Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.
Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.
To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone.
Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.
Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.
LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.
We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
This role provides strategic support to the General Manager in designing and delivering efficient, patient-centred services aligned with commissioner expectations and the Trust’s Annual Business Plan.
It plays a key part in shaping the South East London (SEL) surgical hub strategy by cultivating a positive, inclusive work culture that encourages staff wellbeing and development. The role also contributes to the wider divisional strategy, championing integrated working and strong collaborative partnerships across the division.
Main duties of the job
This job role would suit and individual who has experience of working in a clinical setting operationally as well as having an understanding of clinical procedures.
Working in theatres at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust comes with a blend of professional growth, supportive culture, and meaningful work. Here are some standout benefits:
• The Trust supports ongoing learning, offering training on the job and encouraging further education.
• Teamwork is highly valued—staff describe a strong sense of hardworking and mutual support, with everyone playing a vital role in patient care.
• Theatres are described as multicultural and inclusive, where people feel heard and appreciated.
• As a teaching hospital, University Hospital Lewisham offers exposure to a wide range of procedures and specialties, from orthopaedics to gynaecology.
• Staff often rotate across different theatres, gaining broad clinical experience and learning something new daily.
Working for our organisation
Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:
1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The role calls for someone who is both clinically experienced and operationally knowledgeable. This role, would be suitable for someone with a blend of strategic insight, collaborative spirit, and compassionate leadership.
• A healthcare professional with a clinical experience/background, e.g., a registered nurse or operating department practitioner.
• Proven experience in service development and operational delivery, ideally within a healthcare environment, demonstrating the ability to design and refine patient-focused, cost-effective care pathways.
• Strong leadership qualities, with a track record of motivating multidisciplinary teams and cultivating a culture of wellbeing, inclusivity, and professional growth.
• Strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, with the confidence to contribute to trust-wide planning initiatives like the SEL surgical hub strategy and divisional integration efforts.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, enabling effective collaboration across departments and engagement with stakeholders, commissioners, and clinical colleagues.
Person specification
Essential criteria
6. Educated to first level degree or equivalent experience
7. Management/leadership qualification or equivalent experience at post graduate level
8. Evidence of continued professional development
Desirable criteria
9. Master’s degree
10. Management/leadership qualification/clinical background
Experience
Essential criteria
11. Proven experience of working in a management/leadership role in an acute healthcare environment.
12. Experience of leading and motivating a team
13. Leading service changes to improve performance and leading projects
14. Identifying and interpreting national policy and implementing required changes
15. Experience of drafting briefing papers and correspondence for a senior audience
16. Experience of monitoring budgets and business planning processes
Desirable criteria
17. Business case development and annual planning, longer term planning
18. Experience of investigating complaints, drafting responses, duty of candour etc.,
19. Experience of setting up and implementing internal processes and procedures
Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
20. Financial procedures including budget setting and working knowledge of financial processes
21. Business planning /annual planning/long term planning
22. In depth understanding of change management
23. Knowledge of service improvements/transformation and project management
24. Good analytical and problem-solving skills
25. Risk management and governance
26. Ability to provide and receive complex, sensitive and contentious information and present complex and sensitive information to large groups and senior stakeholders
Desirable criteria
27. Numerate, with excellent analytical skills including ability to use Excel to analyse and present complex quantitative data
28. NHS IT Systems
29. Comprehensive knowledge of project principles, techniques and tools, such as Prince 2 and quality improvement methodology
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
30. Ability to work independently and make autonomous decisions
31. Strong communication skills both written and verbal – able to provide and receive highly complex, sensitive information and use persuasion, influencing and negotiation with individuals and groups including stakeholders
32. Ability to embrace, lead and drive change
33. Ability to organise and prioritise own workload and direct the work of others and adjust plans as required both in the short and long term
34. Able to work flexibly to meet the demands of the role
Desirable criteria
35. Demonstrate a commitment to collaborative working
36. Strong, inclusive and effective leadership style
We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.
As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women’s staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.
Please note, not all roles will meet the criteria for a skilled worker visa.
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.
Application numbers
To ensure fairness and manageable shortlisting processes, some vacancies may have an application cap. This means the vacancy will close once a set number of applications have been received even if this happens before the advertised closing date.
We recommend applying as early as possible to avoid missing out. All applications received before the cap is reached will be considered equally and assessed against the person specification.