Clinical Lead for Pathology

                    

At Cleveland Clinic Health System, we believe in a better future for healthcare. And each of us is responsible for honoring our commitment to excellence, pushing the boundaries and transforming the patient experience, every day.

                        

We all have the power to help, heal and change lives — beginning with our own. That’s the power of the Cleveland Clinic Health System team, and The Power of Every One.

                                    

Job Title

Clinical Lead for Pathology

                        

Location

London

                    

Facility

Central London - Victoria

                     

Institute

Imaging-Cleveland Clinic London

                      

Job Code

UK0836

                     

Job Summary

Cleveland Clinic London is establishing a new insourced pathology service as part of an exciting phase of growth and transformation. The Clinical Lead for Pathology provides senior clinical leadership, ensuring the delivery of safe, high-quality, timely, and patient-centred diagnostic services across all pathology disciplines.
This is a rare opportunity to shape a new laboratory service from inception, embedding clinical excellence, regulatory compliance, innovation, and private-sector patient experience at the core of service delivery.

                         

Job Details

Responsibilities:

The Clinical Lead for Pathology provides strategic and operational clinical leadership for all pathology services at Cleveland Clinic London. The role ensures robust clinical governance, regulatory compliance, quality assurance, and risk management, while supporting innovation, service development, and excellence in patient care. This role will be inclusive of delivery of discipline specific Pathologist service provision for the laboratory and will be considered a necessary component of this post.

The post holder acts as the senior clinical authority for pathology, ensuring expert advice on test interpretation, clinical relevance of results, diagnostic pathways, and patient safety is delivered to a satisfactory standard. The role works in close partnership with the Operational Laboratory Director and Pathology Quality Manager and provides clinical expertise and deputisation for the Chair of Diagnostic Services as and when required.

The postholder will report directly to the Cleveland Clinic London (CCL) Chair of Diagnostics and indirectly to the organisation wide Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) Chief of Diagnostics and be professionally accountable for clinical governance, quality, professional standards and clinical leadership across all pathology services within Cleveland Clinic London

Scope of Services:

The Cleveland Clinic London pathology service includes, but is not limited to:

• Haematology
• Coagulation
• Blood Transfusion
• Clinical Chemistry
• Immunology
• Virology
• Microbiology

Key Responsibilities:

Clinical Leadership & Strategy

• Provide strategic clinical leadership for pathology services aligned with organisational and international Cleveland Clinic objectives.
• Set and maintain clinical standards across all pathology disciplines.
• Chair Pathology Clinical Governance meetings.
• Contribute to Annual Management Review (AMR) and executive reporting.
• Meet with the laboratory manager on a regular basis to ensure operational and quality priorities are supported and delivered
• Deputise for the Chair of Diagnostic Services as and when required

Clinical Governance, Quality & Accreditation

• Act as the senior clinical authority for pathology governance and professional standards.
• Ensure full compliance with:
  • UKAS accreditation requirements - ISO 15189:2022
  • MHRA, BSQR & Relevant healthcare standards
• Provide clinical oversight of risk management, audit programmes, quality indicators, and patient safety frameworks.
• Lead the embedding of pathology services within safe and effective clinical care pathways.

Oversight of Laboratory Quality Systems

• Ensure that there is appropriate clinical sign-off for:
  • External Quality Assessment (EQA) outcomes
  • Internal Quality Control (IQC) performance
  • Method verification and validation from a clinical perspective
• Approve corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs) arising from:
  • EQA failures
  • Non-conformities
  • Internal and external audits

Performance Monitoring & Risk Management

• Participate in regular review of:
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
  • Turnaround times and specimen rejection rates.
  • Quality trends and emerging risks
• Provide clinical input to incident investigations, Root Cause Analyses (RCA), and risk assessments with patient safety implications.

Service Development & Innovation

• Provide clinical leadership for:
  • New test introduction
  • Digital pathology, automation, AI, and advanced diagnostics
  • Service transformation and pathway optimisation
• Support business cases requiring clinical justification.
• Ensure innovation aligns with evidence-based practice, governance requirements, and patient safety.

Clinical Advice & Stakeholder Engagement

• Ensure expert clinical interpretation of diagnostic results is available.
• Ensure advice to clinicians is available on:
  • Test selection
  • Specimen collection and handling
  • Result interpretation and limitations
• Act as a senior liaison between pathology, clinicians, executive leadership, and external stakeholders.
• Represent pathology services at internal, regional, national, and international forums.
• Liaise with external agencies including UKAS and referral laboratories.

