Job overview
The Private Patient Service Manager provides operational and strategic support to the Trust’s Private Patient Lead, contributing to the development, implementation, and ongoing delivery of private patient services in line with Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s THRIVE values. The post holder will play a key role in supporting the development of private patient surgical theatre pathways, working collaboratively across the organisation.
Working in partnership with clinical teams, theatre staff, management structure, finance, HR, and senior leaders, the post holder supports the design and embedding of effective private patient pathways that reflect the Trust’s commitment to Teamwork, Respect, and Innovation. This includes supporting capacity planning, scheduling, performance monitoring, and service improvement to enable sustainable growth in private patient surgical activity.
The role acts as a key point of contact for consultants, theatre teams, insurers, and internal stakeholders, promoting Honesty, Accountability, and Visibility through clear communication, transparent processes, and collaborative problem-solving. The post holder supports the Private Patient Lead in identifying opportunities for development, addressing operational challenges, and ensuring compliance with regulatory and governance requirements.
Main duties of the job
Ensure private patient services meet agreed performance standards, including access, scheduling, and pathway efficiency.
Work collaboratively with the Private Patient Lead, General Manager, Clinical Leads, Senior Ward Manager within Private Patients, theatre teams, and corporate services to develop, implement, and review private patient service improvement plans.
Support the establishment and maintenance of appropriate financial controls and income assurance across private patient activity.
Act as a champion for patient safety, quality, and operational effectiveness within the private patient pathway.
Work in partnership with colleagues across the Trust to support delivery of corporate objectives and business plans, ensuring private patient services align with quality, governance, contractual, financial, and workforce requirements.
Lead by example as an ambassador for the Trust, consistently demonstrating Trust values and maintaining the highest standards of professionalism, behaviour, and compassion.
Working for our organisation
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.
Our values
We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.
Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Leadership
To provide guidance and support to Clinical Leads, Head and Deputy Heads of Nursing and Matrons and teams across the clinical service line and promote continual improvement in quality, performance and delivery of Trust objectives.
To work collaboratively with the leadership team in delivering specialty and trust objectives.
Maintain excellent working relationships with Senior Ward Manager within Private Patients to ensure daily management of patient flow, bed management and ongoing safety within the ward.
Support the Private Patient Lead and General Manager in establishing the accountability structures within the clinical service line ensuring that responsibility is delegated appropriately so that decisions can be taken as close to service provision as possible.
Manage and motivate staff to deliver and improve services so meeting the needs of patients.
In conjunction with the Private Patient Lead and General Manager, develop the business and planning processes to deliver services to required standards and within the available resource base.
Work collaboratively with Business partners to ensure effective financial, quality and workforce planning that meets the needs of both current and future service developments.
Ensure that all staff receive appropriate education and training opportunities which supports the workforce strategy and therefore, the strategic aims of the Trust.
Service Delivery and Improvement
Facilitate service transformation by planning and taking action to ensure private patient services are fit for purpose, with the capacity and capability to meet current and future demand and standards.
Develop and maintain effective processes to monitor, analyse, and manage private patient activity and capacity, identifying underperformance against key operational objectives and taking timely corrective action to ensure Trust and relevant performance targets are met.
Work with the Private Patient Lead to support the day-to-day management of private patient services, holding delegated responsibility for meeting agreed business, financial, and performance targets where required.
Review and interpret complex information from multiple sources to identify key issues and summarise these clearly to support the Private Patient Leads decision making.
Use effective communication and negotiation skills to gain the cooperation of clinical and non-clinical colleagues in delivering private patient service objectives.
Develop and maintain effective communication channels across private patient pathways and specialties, using appropriate methods such as meetings, presentations, and team briefings to ensure shared understanding.
Financial Performance Management
The post holder will support the development of robust and viable private patient business cases aligned with directorate strategies and Trust objectives, including sustainability, resource and capital requirements, full costings, income opportunities, and efficiency gains. They will produce and present timely, credible reports and analysis on private patient performance and work closely with the Private Patient Lead, Heads of Nursing, Clinical Directors, and Matrons to support delivery of financial performance, ensuring expenditure is controlled and income targets are maximised.
The role will also support delivery of cost improvement and productivity initiatives relevant to private patient services and work collaboratively with clinical teams and Trust information and coding teams to ensure private patient income is accurately captured through timely and correct coding. In addition, the post holder will support workforce management within private patient services, ensuring agency and locum use is by exception, and that any changes to establishment or service cover are appropriately justified, documented, and assessed for risk, cost, and income impact.
Workforce Management
To line manage staff in accordance with the Trust’s policies and the directorate’s key operational objectives.
To ensure appropriate methods are used to determine the staffing requirements at all times and to ensure staff managers are equipped with the knowledge, insight and support to manage their staffing resource in the most economic but effective manner.
Ensure that the most effective communication methods are used to inform staff members of developments, objectives and news in order to develop an inclusive culture within their specialities.
To ensure that training and development needs are identified through regular training needs analyses and that those needs are budgeted and evaluated in line with directorate objectives, priorities and resources.
Ensure compliance with mandatory training requirements for all staff, regularity of appraisals for all staff and appropriate performance management arrangements.
Support staff by providing coaching and training within areas of expertise as required.
To lead investigations and reviews of incidents and potential performance issues in line with Trust policy in a thorough and transparent manner, within appropriate timescales.
To ensure that service environments, processes and facilities comply with appropriate Health and Safety and other regulatory requirements at all times, and that staff are aware of their responsibilities in regards to these.
Risk Management and Governance
To ensure the approach to Clinical Governance is in line with national and Trust strategy/guidance and CQC requirements and is based on evidence and best practice.
To ensure that robust structures are in place for timely complaints handling, incident reporting and management, risk assessment and audit that comply with Trust policy and that lessons learnt and best practice are disseminated across the directorates and the wider trust. This includes monitoring progress of action plan implementation.
In conjunction with the General Manager, Head and Deputy Heads of Nursing, Clinical Directors and Matrons provide leadership to ensure that services are efficient, effective and of the highest quality with excellent patient outcomes and satisfaction. To ensure all members of the multidisciplinary team understand and are engaged in these processes.
To liaise with other departments and divisions to identify where projects exceed the capacity of the services or to develop new services and engage other Trust resources and expertise as required.
Implement effective systems and procedures to seek and respond to patient feedback.
To support the handling of complex and sensitive discussions with relatives and complainants to ensure appropriate action is taken. To ensure the staff involved receive the appropriate training and feedback and that support and advice is available.
Support the General Manager in being accountable for ensuring that services comply with mandatory and regulatory standards, and comply with local and commissioning requirements for information submission e.g. through National Databases.
To be aware, and ensure appropriate internal cascade, of relevant National, Local and internal policy and guidance such as NICE
Application of Knowledge
At all times the post holder should use their professional management knowledge and experience to assess, plan, evaluate and judge the appropriate interventions
The post holder should maintain their knowledge of changes in the NHS and in wider industry to enable and direct services to respond to changing requirements and securing best practice.
Aspire to expand the application of service improvement including, process analysis and project management discipline.
Person specification
Essential
Essential criteria
1. Effective Communication Skills with Clinical and Non Clinical Colleagues
Essential
Essential criteria
2. Experience of Financial Performance Management
Essential
Essential criteria
3. Experienced in Service Delivery and Improvement
Applicant requirements
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.