Medical Director

As Medical Director, you will be a key member of the Executive Team, working alongside the Chief Executive, Chief Nurse, Executive Directors and clinical leaders to provide strategic leadership for clinical services across the Trust. You will be responsible for leading the Trust's quality, safety and clinical governance agenda, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and patient-centred care while driving continuous improvement in outcomes and patient experience.

This is an exceptional opportunity to play a central role in shaping the future direction of a high-performing and ambitious organisation. You will provide visible, credible and values-led medical leadership, leading the development and delivery of the Trust's clinical strategy, supporting service transformation and innovation, and working collaboratively with partners across the Integrated Care System to ensure services are clinically sustainable and responsive to the needs of the population.

Download the Recruitment Pack for further information.

The interview process will take place w/c 14th September 2026.

You will be contacted regarding next steps.

Key Functions and Responsibilities

The Medical Director will provide professional leadership for the medical workforce and act as the Trust's most senior clinical leader, ensuring the highest standards of clinical quality, patient safety, governance and professional practice across the organisation. As a member of the Executive Team and Board, you will contribute fully to the strategic leadership of the Trust, providing expert clinical advice and supporting the delivery of organisational objectives.

A key responsibility is leading the Trust's clinical governance and quality agenda, ensuring effective systems are in place to support patient safety, clinical effectiveness, risk management, learning from incidents and continuous improvement. You will provide leadership for medical revalidation as Responsible Officer, oversee medical workforce strategy, including recruitment, retention, job planning and succession planning, and support the development of clinical leaders across the organisation.

You will lead the development and delivery of the Trust's clinical strategy, driving innovation, service transformation and performance improvement to enhance patient outcomes, access and experience.

With over 9,000 passionate and dedicated staff, Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides a full array of acute and some community services to the local communities of Bedfordshire. Serving a diverse population of over 620,000 people, we are proud to be rated “Good” by the CQC, having successfully merged Bedford and Luton & Dunstable hospitals to create our Trust six years ago.

We have undertaken significant investment into our infrastructure and people in recent years, including the £168 million Acute Services Block build that opened in July 2026, and have created a shared set of values for our organisation, THRIVE, to unify the organisation and give a clear mission and pledge to those we serve. We have an annual turnover of £800 million, and as an anchor organisation and a very important employer within Bedfordshire, we are committed to combatting health inequalities and deprivation to support local education training and job opportunities.

We are a key partner within the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes which forms part of Central East ICB and we work closely with a range of health and social care partners to improve and better deliver outstanding care and reduce ill health through preventive measures. The health and wellbeing of our staff remains a fundamental priority within our strategic developments, and we recognise their commitment, passion and dedication to our patients and local population.

Clinical Leadership and Quality

• Provide visible, credible and compassionate medical leadership across the Trust, promoting a culture of safety, openness and continuous improvement
• Provide Medical Leadership in the development and delivery of safe, effective, high quality and patient centred care…