Head Of Decontamination Services

Sherwood Forest Hospitals Nhs Foundation Trust; Mansfield; On-site; GBP 58,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust seeks an experienced leader to become Head of Decontamination Services, overseeing 24/7 operations across Sterile Services, Endoscopy Decontamination and Mattress Decontamination.

You will shape strategic direction, champion continuous improvement and ensure the highest standards of safety, quality and value for money. This role reports to senior leaders and engages with clinical teams and external partners.

Qualifications

• Degree-level professional knowledge required in decontamination or related field.
• Postgraduate level qualification or higher with CPD demonstrated.
• Chartered IDSc membership preferred or required.
• Experience with regulatory standards and quality systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead 24/7 Decontamination across Sterile Services, Endoscopy, Mattress decontamination.
• Set strategic direction and drive continuous improvement in the service.
• Ensure QA, regulatory compliance, risk management and equipment validation.
• Manage budgets, resources and performance to balance quality and value.
• Inspire and develop teams while collaborating with clinical and external stakeholders.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Budget management

Decontamination expertise

Education

Postgraduate Degree or equivalent

Master's degree or equivalent

Full Chartered Member membership of IDSc

Tools

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

Job description

Job summary

Excellence Behind Every Procedure | Join Our Decontamination Team

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced, inspiring leader to become Head of Decontamination Services. This is an exciting opportunity to shape an essential service, drive excellence and make a real difference to patient care.

Providing strategic and operational leadership across Sterile Services, Endoscopy Decontamination and Mattress Decontamination, you will lead a critical 24/7 service, ensuring surgical instruments and medical equipment are processed safely, efficiently and to the highest standards.

Working with senior leaders, clinical teams and external stakeholders, you will set the strategic direction, champion continuous improvement and develop resilient solutions to meet evolving clinical and operational needs.

Using your specialist scientific and technical expertise, you will strengthen quality assurance and regulatory compliance, oversee risk management and equipment validation, and maintain the highest standards of safety and performance.

As a collaborative leader, you will inspire and develop teams, optimise resources, manage budgets and deliver improvements that balance quality, efficiency and value for money.

Lead the future of decontamination, champion excellence and drive innovation to deliver safer care for every patient.

Main duties of the job

To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

About us

We are an award-winning NHS Foundation Trust working alongside health and social care colleagues across the county to provide acute and community healthcare services to more than 420,000 people across Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, and parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.

We put the patient at the heart of everything that we do and it is our aim to make sure that every patient is treated as we would want a member of our own family to be treated. At the same time, we expect our staff to be caring, kind and courteous to each other and to look out for each other. We believe that we are truly a clinically-led organisation.

We are proud that our Trust colleagues have voted us the best acute Trust to work for in the East Midlands for seven years running in the National NHS Staff Survey, while the Care Quality Commission has rated our Trust as 'outstanding' for care and our King's Mill Hospital as the only 'outstanding' NHS-run hospital in the East Midlands.

Not all of our roles are eligible for visa sponsorship. To find out which roles are eligible, please refer to the shortage occupation list found here: Skilled Worker visa: eligible healthcare and education jobs - GOV.UK. Home Office guidance has changed as of 9th April. Anyone that requires switching visa type may not be eligible for sponsorship even if the role is on the shortage occupation list.

Details

Closing date: 05 November 2026

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 8a

Salary: £57,528 to £64,750 a year per annum

Contract: Permanent

Working pattern: Full-time

Reference number: 214-SRG-8337822

Job location: King's Mill Hospital, Mansfield Road, Sutton in Ashfield, NG17 4JL, United Kingdom

Person Specification

Knowledge Requirements

Essential

• Professional knowledge acquired training to degree level (5 years study)
• Full Chartered Member membership of IDSc (Institute of Decontamination Sciences)

Qualifications

Essential

• Postgraduate Degree or equivalent level of knowledge through academic courses to postgraduate level
• Professional specialist management and scientific knowledge to Master's degree or equivalent level of knowledge
• Evidence of ongoing CPD

Further Training

Essential

• Have sound keyboard skills
• Knowledge of Microsoft Word

Desirable

• Ability to use Microsoft PowerPoint

Experience

Essential

• At least 3 years' experience at senior management level
• Previous scientific management experience
• Significant experience of relevant medical devices used within the decontamination services
• Significant knowledge of ISO standards and their implementation
• Significant experience in the use of a PC and operation of Windows-based software
• Significant understanding and use of a Decontamination Services tracking system
• Significant experience in the use and management of a Quality System
• Proven significant experience of efficient and effective budget management

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.

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact: Deputy Director of Nursing - Surgery, Craig Keeling, [e-mail], 01623622515