Responsible Officer and Lead for Professional Standards

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; Ilford; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare trust in the UK is seeking a senior doctor to lead medical professional standards, supporting appraisal and revalidation. The ideal candidate will have strong leadership skills and extensive NHS experience, ensuring every doctor thrives in a supportive environment. This position emphasizes governance and community engagement, making it crucial for delivering high-quality patient care.

Benefits

Flexible working opportunities

Proactive health and wellbeing support

Award-winning equality and diversity initiatives

Qualifications

• Required to be a GMC licensed medical practitioner for over 5 years.
• Experience in management and leadership within the NHS.
• Strong understanding of professional standards and revalidation.

Responsibilities

• Oversee governance and medical revalidation systems.
• Provide strategic leadership for appraisal and quality assurance.
• Promote a culture that enables doctors to thrive.

Skills

Leadership skills

Professional integrity

Understanding of governance

Education

GMC licensed medical practitioner

Job description

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity for a senior, values‑led doctor to take on a pivotal leadership role within NELFT. Working closely with the Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Offices, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for medical professional standards — including appraisal, revalidation, and the fair and compassionate application of Maintaining High Professional Standards (MHPS).

Main duties of the job

As Responsible Officer, you will ensure robust systems for governance and medical revalidation, while creating a supportive culture that enables every doctor to thrive. You will also have the opportunity to design and implement new approaches to appraisal quality assurance, appraiser training, and peer support across the Trust.

Working for our organisation

We are seeking a mature and reflective doctor (Consultant, Specialty and Specialist (SAS) Grade Doctor or General Practitioner) with strong professional integrity, leadership skills, and a commitment to our Trust values: We are kind; We are respectful; We work together with our communities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification for further details.

For an informal conversation please contact :

• Chief Medical Officer : Dr Helene Brown -
• Assistant : Deputy Chief Medical Officer - Mental Health (adult) : Dr Sarah Dracass -
• Assistant : Deputy Chief Medical Officer - Babies, Children & Young People : Dr Manjari Tanwar -

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Consultant, Specialty or Specialist (SAS) Grade Doctor or General Practitioner
• Be a GMC licensed medical practitioner for more than 5 years in the NHS

Experience

Essential criteria

• Personal Appraisals x 5
• Have been revalidated at least once
• Management / leadership experience in the NHS
• Excellent understanding of good governance regarding Professional Standards, Revalidation and Appraisal

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• An awareness of NHS strategic and clinical priorities
• Awareness and understanding of the Role of the Responsible Officer
• Awareness and understanding of Maintaining High Professional Standards
• Working knowledge and experienced in the use of Quality Improvement in practice

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT :

• A long-standing and award‑winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term / chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.