Main area Pathology Grade NHS AfC: Band 8a Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday. A degree of flexible working is available.) Job ref 297-8030212
Employer Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead Town Gateshead Salary £57,528 - £64,750 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 16/06/2026 23:59
Pathology Reception Operational Manager
NHS AfC: Band 8a
South of Tyne and Wear Clinical Pathology Services operates across laboratories in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead; Sunderland Royal Hospital and South Tyneside District Hospital. The service provides high quality diagnostic services to improve the health care of the people of South of Tyne and Wear. In addition it also provides bowel and cervical screening services for populations across the North East and Yorkshire.
The post holder will be responsible for the operational management of the sample reception processes to support the Biochemistry; Haematology Blood Transfusion and Immunology; Microbiology and Cervical Screening Departments of pathology. The Pathology Reception processes will be managed to ensure timely handing and processing of samples to support patient pathways across both primary and secondary care.
Responsibilities:
- Leading the pathology reception team across all sites
- Managing day-to-day reception and specimen handling
- Ensuring services meet KPIs, and is compliant with accreditation and regulatory standards
- Supporting budget control and service improvement
- Producing operational and performance reports
- Maintaining patient safety, quality, and governance
- Managing staff training, development, and supervision
- Handling complaints, enquiries, and escalated issues
- Overseeing IT systems and accurate record-keeping
Main responsibilities of the post include:
- To provide effective leadership and operational management of the Pathology Reception teams across all laboratory sites
- To ensure the delivery of a high-quality, responsive reception service in line with agreed standards, KPIs, and regulatory requirements
- To oversee the safe and efficient management of specimen reception and associated operational processes
- To support the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of service models and working practices
- To contribute to the delivery of performance, quality, governance, and patient safety objectives across the service
- To produce and monitor operational and performance reports as required
- To lead, manage, and support staff through supervision, appraisal, training, and development
- To manage complaints, enquiries, and escalated issues in a timely and professional manner
- To ensure the effective use of information systems and maintain accurate records in accordance with Trust policies
Person specification
Qualifications
- Leadership Qualification or equivalent vocational experience
Experience
- Extensive operational management experience in a healthcare setting
- Experience managing staff and service delivery, including in complex or multi-site teams
- Experience leading change and service improvement
- Ability to implement governance structures, reporting frameworks, and KPI-focused performance management
- Strong communication, presentation, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills
- Good IT skills, including reporting, presentations, data handling, and Trust information systems
- Experience managing to meet accreditation and regulatory requirements
- Experience of workforce planning, succession planning, and staff development
- Experience of audit, quality improvement, and using data to inform service redesign
Skills
- Leading and motivating teams
- Supporting teams through change
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.
