About this role
Job summary
Here at MWL we are offering an opportunity for a motivated and dynamic individual to join a high performing team to focus a career in managing Surgical services for Theatres, Anaesthetics, Pain Management and Critical Care
The Deputy Directorate Manager post is a high profile leadership position within the Surgical Division, responsible for operational delivery of an exciting and dynamic portfolio. We are searching for ambitious senior operational leaders to join the Team and support the delivery of outstanding care and experience for our patient. The Deputy Directorate Manager will be responsible for a portfolio of Surgical services across MWL.
The portfolio offers a mix of elective and urgent care and is ideal for someone who wishes to deliver improvement and progress their career on a path towards an operational director role. This is an exciting opportunity to join the team in celebrating their successes and supporting in delivering future ones
The MWL Surgical Division is expanding its facilities and workforce that includes the opening of 2 Theatres at Whiston Hospital in the summer of 2024 increasing the Organisation's theatres capacity to a total of 35 theatres. This is an exciting prospect for the Organisation and the successful postholder, will play a pivotal role in the future of Surgical services.
Main duties of the job
This role is the perfect development opportunity for an aspiring Directorate Manager who is keen to develop their career in operational management.
As the Deputy Directorate Manager, you will be a key member of the Directorate Leadership Team and take responsibility for agreed operational aspects of designated services including financial, activity and performance management.
You will also support business planning, deputise for the Directorate Manager as required and lead key pieces of work within the relevant portfolio of services.
Due to the short term nature of the role, the successful candidate must have existing right to work in the UK, at the time of application.Candidates who do not hold existing right to live and work in the UK, at the time of application will not progress through the shortlisting stage.
About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018 Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal) National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Job description Job responsibilities
Please see Job Description and Person Specification attached.
Advertising Date: 25th June 2026
Closing Date: 5th July 2026
Shortlisting Date: 6th July 2026
Proposed Interview date: TBC
Please note this vacancy may close early if a high number of applications is reached.
Person Specification
Qualiifications Essential
Educated to degree level and/or equivalent level of qualification and/or equivalent experience Post graduate qualification in health service management and/or equivalent level of qualification and/or equivalent experience
Knowledge Essential
Current experience of complex operational management in a healthcare setting. A demonstrable capacity and capability for operational service management in an acute hospital environment or similarly complex organisation, including staff management, financial management and change management Comprehensive knowledge of planned care, referral to treatment (RTT) and cancer targets Ability to manage and deliver to deadlines and within resources Well developed leadership and influencing skills with the ability to enthuse, motivate and involve individuals and teams, and have them understand the Trust's and your performance expectations Demonstrate highly effective, credible leadership experience within the acute hospital setting Ability to be intellectually flexible and to look beyond existing structures, ways of working, boundaries and organisations to produce more effective and innovative service delivery and partnerships
Skills Essential
Ability to undertake analysis of capacity & demand in relation to outpatient delivered care (Annex 21) Effective working with clinical teams and senior colleagues resulting in the successful introduction and management of change Demonstrating effective influencing skills to achieve desired results Ability to analyse complex problems and to develop practice and workable solutions to address them Ability to deal with competing priorities through highly developed reasoning and prioritization skills Demonstrate highly effective, credible leadership experience within the acute hospital setting
Desirable
A commitment to improving patient services through an ability to sustain a clear performance focus on achieving demanding goals. Service improvement tools and project planning. Intermediate IT skills qualification in Microsoft Word and Excel processing
Other Essential
Flexible with the demands of the role, possessing self-awareness and self-motivation
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 details Employer name Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Address Whiston Hospital
Warrington Road
Whiston
L35 5DR
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)