Service Manager

Lewisham and Greenwich; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust is seeking an experienced Service Manager to lead anaesthetic and critical care services. You will supervise day-to-day operations, work with Clinical Director and senior teams to ensure safe, high-quality care and drive performance against targets.

The role emphasizes workforce planning, governance, and collaboration with theatres and scheduling to optimise patient flow and service resilience across both Trust sites.

Qualifications

• Operational management experience within NHS.
• Proven performance management against national access targets.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams including HR processes.
• Financial management including budget accountability and CIP delivery.
• Experience of service redesign or transformation in a clinical setting.
• Knowledge of perioperative, surgical or pre-operative assessment services.

Responsibilities

• Be responsible for the day-to-day operational management of anaesthetics and critical care services across both Trust sites.
• Lead on monitoring performance against key targets and improve productivity and efficiency.
• Oversee recruitment, rota management and workforce planning to maintain safe staffing levels.
• Lead on governance, incidents, complaints, risks, audits and quality improvement actions.
• Develop partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and manage outsourced activity to maximise capacity and performance.
• Provide visible leadership to staff engagement, development and wellbeing across teams.
• Support workforce planning and procurement to ensure services are sustainable and responsive.

Skills

Operational management

NHS experience

Performance management

Stakeholder engagement

Leadership

Budgeting / financial management

Service redesign

Job description

Step into a place where exceptional care, patients, culture, and careers come together.

Explore our current vacancies and take your first step toward making a real difference.

Join us. Make a difference. Be part of Team LGT.

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the IC

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced and motivated Service Manager to join the Directorate of Critical Care, Theatres and Anaesthetics.

This is a key operational leadership role responsible for supporting the safe, effective and efficient delivery of anaesthetic and critical care services. Working closely with clinical, nursing and operational colleagues, the postholder will provide visible day to day leadership, ensuring that services are responsive to patient demand, deliver high quality care and meet key performance objectives.

The successful candidate will have a strong understanding of acute hospital operations and experience of working in complex healthcare environments. They will be an effective relationship builder, manage service pressures and drive continuous improvement.

Experience of workforce planning and medical rota management would be advantageous, alongside knowledge of contracting and managing outsourced activity to support service capacity and performance.

We are seeking an individual with excellent people management and leadership skills, who can support and develop teams, oversee performance and workforce management, and lead service improvement initiatives. The role requires a proactive and collaborative leader who can balance operational delivery with longer term strategic development, ensuring anaesthetic and critical care services remain safe, sustainable and patient focused.

Main duties of the job

The Service Manager provides operational leadership for Anaesthetics and Critical Care services, working closely with the Clinical Director, senior nurses, consultants and multidisciplinary teams to ensure the delivery of safe, effective and patient-centred care.

The post holder will monitor performance against key targets, identify opportunities to improve productivity and efficiency, and support the delivery of high quality care. A key focus is maximising service capacity and utilisation, working collaboratively with clinical and operational teams to improve patient flow and overall service effectiveness.

The Service Manager will support workforce planning, recruitment and medical rota management to maintain safe staffing levels and service resilience. They will ensure strong governance arrangements are in place, overseeing incidents, complaints, risks, audits and quality improvement actions to promote a culture of learning and accountability.

The role provides visible leadership, supporting staff engagement, development and wellbeing while fostering positive working relationships across teams. The post holder will also develop effective partnerships with internal and external stakeholders, including oversight of outsourced activity where required, ensuring services remain sustainable, responsive and capable of meeting patient needs.

Working for our organisation

Working for our organisation means being part of a Trust that is committed to delivering exceptional patient care through collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement. We recognise that our people are our greatest asset and that supported, engaged and empowered staff provide the highest quality care for our patients. We foster a culture of respect, compassion, inclusion and accountability, where colleagues are encouraged to learn, develop and reach their full potential.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and has the opportunity to succeed, supported through leadership development, staff wellbeing initiatives, staff networks and equality, diversity and inclusion programmes. We actively promote representation at all levels of the organisation, widen access to employment opportunities, improve the experience of staff with disabilities, develop EDI awareness and ensure equality is embedded throughout everything we do. Through teamwork, shared learning and strong community partnerships, we create an environment where our staff can thrive and make a meaningful difference to patients, colleagues and the communities we serve.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Service management

Be responsible for the day to day operational management of anaesthetics and critical care services across both Trust sites, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality patient care.

