Job summary
- Main area
- Therapy Services
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8c
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 344-1167DCB-C
- Employer
- East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Trust Wide
- Town
- Ethelbert Road
- Salary
- £74,290 - £85,601 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 05/06/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Associate Director of Therapy Services
NHS AfC: Band 8c
Job overview
The Associate Director of Therapy services offers a fantastic opportunity for an individual to lead a team of highly skilled and dynamic therapists within the Diagnostic, Cancer & Buckland Care Group. The post holder will have strategic, operational & professional responsibility for the Physiotherapists Occupational Therapists, Dietitians & Speech and Language Therapists within the care group. In addition, they will be the professional figurehead for other AHP groups within the care group such as Podiatrists & Orthotists.
The role provides leadership to the therapy teams, working with trust and system colleagues to support positive and effective relationships between the therapy teams and other services, both internally and externally.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will build on the current processes for monitoring, analysing, and managing complex situations to ensure a robust and effective management of capacity is achieved across the three main hospital sites. They will formulate action plans and lead changes to ensure both trust and national performance targets are achieved and maintained.
This role will lead the development of business planning to enable the strategic development of therapy services. They will be accountable for contributing to and delivering the Trust's strategic objectives and ensuring there is effective governance alongside high quality and safe practice across the therapy workforce.
The Associate Director of Therapy services will be responsible for developing a supportive working culture across the therapies services and ensuring that staff are adhering to the Trust values.
For this post, applicants should possess substantial clinical experience as an Allied Health Professional, be able to demonstrate evidence of leadership development and have a proven successful record of leading others and managing organisational change
This post is subject to a six-month probationary period for candidates external to the East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust
Working for our organisation
We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference’. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please scroll down to view the Job Description & Person Specification located under 'supporting documents'.
Person specification
experience
Essential criteria
- Senior level experience, with contribution to workforce & redesign, organisational change programmes & staff engagement
Desirable criteria
- Proven experience of building & working in partnership with both internal and external stakeholders
Training, Qualification and Registration
Essential criteria
- Allied heath professional qualification
- Higher Education Qualification MA or equivalent work experience
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of significant experience in leadership
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Mark Eley
- Job title
- Managing Director Care Group
- Email address
- [email protected]
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