Director of Safeguarding and Complex Care

NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough; Hemel Hempstead, Shefford, Ely; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare authority in the UK is seeking a Director of Safeguarding and Complex Care to lead the management of high-cost patient cohorts. This role requires extensive clinical leadership, strategic oversight, and the ability to drive innovation in care models. Candidates must have a Master's degree or equivalent experience and a strong record in organisational transformation. This position promotes collaborative partnerships to achieve health outcomes, ensuring that care delivery is safe, effective, and financially sustainable.

Qualifications

• Extensive clinical leadership experience in a large, complex environment.
• Demonstrable success in delivering organisational transformation.
• Strong clinical track record in commissioning and service redesign.

Responsibilities

• Lead management of high-cost patients ensuring safe care.
• Drive innovation in care models using analytics.
• Ensure effective partnerships with system stakeholders.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Organisational change

Strategic planning

Partnership building

Diplomacy and judgement

Education

Master's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Director of Safeguarding and Complex Care

As a VSM and memberof the Management Team of the newly formed Central East ICB you will beresponsible for ensuring delivery of ICB responsibilities for all agecontinuing healthcare and safeguarding. You will also implement commissioner processesto enable better care for individual complex patients in the health system.

Main duties of the job

This role overseesstrategies for managing highcost, highneed patients, ensuring care is safe,effective, and financially sustainable. The individual leads identification,monitoring, and planning of complex cases, while directing safeguardingframeworks to maintain compliance and a culture of safety. They use analyticsto highlight risks and opportunities, driving innovation through digital toolsand predictive models. Managing a multidisciplinary team, they foster strongpartnerships with internal and external stakeholders. Responsibilities includereporting performance to senior leaders, providing strategic oversight ofclinical cases, and guiding the transition of Continuing Health Care functionsto appropriate providers over time.

About us

We are creating a new Integrated Care Board (ICB); a unified organisation with a clear purpose,fresh ambition, and a way of working rooted in trust, openness, andcollaboration. This is not simply a merging of structures; it is an opportunityto bring the best from our legacy organisations while shaping somethingfuture-focused and collectively owned. No one culture will dominate we are building something new, together.

Our mission is clear: to workwith our population to achieve their best health through equitable care,delivering maximum value from every pound spent. We will achieve this by being a highly effective team of commissioners;inclusive, fair, responsive, and innovative; harnessing data and technology,leveraging scale, and staying closely connected to the unique needs of ourneighbourhoods.

Job responsibilities

RoleSummary

Leads the management of patients withcomplex, high-cost needs, ensuring care is coordinated, cost-effective, andsafe guards are in place to protect vulnerable individuals.

RoleAccountability

Develop andimplement strategies for managing high-cost patients that balance quality,safety, and financial sustainability.

Leadidentification, monitoring, and care planning for high-cost, high-needpatients.

Directsafeguarding frameworks, ensuring compliance and promoting a culture ofsafety.

Use analyticsto identify risks, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improved outcomes.

Lead a multidisciplinary team across case management, safeguarding, and clinicalleadership.

Build strongpartnerships with internal teams, external agencies, and safeguardingpartners.

Report onperformance, risks, and improvements to senior leadership and governingbodies.

Driveinnovation in care models, using digital tools and predictive analytics.

Providemanagerial and strategic oversight of complex clinical cases, which mayinvolve direct patient care and direct contact with patients and theirrelatives.

Overseeing All aged Continuing Health Care and ensureappropriate transfer of CHC function to providers over time

RoleResponsibilities

Strategic Oversight of High-Cost Patient Cohorts - Lead the strategic andoperational management of patients with complex, high-cost needs. Ensure carepathways are clinically appropriate, financially sustainable, and focused onimproving outcomes while reducing avoidable expenditure.

Safeguardingand Risk Management - Oversee safeguarding frameworks across the ICB,ensuring compliance with statutory duties and promoting a culture of safetyand vigilance. Work closely with system partners to protect vulnerableindividuals and embed safeguarding into all aspects of care delivery. Escalation point for all safeguardingmatters which involves direct patient care and direct contact with relativesin complex cases.

Value-BasedCare and Service Integration - Drive value-based care initiatives forresource-intensive patient groups. Integrate cross-functional teams includingclinical, social care, and commissioning colleagues to enhance patientsafety, quality, and cost-efficiency across the care continuum.

ClinicalLeadership and Quality Assurance - Provide expert clinical input intoservice design, transformation programmes, and utilisation reviews. Ensureclinical perspectives inform decision-making, outcome evaluation, andcontinuous improvement in care coordination and quality.

Partnershipsand System Collaboration - Collaborate with local government, providercollaboratives, and community organisations to co-design priorities thataddress health inequalities and improve life outcomes. Ensure services areresponsive to local needs and aligned with broader system goals.

PerformanceMonitoring and Improvement - Monitor service performance and patient outcomesacross high-cost cohorts. Identify areas for improvement, support targetedinterventions, and ensure accountability for delivery against agreedobjectives.

All members of the management team will holdaccountability across the three current Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) fromappointment until the point of formal merger (date to be confirmed). Eachpostholder will hold office in all three organisations and will dischargetheir duties through agreed and transparent governance structures.

This collective accountability means actingas part of one unified leadership team, rather than representing orprioritising any legacy organisation. Decisions, behaviours, and leadershipactions must always reflect the shared interests of the combined populationand system, rather than narrower organisational loyalties.

Postholders will beexpected to:

Work seamlessly across thethree ICBs, ensuring consistent leadership and decision-making.

Uphold the integrity ofgovernance processes and operate with transparency, fairness, and clarity.

Take shared responsibilityfor the outcomes, performance, and reputation of the system as a whole.

Foster a culture of unity,trust, and shared purpose across all parts of the organisation during thetransition period.

Person Specification

Experience

• Extensive clinical leadership experience in a large, complex, multi-agency environment, ideally within health and care commissioning.
• Demonstrable success in delivering organisational change, transformation, and integration at scale.
• Deep understanding of the NHS, Integrated Care Systems, and the wider health and care policy context, including the priorities of the NHS 10 Year Plan and statutory duties of an ICB.
• Strong clinical track record in strategic planning, commissioning, and/or system-wide service redesign to improve outcomes and value for money.
• Evidence of working effectively with a broad range of partners, including local authorities, providers, community organisations, and national bodies.
• Experience of leading in a politically sensitive environment and balancing competing demands with diplomacy and sound judgement.

Qualifications

• Educated to Masters degree level or equivalent level of experience in a relevant field (e.g. health, care, public services, management, or related discipline).
• Evidence of continuous professional development, with a track record of keeping skills and knowledge current.
• Significant experience at board or sub-board level within the NHS, public sector, or a comparable complex system.
• Current relevant professional clinical registration and up to date on CPD.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.