Deputy General Manager - Surgery

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Deputy General Manager - Surgery The closing date is 13 March 2026

Accountable to the General Manager and working in partnership with Clinical Director and Head of Nursing, the Deputy General Manager will work with the General Manager in the operational delivery, performance, financial performance, governance, change, and business development across the Care Group.

Main duties of the job The Deputy General Manager will work alongside the General Manager in the delivery of financial, quality, performance, productivity, and workforce targets, agreed as part of the business planning, appraisal, and personal development process.

The Deputy General Manager will have responsibility leading the Surgery teams, which will include managers responsible for service and performance, to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of high-quality patient centred services, strategic planning and development, and change programmes.

The Deputy General Manager will be accountable for establishing and maintaining effective structures and systems of control for the management of staff, including recruitment, appraisal, continuing professional development, and support of the Trust's Human Resource policies and procedures.

The Deputy General Manager will be accountable to the General Manager for service delivery against the Care Group's aims and objectives.

The Deputy General Manager will be expected to establish collaborative relationships with colleagues, working in partnership within the Trust and with external agencies to assure delivery of the Care Group's business plan and strategic vision.

The Deputy General Manager will ensure that line management of the staff is undertaken professionally, and each member of staff has a development and training plan consistent with Care Group, Site, and Trust objectives.

About us King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1.8 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King's to another level.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King's is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone's contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust's carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Job responsibilities Delivery of safe, high quality Patient Care

• Create an environment within the Surgery Care Group that makes care, safety, and patient satisfaction everyones first concern. There will be an emphasis on learning from the results of patient feedback and risk management systems to drive continuous service improvement and the reduction of risk.
• Ensure that high quality clinical services are delivered in line with the Trusts Quality Strategy and available financial resources.
• The post-holder will listen and take action to address concerns identified through a range of tools including the annual patient survey, real time patient feedback systems, formal complaints, providing regular feedback to patients, parents and staff on action taken with training, and support for staff where appropriate.

Governance

• Actively involve and lead staff in the delivery of Clinical Governance, in accordance with Trust systems, processes, and priorities.
• Deputy General Managers are expected to participate and lead service reviews (where appropriate) to ensure that care is delivered in line with best practice and actions are taken to ensure any system failures are addressed.
• The Deputy General Manager, and Triumvirate Leadership team, will work together to ensure the monitoring of trends, dissemination of best practice, and learning throughout the Department.
• Ensure that care group responsibilities, with respect to external assessments e.g. Risk Management and the Care Quality Commissions Standards, are fulfilled.
• Together with the triumvirate, lead the management of complaints and learning from complaints, SIs, and other incidents. The post-holder will ensure that appropriate action is taken to address issues of concern and prevent recurrence of similar events.
• Ensure that incident reviews are undertaken in a timely manner, resultant action plans completed to an agreed timetable with feedback regarding the progress made.
• The postholder will be required to communicate sensitive and often contentious information to patients, families, and staff; including chairing Local Resolution Meetings

Operational planning and delivery

• Oversee the operational delivery of all services within their portfolio which may be across sites.
• Work closely with internal teams to devise systems to proactively manage service demands and ensure that these are fully implemented.
• Work closely with senior clinical colleagues to ensure effective support and administrative services are in place for all clinical areas, meeting the needs of the clinical service.
• Initiate and oversee regular reviews of services and ensure new developments are appropriately resourced through the annual planning process.
• Monitor activity in relation to agreed activity plans and access targets and implement immediate corrective action as is required.
• Respond at a senior level, and in a timely fashion, to escalated and unpredictable day-to-day operational issues. Liaise directly with patients and staff to resolve concerns, including resolving stressful or distressing situations.
• Build effective networks with other care groups and departments, working in collaboration to support efficient patient care and flow.
• Developing and supporting service redesign and quality initiatives.
• To complete fully any and all reasonable management requests.

Performance management

• Oversee clinical services are delivered in line with required activity and income plans, maintaining control of expenditure, improving value for money, and ensuring continued service development in relation to efficiency and quality. This will include implementation and monitoring of demand management initiatives agreed with commissioners.
• Exercise delegated authority from General Manager and Clinical Director/Lead(s) for development and implementation of performance management framework and resolution of escalated issues within Care Group.
• To identify early need for remedial action plans where performance targets are not met and ensure implementation within the service.
• Supporting and improving organisation operational performance to meet specific access targets set by both central government and the Trust.
• Supporting Care Group performance in relation to national and local targets in collaboration with colleagues across the Trust, advising and supporting the implementation of national standards.
• The portfolio, both internal and external to the Trust, and be responsible for preparing and collating information and ensuring any identified actions are fully implemented. By also implementing service reviews where there are performance concerns or operational delivery challenges.
• Oversee that the Trust processes in relation to contractual requirements (e.g. demand management) are fully adhered to.
• Oversee the monitoring of benchmarked performance against internal and external indicators.

Financial and physical resources

• Ensure the optimum use of resources. Establishing and maintaining an effective management process to ensure financial control.
• Identify and proactively manage cost improvement plans within the care group, taking any remedial action which may be necessary to ensure delivery of agreed financial targets.
• Lead on the implementation of improvement and capital projects including robust project timelines, KPIs, risk management, and benefits realisation.
• Work with the finance, information/planning teams, and service leads to ensure that service line reporting information is an accurate reflection of the service provided. That action is taken to improve the financial contribution of all services. This will include the development and monitoring of initiatives to improve productivity and reduce cost.
• Act as an authorised signatory within delegated limits.

Strategic planning and change delivery

• Support the General Manager in the development of the annual activity plan for the Care Group, ensuring that it supports delivery of the corporate plan and meets financial management expectations. To ensure the plans are developed with and owned by staff and be consulted on widely, both within the Trust and externally with stakeholders.
. click apply for full job details