Work collaboratively with the Clinical Director, Lead Nurse, senior nursing teams and multidisciplinary colleagues to support service delivery, address operational challenges and deliver agreed objectives.

Work as part of the anaesthetics and critical care triumvirate to support the strategic and operational development of services.

Lead the operational management of service capacity, patient flow and workforce deployment to ensure services remain responsive to demand.

Support the management of medical workforce requirements, including rota oversight, leave planning and service cover arrangements.

Work closely with theatres, pre-operative assessment and scheduling teams to optimise patient flow, maximise theatre utilisation and support the delivery of elective and emergency activity.

Develop and maintain effective working relationships with consultants, matrons, senior nurses and key stakeholders across the Trust and external organisations as required.

Act as a key link between clinical and operational teams, ensuring effective communication, collaborative working and timely resolution of service issues.

Performance and service delivery

Lead on the monitoring and delivery of key operational, quality and financial performance targets.

Ensure theatre and anaesthetic capacity is utilised effectively, supporting improvements in theatre productivity, efficiency and elective performance.

Analyse service performance data, identify areas of concern and implement recovery plans where required.

Produce and present regular performance reports to divisional, directorate and Trust meetings.

Support business planning processes and contribute to the development of service strategies and improvement programmes.

Governance, quality and risk

Lead on the investigation and management of complaints, incidents and risks, ensuring timely actions and learning are embedded within services.

Ensure compliance with Trust policies, governance frameworks and national standards.

Maintain oversight of departmental risk registers and support the implementation of risk mitigation plans.

Support clinical governance processes, audits and quality improvement initiatives to improve patient outcomes and experience.

Provide visible and effective leadership to administrative and operational teams.

Undertake recruitment, appraisal, performance management, attendance management and staff development responsibilities in line with Trust policies.

Promote a positive and inclusive culture that supports staff wellbeing, engagement and continuous development.

Support workforce planning activities to ensure services have the appropriate staffing and skills to meet current and future demands.

Service improvement and transformation

Lead and support service improvement projects that enhance quality, patient experience, operational efficiency and productivity.

Identify opportunities to improve pathways, processes and ways of working across anaesthetics and critical care services.

Work with clinical colleagues to develop and implement innovative solutions to operational challenges.

Support the management of outsourced activity and external provider relationships where required to maximise capacity and performance.

Support the delivery of budgetary and financial objectives across the service.

Monitor expenditure, identify financial pressures and support the development of cost improvement and efficiency plans.

Ensure resources are utilised effectively and in accordance with Trust financial policies and procedures.

Person specification

Experience

• Significant operational management experience within NHS (minimum 3-5 years at Band 7 level
• Demonstrable experience of performance management against national access targets (RTT/elective pathways)
• Experience of leading multidisciplinary teams including HR processes (appraisals, absence management, disciplinary)
• Evidence of financial management including budget accountability and CIP delivery
• Experience of service redesign or transformation within a clinical environment
• Experience within perioperative, surgical or pre-operative assessment services

Knowledge

• Ability to analyse complex data sets and use information to drive operational improvement
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills across multidisciplinary teams
• Ability to manage competing priorities under pressure within a fast paced operational environment
• Experience of working within a triumvirate or matrix management structure

We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date.

We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.

As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally.

We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women’s staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.

Please note: Information provided during recruitment and pre‑employment checks must be accurate. Misrepresentation may be investigated as fraud and could lead to withdrawal from the process, professional sanctions, or criminal action.

Please note: that sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route is subject to Trust allocation and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approval.

Use of AI in recruitment: We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support the initial review of applications against the essential criteria for this role. Where AI is used, it will support rather than replace human decision-making, and applications will remain subject to appropriate human review.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Application numbers

To ensure fairness and manageable shortlisting processes, some vacancies may have an application cap. This means the vacancy will close once a set number of applications have been received even if this happens before the advertised closing date.

We recommend applying as early as possible to avoid missing out. All applications received before the cap is reached will be considered equally and assessed against the person specification.