General Surgery Inpatient Support Manager

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust; West of England; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Job summary

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a General Surgery Inpatient Support Manager to coordinate Cancer and RTT performance for the General Surgery Department and to support rota coordination of clinical teams. You will manage waiting lists, ensure theatres are used efficiently, and support compliance with government targets.

The role involves managing admin and clerical staff, coordinating leave, and ensuring staff have development plans.

Qualifications

• Educated to Degree level or relevant experience.
• Experience of working in a junior managerial or senior administrative role within the NHS or similar organisation.
• Experience of designing systems to improve patients’ experience and efficiency.
• Experience of working as part of a team in a multi-disciplinary environment.
• Experience of staff management.
• Ability to work with a constantly changing environment and implement improvements.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Excellent organisational and IT skills.
• Understanding of government initiatives and targets related to NHS services.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and co-ordinate demand against capacity for cancer patients within General Surgery and support rota coordination.
• Discuss operating list coverage with clinical teams and ensure appropriate staffing.
• Ensure adequate ward cover for effective ward rounds and patient discharges.
• Reschedule and allocate theatre, outpatient, and endoscopy lists for optimal use of clinical teams.
• Manage administrative and clerical staff and ensure workloads are fairly distributed.
• Oversee annual appraisals and personal development plans for department staff.
• Plan annual leave for clerical and administrative staff in a constructive manner.

Skills

NHS experience

Staff management

Communication

Problem solving

Leadership

IT skills

Education

Degree level or relevant experience

Job description

North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) have merged as of 1st July 2026 to become Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. This creates an exciting future that brings together the best of both organisations. As a single, strong and sustainable organisation, we will not only be able to deliver better outcomes for our patients and fairer care for our population, but it will also provide greater opportunities for our people.

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust recognise the value of a healthy work-life balance. When applying, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate flexible working, so your work life fits around your home life.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within the Trust.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) describes algorithms that can be used to produce new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos. It is developing all the time and is now being used as a support mechanism for all kinds of content-based creations. Please note the use of AI is monitored and if applicants have used it then they are required to declare this.

Job Overview

The General Surgery Inpatient Support Manager is responsible for co‑ordinating Cancer and RTT performance for the General Surgery Department and supporting with rota co‑ordination of clinical teams. This includes having overall responsibility for management of waiting lists and ensuring theatres are utilised appropriately. You will also ensure that teams are booking in line with the Patient Access Policy and support the service to work to achieve government targets.

You will also be responsible for the management of admin teams and coordination and management of the department’s complaints, ensuring responses are collated and deadlines met. This post is vital in ensuring the efficient working of the department in maintaining on call cover, ward cover and elective cover of theatres and outpatients. This ideal post holder will proactively manage the workforce to flexibly meet the demands of the service. This in turn will ensure the department meets both the local and Government targets in terms of RTT and cancer targets.

The individual must have excellent communication skills and the ability to influence across a multi‑disciplinary team including consultants, junior doctors, specialist nurses, theatre teams, admin staff and managers to help resolve operational issues that arise. The ideal post holder will be intelligent, hard‑working and able to deal with pressure, as well as having an acute attention to detail and effective problem‑solving skills.

Main duties of the job

• Responsible for maintaining and co‑ordinating demand against capacity for cancer patients within General Surgery. Supporting the rota co-ordination process including the recording of junior doctor and consultant leave and liaising with alternative consultants to cover lists.
• Discussing with clinical teams, which operating lists will be covered and by whom; where junior doctors will assist consultants, and whether outpatient clinic sizes are appropriate.
• Ensuring adequate ward cover by the junior teams is in place to ensure effective ward rounds and maximising potential patient discharges
• Rescheduling and allocating theatre lists, outpatients and endoscopy list to ensure most effective use if made of clinical teams.
• To be responsible for the management of administrative and clerical staff
• Ensuring the administrative workload within the department is within acceptable levels and fairly distributed.
• To discuss and plan with the senior management team any proposal to review the administrative and clerical staff structure within the department.
• Ensuring all clerical and administrative staff within the department has an annual appraisal and personal development plan. To identify and meet any training needs arising from these appraisals.
• Co‑ordinating annual leave for clerical and administrative staff in a planned and constructive manner.

Working for our organisation

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust brings together more than 28,000 staff to deliver over 160 clinical services across thirteen hospital locations, operating from three main sites at Southmead, Bristol city centre and Weston.

With an annual turnover of £2.3 billion, we are now one of the largest NHS trusts in the United Kingdom. Our hospitals are spread across Bristol and Weston, join us and you can enjoy the very best of both worlds; city living within a stone’s throw of the countryside or beside the seaside, both with easy access to all that the South West has to offer.

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust values all people as individuals. As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application in order to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

For a more detailed job description, main responsibilities, and Person Specification, please refer to the job description document attached to this vacancy.

Person specification

Role Requirements

Essential criteria

• Educated to Degree level or relevant experience
• Experience of working in a junior managerial or senior administrative role within the NHS or similar organisation.
• Experience of designing systems to improve patients’ experience and efficiency
• Experience of working as part of a team in a multi-disciplinary environment
• Experience of staff management
• Ability to be able to apply and relate previous experience to this position
• The ability to work with a constantly changing and sometimes challenging environment, with the ability to design and implement improvements
• The ability to work under pressure, within a stressful environment, prioritise own workload, work to tight deadlines and evidence resilience
• Excellent organisational and IT skills
• The understanding of the impact of government initiatives and targets of the Urology service
• Ability to influence decision making and build credibility quickly
• Demonstrable ability to use initiative, work flexibly and suggest innovative solutions
• Ability to work well with other colleagues and professional groups
• Demonstrate leadership abilities
• Evidence of continual professional development

Desirable criteria

• Managerial Qualification or similar course
• Experience of project management
• Experience of waiting list management

We hope that you will decide to join us and become part of this exciting journey, helping us to shape our future together.

• As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.
• The Trust is committed to investing in and caring for all our staff. We will support you in maintaining and improving your health and wellbeing, as well as your career development through management and training support - developing exceptional people for exceptional careers.
• BFT is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
• To comply with Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 all applicants must be able to speak fluent English to an appropriate standard which will be assessed at Interview.
• If you require sponsorship for a visa to work in the UK, to avoid disappointment, please check to ensure you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
• The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.
• By applying for this post, you are agreeing to Bristol NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Important

Please note that if you apply for a position with this Trust, you may be contacted via Trac or via email. This includes invites for job interviews. We therefore recommend that you regularly check your Trac account and email accounts. We may also contact you by texting the mobile number, if provided, on the application form.

Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date. Therefore, please apply for this post as soon as you can, if you are interested and you meet the requirements of the Person Specification

Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.

As a guide interviews should usually take place within 3 weeks of the closing date.

When providing employment reference details, please provide correct work-related email addresses so references can be sought promptly when we are looking to progress your application. Your referee must all be known to you in a line manager or professional lead capacity.