Associate Chief Medical Officer Primary Care Interface

Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Chertsey; Hybrid; GBP 114,000 - 151,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS benefits & discounts

Job summary

Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Chertsey is seeking a part-time Consultant to lead the primary–secondary care interface, designing patient pathways and supporting cross-organisational education.

The post centers on clinical leadership at the GP/hospital junction, improving communication, reducing friction, and ensuring coherent, safe patient care across boundaries. It is a fixed-term 2-year appointment with potential extension.

Qualifications

• MRCGP or equivalent is required.
• Fully registered with the GMC with licence to practice.
• Quality improvement qualification or suitable experience appreciated.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior clinical leadership to improve the interface between primary care, community services and secondary care.
• Act as a visible and accessible clinical leader to both GPs and hospital clinicians on interface matters.
• Support a culture of shared responsibility for patient care across organisational boundaries.
• Contribute to self-assessment reports relating to interface working and GIRFT bridging the gap.

Education

MRCGP or equivalent

Fully registered with the General Medical Council with licence to practice

Job description

Main area General Practice Grade Consultant Contract 2 years (Change from interim bank to fixed term) Hours Part time - 2 sessions per week (Virtual and face to face meetings as required) Job ref 323-MD8251-LM

Employer Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Ashford and St Peters NHS Trust Town Chertsey Salary £113,565 - £150,569 pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 25/10/2026 23:59

Associate Chief Medical Officer Primary Care Interface

Consultant

Job overview

All acute trusts are required to have an effective primary secondary care interface. The purpose is to ensure seamless care for patients between primary and secondary care. This includes the design and support of patient pathways, bids for additional funding for services, response and action to guidance and requirements from central governance and to support cross organisational education and shared learning.

An exciting opportunity at ASPH has arisen for a part time primary care GP to facilitate an effective, supportive interface across organisational boundaries to improve and maintain quality patient care. The job will be centred around the provision of visible and accessible clinical leadership to both GPs and hospital clinicians on interface matters.

This is a fixed term role for 2 years, but it is an evolving role with a likelihood of extension as the importance of working collaboratively across our boundaries become more and more important for the care of our patients and the community.

Main duties of the job

The Associate Chief Medical Officer (Primary Care Interface) is a senior clinical leadership role focused on improving how primary care and secondary care work together for the benefit of patients.

The postholder will act as a key clinical bridge between general practice, community services and the acute Trust, strengthening relationships, improving communication, and reducing friction across the healthcare system.

The role is centred on building trust, shared understanding and effective collaboration between clinicians working in different parts of the system, ensuring that patients experience coherent, safe and timely care across organisational boundaries.

The postholder will not have responsibility for the operational delivery or management of general practice services. The focus of the role is the clinical and relational interface between organisations.

We aim to provide a high-quality patient experience and an excellent place to work for all staff. We believe that the key to improved patient and staff experience is a high quality, efficient and patient-centred pathways, in which the patient sees the ‘right doctor, first time’. This post is key to developing, reviewing and maintaining these pathways.

Working for our organisation

Ashford and St. Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest provider of acute hospital services to Surrey residents, serving a population of 410,00 people and employing approximately 4,800 staff.

Our vision is to provide an outstanding experience and best outcomes for patients and the team. We are committed to providing continuous professional development and flexibility to deliver our workforce plan.

We work in partnership with Royal Surrey Hospital NHS Foundation Trust through a collaborative Group Model, supporting joined-up services, workforce flexibility and development opportunities.

St Peter’s Hospital delivers complex medical and surgical care, maternity and emergency services. Day and Orthopaedic Surgery, Ophthalmology and Outpatient services are delivered at Ashford Hospital. Additional services are delivered at Woking Community Hospital.

Our Values provide us with the behaviours we respect and can commit to. By living our values through our everyday interactions, we can build a stronger, more resilient, and forward- thinking organisation, guiding us to achieve success and make a positive impact on how we deliver our services.

We can offer you the full range of NHS benefits & discounts.

Certificate of Sponsorship
In line with UKVI requirements, Band 2, Band 3 and Band 4 roles are not eligible for sponsorship.

Please note only certain roles at Band 5 & above are eligible for sponsorship.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Leadership for System Interface

• Provide senior clinical leadership to improve the interface between primary care, community services and secondary care.
• Act as a visible and accessible clinical leader to both GPs and hospital clinicians on interface matters.
• Support a culture of shared responsibility for patient care across organisational boundaries.
• Collect and collate information for self-assessment reports 6 monthly in relation to interface working and the use of the GIRFT checklist ‘bridging the gap’.

Relationship Building and Mutual Understanding

• Develop and sustain strong working relationships between general practice, PCNs, neighbourhood teams, hospital specialties and system partners.
• Promote mutual understanding of roles, pressures, constraints and decision-making in both primary and secondary care.
• Establish regular clinical forums that enable constructive dialogue and shared problem-solving.

Referral, Advice and Transfer of Care

• Work with clinical teams to improve the quality and clarity of referrals, advice and guidance, and transfer of care processes.
• Support improvements in discharge communication, ensuring it is timely, clinically useful and patient-centred.
• Help reduce unwarranted variation and administrative burden across interface processes.

Pathway and Interface Improvement

• Identify and address recurring “friction points” in patient pathways between primary and secondary care.
• Support clinically led pathway redesign where it impacts both hospital and community-based care.
• Facilitate shared learning between hospital specialists and community clinicians, promoting best practice.
• Support effective communication pathways between primary and secondary care colleagues.

Engagement and Collaborative Leadership

• Facilitate regular engagement between primary care clinicians, consultants and operational leaders.
• Support resolution of disagreements in a constructive, patient-focused manner.

Quality, Safety and Patient Experience

• Promote improvements in patient experience at transitions of care.
• Support safe, consistent and effective communication across organisational boundaries.

Strategic Contribution

• Support Trust-wide and system-wide transformation programmes where they affect the primary-secondary care interface.
• Contribute to integrated care system (ICS) priorities relating to integration, neighbourhood working and elective recovery.

Person specification

Qualifications

• MRCGP or equivalent
• Fully registered with the General Medical Council with licence to practice
• Quality improvement qualification or suitable experience

Experience

• Experience is senior clinical leadership in practice
• Evidence of continuing medical education and personal development
• Demonstrable experience in service improvement or pathway redesign
• Experience in developing effective and collaborative working relationships
• Leading a change or innovation in the workplace with a multi-disciplinary team
• Experience of working collaboratively across primary/secondary care interface
• Experience of integrated care models

Adverts may close early, so early application is encouraged.

Certificate of Sponsorship
In line with UKVI requirements, Band 2, Band 3 and Band 4 roles are not eligible for sponsorship.

Please note that only certain roles at Band 5 and above are eligible for sponsorship.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.