About this role
Job summary
Working Full Time: 37.5 hours per week
An exciting opportunity for a substantive Assistant Service Manager post has arisen within the Women and Children's Division.
The Assistant Service Manager will provide support to the Service Manager in delivering effective operational management to a portfolio of specialties within the Division.
The post holder will provide leadership and management skills to enable the clinical specialties within their portfolio to meet its agreed aims and objectives within an efficient, effective and safe working environment. The post includes full line management responsibility for Secretarial Team Leaders within the specialty administration teams, ensuring consistency and fairness across the Directorate/Division.
Main duties of the job
The post holder is responsible for ensuring that day to day clinical activity runs as effectively and efficiently as possible. The ability to identify activity variances and pressures is essential, as is the ability to problem-solve and provide solutions in order to improve specialty performance against the required targets, including 18/26 week Referral to Treatment and Cancer 14/28/31/62 day standards.
Experience of target management and staff line management are essential for this post, and experience in healthcare management is desirable. Full training in Trust IT software will be provided.
About us The Trust's services are provided from three locations: o The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 473 general and acute beds. o Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 60 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility. o Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population. The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust employs 5,964 staff (headcount) to provide care and treatment to a population of over 400,000 people living in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire. The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System. Due to its location on the border with North Wales, the Trust also works closely with the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The Trust treats patients from England and some parts of Wales. During 2024/2025, there were approximately 643,000 patient attendances (inpatient, A&E, outpatient and diagnostic) ranging from a simple outpatient appointment to major cancer surgery
Job description Job responsibilities
See Job Description for further details.
Recruitment selection processes are based on competence (see Person specification) and values. An applicant guide to help and support you through your recruitment journey can be accessed at the bottom of this page.
If you have a disability that meets the definition set out in the Equality Act 2010, and you can show that you meet the essential criteria described in the person specification for an available position, please answer YES to the question: Do you wish to be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme?
Please inform the team if you have any special support needs to be considered as part of the interview and selection processes.
The trust offers a Guaranteed Interview Scheme to any armed forces community applicants who meet the essential criteria for the post.
If a DBS is required for your role, you are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. A small annual fee applies which is payable to the DBS Service.Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costswill be deducted from their salary over the first three months of employment.
New entrants to the NHS will commence on the minimum of the scale stated above.
Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website - https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.
The Trust will not sponsor where the starting salary does not meet immigration rules
Applicants are advised to apply early as if a large number of applications are received for this post, we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date.
Good luck with your application.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Diploma / NVQ level IV in an administrative subject or equivalent Supervisory / Management certificate or qualification or relevant experience Evidence of managing a team Strong IT skills - Microsoft Excel / Access/ Word / PowerPoint / Outlook
Desirable
Recognised management qualification or relevant experience RSA typing III or equivalent experience
Knowledge and Experience Essential
Experience of target management Experience of financial and budgetary management Experience of people/HR management Proven ability in analytical skills and managing and analysing information and data IT literate - Proficient in using Microsoft office applications and other software applications
Desirable
Experience in healthcare 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 details Employer name Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Address Countess of Chester Hospital
Liverpool Road
Chester
CH2 1UL
Employer's website https://www.coch.nhs.uk/working-with-us.aspx (Opens in a new tab)