Associate Director of Therapies

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust; Halifax; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in the UK is seeking an experienced Associate Director of Therapies for a 12-month secondment. You will lead patient-focused therapy services across inpatient and community settings, ensuring alignment with integrated care plans. Candidates should possess a Master's degree and significant experience in leadership within healthcare settings. This role emphasizes strategic transformation and high-quality patient care.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Commitment to equality and diversity

Support for professional development

Qualifications

• Registered with a statutory professional body (e.g. HCPC) with significant post-qualification experience.
• Evidence of operating confidently and effectively at a senior level.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic direction and transformation of therapy services.
• Champion therapy and AHP priorities, supporting performance monitoring.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Financial management

Education

Masters or other post-graduate qualification

Degree in a relevant field

Job description

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics.

We are committed to recruiting to our values. Leading One Culture of Care underpins our values by creating an environment, tone and behaviours across all parts of the Trust that are fundamentally rooted in compassionate care.

We are open to considering a wide range of flexible working arrangements. There are opportunities to flex the days of the week, hours and times of work and place of work including: part-time, job-share, flexible working hours and the possibility to work from home when appropriate. Please talk to us during the interview process to discuss any flexibility that you may require.

We received our Silver Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme which is helping actively promote SaBRE - Supporting Britain's Reservists and Employers. This means that we provided its statement of intent to support all Defence personnel and we welcome application to work for us. Find out more - Why Choose CHFT?

Our Future Plans

The Department of Health and Social Care has awarded capital funding to invest in local health services at both Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. This is a significant investment and an opportunity to enhance services for our populations in Calderdale and Huddersfield and West Yorkshire for generations to come. To find out more, please visit https://future.cht.nhs.uk/

Job overview

We are seeking an experienced and strategic leader for a 12-month secondment opportunity as the Associate Director of Therapies. This key post will lead the development and delivery of high-quality, patient-focused therapy services across inpatient, outpatient and community settings. Working as part of the divisional leadership team, you will support governance, performance and service transformation aligned to the CHFT and Integrated Care System plans across Calderdale and Huddersfield.

As the Trust's Chief Allied Health Professional (AHP) Officer, you will also act as the strategic lead for AHP workforce and national AHP initiatives, providing expert leadership across divisions and corporate functions.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with experience of managing multi-professional teams across inpatient, outpatient and community settings to shape the future of therapy services and play a pivotal role in delivering innovative, high-quality care.

Main duties of the job
• Lead the strategic direction and transformation of all inpatient, outpatient, and community therapy services to meet the requirements of the ICS and CHFT reconfiguration plans.
• Be accountable for therapy service quality improvement, financial management, and workforce modelling and planning, ensuring delivery against agreed quality metrics and performance criteria in line with regulatory frameworks.
• Oversee the delivery of evidence-based, responsive, and efficient inpatient and community therapy services.
• Hold full responsibility for the governance of therapy services, including recruitment, supervision, professional appraisal, and identification of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs.

Working for our organisation

CHFT is an integrated Trust of 6,500+ colleagues providing hospital and community services to patients and communities across Calderdale and Kirklees. We are rated as 'Good' by the Care Quality Commission, are a top performing Trust for Elective Recovery, Emergency and Cancer Care and widely acknowledged as a national digital lead when it comes to caring for people across our local and regional systems.

Our people are at the core of everything we do, hence our commitment to One Culture of Care. Our focus is to care for and support each other in order to provide outstanding compassionate care to our patients. That is why we are looking for an inclusive collaborative, creative, innovative and compassionate leader to join us in this role.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Champion therapy and AHP priorities, supporting performance monitoring and reporting arrangements to demonstrate progress within the Division.
• Provide professional leadership to senior staff groups, setting objectives for the Head of Therapies and other senior colleagues as required.
• Develop / refresh the 3-5-year AHP strategy that identifies key service development and transformation priorities across all clinical specialties, ensuring integration with other CHFT divisions and external partners.
• Advise the Trust Executive and Divisional Board on strategic developments affecting AHP and therapy services.
• Ensure the role, development, and contribution of therapists/AHPs are aligned with the delivery of divisional and Trust-wide objectives.
• Lead and contribute to the development of business cases and contract negotiations that support and sustain services in line with the Trust's strategic direction.
• Lead workforce planning and modelling for therapy services to ensure an optimal workforce that delivers high-quality care and value for money.
• Promote efficient workforce development, particularly in addressing skill shortages and optimising skill mix.
• Coordinate the Trust's involvement in national and regional AHP initiatives and ensure CHFT are consistent with their strategy and benchmarking.
• Represent the Trust as the senior AHP professional in internal and external multi-professional and managerial forums.
• Ensure that AHPs have a single point of visibility and act as the accountable professional lead across the Trust, serving as a role model, mentor, and coach.
• Provide assurance to the Director of Operations that therapy service performance is regularly monitored through agreed KPIs, with remedial actions taken where required.
• Support the Head of Therapies to ensure that all staff have a designated professional lead and access to appropriate training, professional reviews, appraisals, and wellbeing support.
• Ensure that all local and national targets related to therapy services are delivered within a safe and high-quality framework.
• Lead therapy contributions to major Trust-wide initiatives.
• Develop, ratify, implement, and evaluate therapy-related strategies, policies, and guidance to ensure service delivery is aligned with national best practice.
• Participate in on-call commitments as required by the Trust, providing emergency cover outside of normal working hours when necessary.
• Support the division in preparing for assessments and inspections from external bodies such as the CQC, OFSTED, and the NHS Litigation Authority.
• Oversee the clinical governance and quality agenda for therapies, working closely with the Head of Therapies to support its development.
• Lead the AHP education and training strategy to ensure the workforce is prepared for future service needs.
• Drive the development of funding bids to support the strategic advancement of services and therapy roles.
• Lead and enhance the research profile of AHPs, supporting research activity across therapy specialisms through presentations, publications, study days, and national conferences.