Workforce, Training & Professional Leadership

• Provide mentorship and professional leadership to consultants, clinical scientists, and senior laboratory staff.
• Contribute to training and competency assessment of:
  • Medical Laboratory Assistants
  • Biomedical Scientists
• Support appraisal, revalidation, CPD, and workforce development planning.

Policies, SOPs & Documentation

• Review and approve clinically relevant SOPs, test repertoires, and interpretive guidelines.
• Ensure documentation reflects current best practice and regulatory requirements.

Financial & Business Contribution

• Contribute to financial planning, service growth, and cost-effectiveness initiatives.
• Support procurement and business cases for new equipment, technologies, and service expansion.

Education:

Essential

• FRCPath or evidence of equivalent qualification
• Full and specialist GMC registration with a licence to practise (or eligible within six months)
• UK-trained applicants: CCT (or within six months of award)
• If non-UK trained will need to demonstrate evidence of CCT equivalence
• Evidence of ongoing CPD and revalidation

Desirable

• Formal leadership or management qualification

Experience:

Essential

• Substantial senior-level clinical experience in pathology within a consultant or equivalent leadership role.
• Proven experience leading clinical governance, quality management systems, and regulatory compliance.
• Demonstrated experience working in ISO 15189 UKAS-accredited laboratories, including inspection preparedness and accreditation maintenance.
• Experience in incident investigation, risk assessment, root cause analysis, and quality improvement.
• Ability to operate effectively within complex clinical and organisational environments.

Desirable

• Experience working in private, independent, or international healthcare settings.
• Experience across multiple pathology disciplines and integrated diagnostic services.
• Participation in recognised leadership or management development programmes.

Competencies (Complexity of Work):

Essential

• Highly developed clinical judgement and decision-making skills.
• Strong, credible clinical leadership with the ability to influence at senior and executive levels.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to convey complex clinical and governance information clearly.
• In-depth knowledge of pathology regulatory and accreditation frameworks, including ISO 15189, UKAS, MHRA, and HTA requirements.
• Strategic thinking with the ability to balance clinical excellence, patient safety, operational performance, and patient experience.
• Ability to lead and deliver complex clinical, quality, and service-development projects.
• Strong IT literacy, including laboratory information systems, digital pathology platforms, and clinical reporting tools.
• Thorough understanding of clinical audit principles, including audit design, completion, and review of audit cycles.
• Ability to practise independently with appropriate professional accountability and governance oversight.

Desirable

• Experience supporting or delivering high-quality, patient focused services within premium or private healthcare environments

Values & Behaviours

The post holder will consistently demonstrate values and behaviours aligned with Cleveland Clinic London’s commitment to world-class healthcare, including:

• Patient-first, safety-led practice, placing quality, clinical excellence, and risk management at the centre of all decision-making.
• Integrity and professionalism, acting with honesty, transparency, and accountability always.
• Commitment to continuous improvement and innovation, actively driving quality enhancement, learning, and service development.
• Collaborative and inclusive leadership, fostering multidisciplinary teamwork, respect, and a culture of excellence across pathology services.

Vision

To be the best place for healthcare anywhere and the best place to work in healthcare, ensuring that every life receives world-class care.

Mission

Caring for life, researching for health, and educating those who serve—demonstrating an unwavering commitment to clinical excellence, innovation, and professional development.

Core Values

• Quality & Safety
• Empathy
• Teamwork
• Inclusion
• Innovation
• Integrity

Why Join Cleveland Clinic London?

This is a unique opportunity to shape a new, world-class pathology service from the ground up within an internationally recognised healthcare organisation—combining clinical excellence, innovation, and exceptional patient experience. 

Additional Requirements:

Languages:

Ability to speak and write in English (required)

Safeguarding:

All caregivers have a personal and a professional responsibility to identify and report abuse. A patient or fellow caregiver may disclose information of being abused or suspected abuse. A caregiver may also witness abuse or simply have concerns of abuse taking place. Should any caregiver suspect abuse then it is vital that the CCL safeguarding policy and procedure is immediately implemented. 

It is the caregiver’s responsibility to ensure they are fully compliant with CCLs safeguarding and training and read, understood and adhere to the CCL’s Safeguarding Policy and Procedures.

                       

CCL is committed to applying its Equal Employment Opportunity/Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Policy  at all stages of recruitment and privileging. Shortlisting, interviewing and selection will always be carried out without regard to any Protected Characteristics. When aware of the need to do so and when required, CCL will make reasonable adjustments to its arrangements for interviews and to conditions of employment/engagement for disabled applicants to ensure, so far as practicable, that they do not place such applicants at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to non-disabled applicants.