Job summary
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) is seeking an exceptional Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to join its Board and provide dynamic, visible leadership for the next stage of its journey. This is a pivotal opportunity for a senior clinician who combines professional credibility with compassion and can translate ambitious clinical strategy into meaningful delivery through transformation, innovation, and a relentless focus on quality, outcomes, and experience.
CPFT delivers a broad range of mental health, learning disability, autism, and community services across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The Trust is proud of both the care it provides and the people who provide it, and is focused on redesigning pathways, improving access and flow, strengthening safety and governance, and making care more personalised, integrated, and equitable. As CMO, you will help set this direction and lead the work that turns strategy into impact.
Recognised nationally and internationally for award‑winning research, CPFT is a University Teaching Hospital and a member of the University Hospital Association. Partnerships with the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University create a unique environment for shaping the future of healthcare and developing innovation with world‑class research capability.
Please note online applications are not required for this post. For an application pack and details on how to apply please email Recruitment@cpft.nhs.uk
Salary – Very Senior Manager (VSM) / Consultant.
Main duties of the job
This role requires a highly visible and engaging leader: present in services, connected to teams, and able to build momentum with clarity and purpose. You will set the tone for medical leadership across CPFT by modelling behaviours that sustain a learning culture that is open, inclusive, accountable, and kind. You will build confidence in change and enable high‑performing teams to deliver at pace while maintaining compassion at the heart of care.
You will lead an ambitious clinical strategy aligned to system priorities and population need, ensuring it delivers improved care across community and inpatient settings. You will sponsor clinically led transformation and service redesign, improve pathways, champion innovation, and use data and improvement methods to secure measurable gains in quality, safety, access, and productivity through digital enablement, new care models, and evidence‑based practice that strengthen prevention, recovery, and independence.
The post provides executive leadership for medical governance, patient safety, and quality improvement, with robust assurance and a just, learning approach to risk. We are seeking an executive‑ready clinician with full GMC registration and a proven track record in large‑scale transformation. You will bring sound board‑level judgement, influence in complex environments, and a clear commitment to visible leadership across diverse teams representing over 50 nationalities.
About us
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high‑quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.
Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children’s, adult and older people’s mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.
To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high‑calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under‑represented groups including people with long‑term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.
Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.
Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.
For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk
Job responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification for full details.
* Provide strategic leadership to the Trust Board on clinical strategy, quality, safety, outcomes, and transformation.
* Be the Executive Lead for clinical governance including audit and clinical effectiveness, ensuring robust assurance frameworks and effective oversight of clinical governance, risk management, incident response and regulatory engagement.
* Lead major transformation programmes across mental health and community care, including:
o Neighbourhood/community models and integrated teams
o Crisis and urgent care pathways
o Inpatient care redesign and therapeutic environment
o Long‑term condition management and rehabilitation
* Provide professional leadership to the medical workforce, including consultants, SAS doctors, resident doctors and wider clinical leaders.
* Lead medical excellence, through oversight of medical education and training governance, including relationships with deaneries, universities and placement providers.
* Embed statutory Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act compliance into pathway redesign and quality improvement.
* Ensure sound governance over budgets, productivity and resource use within the medical directorate.
* As Executive Lead for Mental Health Legislation, oversee all organisational duties relating to the Mental Health Act 1983 and Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Person Specification
Education / Qualification
* Full professional registration with the GMC (with a licence to practise) and on specialist register, with senior clinical leadership experience
* MBBS or equivalent formal qualification
* MRCPsych/MRCGP or equivalent
Desirable (Education / Qualification)
* Approved clinician under Section 12 of the Mental Health Act
* Postgraduate qualification in QI, Med ed, research, or mental health law
Experience
* Senior leadership experience at or near board level in a complex healthcare organisation (mental health and/or community preferred)
* Experience of practising as a consultant in mental health, learning disability or community services and leading high‑performing services as a clinical director.
* Experience of delivering large‑scale clinical transformation and measurable improvements in quality, safety and outcomes across complex landscapes and systems.
* Performance management of finance and budgetary ownership in a challenging and/or regulatory environment.
Desirable (Experience)
* Experience of a medical management and leadership role in a healthcare organisation at board or near board level
Knowledge and Skills
* Knowledge of the professional, educational and statutory requirements of medical staff
* Knowledge of the strategic issues facing Mental Health, Learning Disability, Autism and community‑based care services, focusing on driving better population health outcomes and reducing inequalities.
* Knowledge of the clinical and corporate governance frameworks
* Ability to ensure the Board prioritises quality in constrained financial environments.
Desirable (Knowledge and Skills)
* Knowledge of Mental Health Legislation (Mental Health Act 1983, Mental Capacity Act 2005)
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Job details
Date posted: 20 February 2026
Pay scheme: Very Senior Manager (VSM)
Salary: £100,000 to £200,000 a year per annum
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 310-MCORP-7818305
Job locations: Trust Headquarters, Elizabeth House; Fulbourn Hospital; Cambridge; CB21 5EF
Employer details
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Trust Headquarters, Elizabeth House
Fulbourn Hospital
Cambridge
CB21 5EF
Employer's website
https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)
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