Person specification

QUALIFICATIONS / TRAINING

Essential criteria

• Degree or higher education qualification in relevant field or, exceptionally, relevant work experience.
• Masters or other post-graduate qualification or relevant on-job experience.
• Registered with a statutory professional body i.e. HCPC with significant post qualification experience
• Leadership/management qualification or equivalent experience.
• Project management qualification or equivalent experience.

KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE

Essential criteria

• Professional credibility as a senior Allied Healthcare Professional
• Evidence of operating confidently and effectively at senior level within and outside the Trust to be a credible representative for the Trust and to be able to work with the Executive and Board.
• Evidence of broad knowledge of the current NHS context with specific in-depth knowledge of the national agenda for AHPs
• Evidence of effectively managing resources and delivering efficiency improvements.
• Evidence of personal contribution as a strong team player, facilitating effective teamworking to deliver outcomes
• Critical ability to provide professional leadership with a proven record of transformational leadership and change management and staff engagement in complex environments.
• Excellent effective communication skills (verbal and written) with a range of professional, clinical and non-clinical staff and public.
• Able to employ a range of leadership styles to influence and negotiate effectively internally and externally.
• Ability to work autonomously representing AHP views across the Trust through different structures and at regional/national level.
• Specialist and extensive expertise and knowledge across a diverse range of professions under the title Allied Health Professions within the Trust.

COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS (INCLUDING MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES)

Essential criteria

• Evidence of effective multi-professional and partnership working across a health and care economy.
• Able to establish and maintain credible relationships with a range of staff across Trust wide clinical and corporate directorates as well as external partners and stakeholders.
• Able to present information to the highest standard to a range of stakeholders (local, regional and national) using accessible information formats that meet audience requirements
• Prepared to travel locally, regionally and nationally to represent AHPs/Trust at appropriate events.
• Able to be flexible and responsive to meet timescales and service demands.
• Extensive understanding of NHS and social care agenda.
• Confident use of technology e.g. EPIC or equivalent EPR, internet, intranet, Microsoft Office, MS Teams.

Our vision is to provide One Culture of Care for one another in order that we can provide compassionate care for the people who use our services. We are passionate about creating a workplace where we work together to get results, encouraging colleagues to have their say, in order to co create the change we want to see. We take pride in the diversity of our workforce that's why we encourage applications from all. Reasonable adjustments will be made for disabled applicants.

Please ensure your application is submitted with referees who can verify your employment/education history over the last three years and include valid email addresses for them. We will request electronic Factual Employment References from your previous employers. These references will be requested before you are issued with an unconditional offer of employment letter.

Candidates who require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the United Kingdom can determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for this position by assessing their circumstances against the criteria specified on the Check if you need a UK visa - GOV.UK website. We encourage all applicants to review these criteria carefully to understand their eligibility for sponsorship.

If you are appointed to a post, information will also be transferred into the NHS Electronic Staff Records system. The Inter-Authority Transfer (IAT) process is a critical and beneficial component of ESR and following interview your previous NHS employment data, if applicable will be transferred from your current / most recent employer.

You may be required to undertake a DBS. The Trust will administer the DBS check on your behalf and will recover the cost (Enhanced £54.40, Standard £26.40 or Basic £26.40) from your salary when you commence in post (including Internal staff). You will also be required to participate in the DBS Update Service and pay the £16 cost per year. This is a condition of your employment.

CHFT is part of the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT), a collaborative of the NHS hospital trusts from across West Yorkshire and Harrogate working together to provide the best possible care for our patients.

If you have any questions please contact [e-mail] for assistance.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• ADT Job Description & Person Specification (PDF, 448.4KB)
• Job Description Appendix A (PDF, 259.2KB)