Care Group Manager - Surgery & MSK

Here at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, we are proud to provide expert, compassionate care for our local population. We are ranked as the third in the country for research, embedding education and training across the organisation. Our main hub is the Queen Alexandra Hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals on the south coast employing over 8,700 staff.

Our patients come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes our hospital stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for getting it right for patients, colleagues, and our community, you will find a home at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust

Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent 

Band - Band 8C, £79,504 - £91,609 per annum

Are you a highly experienced, ambitious operational leader with a proven track record in the NHS or a complex public sector environment? We are seeking a dynamic and resilient Care Group General Manager to join our senior leadership team and play a pivotal role in delivering excellent patient care and operational efficiency.

This is a key leadership position where you will work in a crucial tripartite partnership with the Clinical Director and Senior Matron to shape the strategic direction and ensure the integrated clinical, operational, and financial performance of the Care Group.

What You Will Deliver

This role is not just about management it’s about visionary leadership and execution. You will be the driving force behind the Care Group's success, focusing on four core areas:

• Operational Excellence: Accountable for achieving national and local access targets and operational objectives (e.g., RTT, Cancer Pathways). You will ensure seamless, patient-focused service delivery, including implementing the 7/7 working strategy.
• Financial & Performance Stewardship: Take shared corporate responsibility for the Care Group's budget, delivering efficiency savings, leading the annual budget setting, and driving long-term financial stability.
• Strategic Direction & Improvement: Working with the tripartite team, you will contribute to the Division’s strategy, prepare robust business cases for service development, and champion innovation and continuous quality improvement.
• People & Cultural Leadership: Provide proactive and visible leadership, ensuring staff development, effective team working, and a culture of personal responsibility. You will drive improvements based on staff feedback and develop comprehensive workforce plans.

Key Accountabilities

• Ensure full compliance with the Trust's Assurance Framework and all related corporate and clinical risk standards.
• Provide functional leadership and day-to-day support to Business Managers, monitoring and managing all access standards.
• Represent the Care Group at local levels, developing key partnerships and integrating best practice into the Trust.
• Participate in the Trust’s on-call rota and be available for weekend working as required.

Closing Date: Monday 17th August 2026

Interview Date: To be confirmed 

Please note, should we receive a high number of applications, the vacancy may be closed early. 

Essential:

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent qualification/experience
• Post Graduate Qualification or equivalent
• Evidence of continuing professional development including management studies to masters level or above or equivalent experience

Knowledge and Experience

Essential:

• Significant experience working on both strategic and operational matters.
• Significant NHS/Public sector experience and knowledge and understanding of the NHS system reform policy and other key policy drivers
• Demonstrable success in building, leading, motivating and developing multi-disciplinary teams as highly effective people manager
• Proven experience of effective performance and budgetary management and control including achieving annual targets on a regular basis for a large group of clinical specialties
• Proven success in business planning and in the development of business cases
• Experience of leadership of complex operational change/project management while also developing and maintaining high standards of quality

Desirable:

• Clinical experience 
• 2WW Cancer Pathways
• RTT Knowledge

Skills, Abilities and Attributes

• Strong and effective leadership and people management skills
• Strong influencing, persuasion and negotiating skills
• Highly developed verbal and written communication and presentation skills suitable for a range of audiences, including chairing of meetings
• Ability to ensure patient safety by assessing and managing risks associated with service developments
• Ability to work with and through others
• Ability to perform well under pressure and manage unpredictable workload with conflicting priorities
• Quality focused with an innovative approach and ability to solve complex problems
• Ability to develop effect networks and work collaboratively with internal external partners
• Ability to critically analyse complex financial and clinical data sets
• Well-developed IT skills to manage and report on complex performance management information
• Personal Resilience
• Able to participate in on-call rota as required.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs. 

For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026