General Manager

UHDB; East Midlands; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 92,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Job summary

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust in Derby is seeking an experienced General Manager to lead the Acute Medicine Business Unit. This pivotal role involves steering operational delivery, driving improvements and shaping urgent care pathways, in collaboration with Clinical Directors and Matrons.

You will ensure high-quality, timely care while supporting staff development and implementing strategic service plans across the unit.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in a senior management position.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary clinical and non-clinical teams.
• Proven ability in change management within complex healthcare environments.
• Financial management and business management skills within NHS settings.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day operational performance of the Acute Medicine Business Unit, delivering key quality, activity and financial objectives.
• Drive improvements in urgent and emergency care pathways, ensuring patients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
• Provide visible leadership to multidisciplinary teams, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Support development and delivery of strategic service plans responsive to patient and community needs.
• Collaborate with clinical leaders to implement service improvements and transform pathways.
• Ensure robust performance management and governance for sustainable delivery.
• Build strong relationships across the Trust and health system to support integrated urgent and acute care.
• Champion staff engagement and wellbeing to enable teams to thrive.

Skills

Leadership

Financial management

Analytical skills

Business management

Education

Degree or equivalent

Job description

Site University Hospitals of Derby and Burton Town Derby Salary £79,504 - £91,609 pa Salary period Yearly Closing 25/10/2026 23:59

As a trusted organisation at the heart of our communities, we recognise the important role we can play in supporting the public, patients, our own people and local partners in achieving the best of health for the local population and the communities in which they live by providing Exceptional Care Together.

Our fundamental Values of Compassion, Openness and Excellence underpin how we intend to work as a Trust and the associated behaviours are becoming embedded in all aspects of how we work.

With over 14,000 members of staff you can expect huge variety and new opportunities every day! Our staff go above and beyond and take pride in caring for our patients.

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust is fully committed to promoting inclusion, equality, diversity and human rights in employment and delivery of its services. The Trust is committed to providing an environment where all employees, patients, carers and visitors experience equality of opportunity by means of understanding and appreciating the value of diversity.

As a Trust we promote an inclusive environment and welcome applications from a diverse pool of talent and backgrounds. All individuals are valued and given every opportunity to succeed based on merit.

The Trust actively encourages applications from members of our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities. These groups are under-represented in our organisation, and it’s important to us that our workforce reflects the diversity of our communities as much as possible.

Armed Forces and Disability Confident guaranteed interview scheme

To further support the pledges in the Armed Forces Covenant and to make a positive contribution to support ex-armed forces personnel (veterans) make the transition to civilian life, the Trust has introduced a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for veterans who meets the essential criteria set out in the person specification, to help them overcome barriers to find civilian employment. The scheme will operate for all external recruitment.

The Trust is a Disability Confident Employer and committed to both employing and retaining people with disabilities. This commitment is to guarantee an interview for any candidate that has disclosed a disability under the Equality Act 2010 and who meets the essential criteria set out in the person specification. Reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 will be considered upon request.

if you are blind or visually impaired and require application material in an alternative format- such as Braille, large print, audio or accessible electronic formats oryou require support/adjustments with your application please contact the recruitment team on 01332 788466

The Trust is proud to be a signatory of the Care Leavers Covenant and is committed to supporting care-experienced people into employment.

Applicants who identify as a care leaver and who meet the essential criteria for the role, as detailed in the person specification, will be guaranteed an interview.

Join us and help make a real difference to our Trust.

Here’s more about the role and what we’re looking for;

Job overview

Are you an experienced NHS operational leader looking for an opportunity to make a real difference in Urgent and Emergency Care?

We are seeking an ambitious and collaborative General Manager to join the Acute Medicine Business Unit at Royal Derby Hospital. This is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of a fast-paced and evolving service, leading operational delivery, driving improvement and shaping the future of acute and urgent care pathways.

As part of the Business Unit triumvirate leadership team, you will work in close partnership with the Clinical Director and Matron to provide visible, compassionate and effective leadership across the service. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring our patients receive safe, high-quality and timely care, while supporting staff to deliver their best every day.

This role offers the opportunity to influence strategic decision-making, lead transformational change and work alongside multidisciplinary teams to improve patient experience, performance and outcomes.

Whether delivering operational excellence, improving patient flow or supporting innovative models of care, you will be empowered to make a significant impact across one of the Trust's most important clinical services.

Main duties of the job

As General Manager, you will support the Divisional Director in providing strategic and operational leadership across the Acute Medicine Business Unit, ensuring the delivery of high-quality services that meet both local and national priorities.

