strategy that addresses the national shortage of HCPC registered scientists through creative "grow your own" initiatives.
Interviews for this vacancy will take place on Monday 9th February 2026
Qualifications
* Educated to Degree level or equivalent qualification/experience.
* Post Graduate Qualification or equivalent.
* Evidence of continuing professional development including management studies to masters level or above or equivalent experience.
* Significant experience working on both strategic and operational matters.
* Significant NHS/Public sector experience and knowledge and understanding of the NHS system reform policy and other key policy drivers.
* Demonstrable success in building, leading, motivating and developing multi-disciplinary teams as highly effective people manager.
* Experience of leadership of complex operational change/project management while also developing and maintaining high standards of quality.
Additional Information
The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.
We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.