Director of Clinical Services
St Edmunds Hospital
37.5 Hours & Permanent
Salary: Competitive

St Edmunds Hospital in Bury St Edmunds is part of Circle Health Group, Britain's leading provider of independent healthcare with a nationwide network of hospitals & clinics, performing more complex surgery than any other private healthcare provider in the country.

We have an opportunity for a Director of Clinical Services to join their team of staff in the Senior Management Team.

This is a full-time role for 37.5 hours a week. The role holder will be required to cover a flexible shift pattern.

Duties of this role include:

• Lead the clinical governance agenda to ensure compliance with all regulatory, legal, and professional standards, maintaining a minimum CQC rating of GOOD, while striving for OUTSTANDING.
• Provide visible leadership and clinical on-call support, acting as the senior advisor on all clinical matters within the hospital.
• Develop and implement strategies that align with national guidance (e.g. NICE) and reflect effective, efficient patient pathways.
• Ensure all measures are taken to safeguard the health, safety, and wellbeing of patients, maintaining a high-quality, safe clinical environment.
• Oversee investigations of incidents, near misses, complaints, and risks — ensuring lessons are learned and shared, and improvements are embedded through action planning.
• Lead the hospital’s clinical audit programme and ensure outcomes inform continuous quality improvement and policy adherence.
• Maintain and uphold professional standards in line with NMC, HCPC, GMC, and other regulatory bodies.
• Ensure safe staffing levels across all clinical areas, with appropriate skill mix and staff competency at all times.

Applicants should meet the following criteria:

• NMC or HCPC-registered healthcare professional with extensive senior leadership experience in a hospital setting.
• Demonstrated success in clinical governance, risk management, and quality improvement.
• Deep understanding of regulatory standards (CQC, NICE, NMC, HCPC, etc.) and national healthcare frameworks.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and change management skills.
• Proven ability to lead investigations, manage risk, and embed learning from incidents and audits.
• Master’s degree in Healthcare Leadership, Management, or a relevant clinical specialty.
• Experience in private healthcare or multi-specialty hospital operations.
• Familiarity with managing practising privileges and consultant engagement.
• Experience leading CQC inspection readiness and successful improvement programmes.

Salary & Benefits
Circle Health Group is committed to offering competitive starting salaries and access to a wide range of employee benefits, including:

• 25 days holiday per year + bank holidays, increasing to 30 days with service
• Management Bonus Scheme
• Private Pension Scheme
• Private Healthcare Scheme for treatment at our hospitals, covering pre-existing medical conditions
• Friends & Family Hospital Discounts
• Family Friendly policies, including enhanced Maternity, Paternity & Adoption pay
• Non-contributory life insurance
• Staff engagement hub with access to discounts and extensive rewards and voluntary benefits
• Access to resources, tools and services to support your wellbeing
• Employee recognition programmes
• Industry leading training and development opportunities

...and much more!

About Us
At Circle Health Group, we believe healthcare should be personal, accessible and outstanding. As the UK’s largest private hospital group, with over 50 locations nationwide, Circle Health Group bring world-class consultants, cutting edge facilities, and care without the wait. Your health, your choice – we make it happen.

We’re also passionate about out people. With private medical cover, flexible working hours, wellbeing support and career development opportunities, being just a few of the fantastic benefits on offer, we give our teams everything they need to thrive. Together, we’re shaping the future of healthcare

Circle Health Group is committed to creating a diverse workforce offering inclusive opportunities for all our colleagues. Our definition of diversity goes beyond the established characteristics protected by the Equality Act, as we strive to attract candidates with diverse experiences, backgrounds, identities or expressions, skills, work styles…and more.