Working collaboratively with clinical and operational colleagues, you will:

• Lead the day-to-day operational performance of the Business Unit, ensuring delivery of key quality, activity and financial objectives.
• Drive improvements in urgent and emergency care pathways, supporting patients to receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
• Provide strong, visible leadership to multidisciplinary teams, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Support the development and delivery of strategic service plans that respond to the evolving needs of our patients and communities.
• Work closely with clinical leaders to implement service improvements, redesign pathways and deliver transformational change.
• Ensure robust performance management and governance arrangements are in place to support sustainable service delivery.
• Build strong relationships with colleagues across the Trust and wider health system to support integrated approaches to urgent and acute care.
• Champion staff engagement, development and wellbeing, creating an environment where individuals and teams can thrive.

Closing date of applications : 25 October 2026

Interview date: 12 November 2026

Working for our organisation

As a trusted organisation at the heart of our communities, we recognise the important role we can play in supporting the public, patients, our own people and local partners in achieving the best of health for the local population and the communities in which they live by providing Exceptional Care Together

Our fundamental Values of Compassion, Openness and Excellence underpin how we intend to work as a Trust and the associated behaviours are becoming embedded in all aspects of how we work.

In return we will offer:

• Development opportunities, including both professional and leadership development
• On-going support through every step of the way from recruitment to when you join our team and beyond.
• A variety of other staff benefits including employee assistance programme, discounted gym membership, onsite fitness classes, car schemes

Key Facts about our Trust:

• We see on average 4810 OP appointments per day.
• We are the 4 th busiest Trauma & Orthopaedic outpatients department in England – an average of 2077 per week.
• An average of 1115 patients are seen in A&Es across our network every day – 3rd largest in the country.
• Our hospitals admit an average of 195 emergency patients daily.
• Last year we undertook almost 33,700 planned surgical operations in our 57 operating theatres.
• We are one of only 7 Trusts nationally with more than 50 operating theatres.
• We carry out more than 140 elective procedures each working day.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We are looking for a credible and inspirational operational leader with substantial experience within NHS Urgent and Emergency Care, Acute Medicine or Unscheduled Care services.

You will bring:

• A proven track record of delivering operational performance and service improvement within complex healthcare environments.
• Significant experience of leading multidisciplinary teams and managing change in fast-paced clinical settings.
• Strong leadership, communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to engage, influence and inspire others.
• Experience of performance management, financial management and delivering against demanding operational targets.
• A collaborative approach and a commitment to working in partnership with clinical colleagues to achieve outstanding patient care.
• The strategic thinking and operational expertise needed to support both immediate service priorities and longer-term transformation programmes.

Most importantly, you will be passionate about improving services for patients, developing high-performing teams and helping shape the future of Acute Medicine at Royal Derby Hospital.

UHDB is committed to fair and transparent recruitment. We welcome authentic applications that reflect your own skills, experience and motivations for the role. While we understand that candidates may use AI tools for grammar, formatting or accessibility purposes, applications that appear to be substantially AI‑generated may be subject to additional review. If this applies to your submission, we will let you know and may ask for clarification. Please ensure your application accurately represents your experience and is written in your own words.

Your application (for shortlisting purposes) is assessed based on the Person Specification in the job advert (below).

Person specification

Experience

• Significant experience working in a senior management position
• Experience of leading and directing senior clinical and non clinical teams
• Successful track record of managing change in a complex environment
• Significant operational management experience in Urgent and emergency Care

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent knowledge gained through experience or professional qualification
• Professional management qualifications or equivalent

Skills

• Financial management and business management skills
• Highly developed problem solving analytical skills

Knowledge

• Experience and knowledge of the current NHS challenges
• Experience and knowledge of the current NHS challenges specific to Urgent and Emergency Care

Our Trust aims to provide the highest quality care to patients within Derbyshire and South East Staffordshire and we want the very best people to work with us.

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION

If we receive a high number of applications for this position we reserve the right to withdraw the post before the closing date, therefore it is advisable that you apply as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

At UHDB , we offer different ways to work flexibly to each and every one of our colleagues, many of whom already work flexibly at all sites of the Trust.

For our roles we are open to discussing the possibility of part-time/ reduced hours/ compressed hours/ flexible start and finish times/ fixed/flexible shifts/annualised hours/ term time hours/ hybrid working – working partly in the trust/partly at home.

Why don’t you talk to us at interview about the flexibility you would like to explore and what it means to you, and we will discuss what’s possible for the