Associate Care Group Manager - Ophthalmology

Job Overview

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to offer a fantastic opportunity to work with us. University Hospital Southampton is one of England’s largest acute teaching Trusts, offering a wide range of learning and development opportunities to support your career aspirations.

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Ophthalmology Care Group for an Associate Care Group Manager. This role is ideal for someone looking to progress into a Care Group Manager or Senior Service Manager position within acute hospital management.

As part of the Ophthalmology management team, you will play a key role in supporting the operational delivery of high‑quality, patient‑centred services across our eye emergency, theatre, inpatient and outpatient pathways.

Joining at a pivotal time of recovery and transformation, you will contribute to improving RTT performance, reducing backlogs, and enhancing patient experience across one of the largest eye units on the south coast.

Reporting to the Care Group Manager and working closely with clinical leads, matrons and the operational manager team, you will support workforce planning, service improvement and pathway redesign. Your work will help drive improvements in patient flow, productivity and overall service performance, supporting the organisation’s objectives for high‑quality, timely care.

We are seeking a dynamic and motivated individual with operational management experience, strong analytical skills and the ability to thrive in a fast‑paced and complex environment. This is an excellent opportunity to play a central role in delivering sustainable service recovery and transformation within a large and complex clinical service.

• Lead the operational delivery of ophthalmology services across inpatient, eye emergency, theatres and outpatient pathways within a high‑volume tertiary service.
• Drive performance management, including RTT delivery and backlog reduction, ensuring sustainable improvements in access and patient outcomes.
• Work in strategic partnership with clinical leaders and multidisciplinary teams to deliver service transformation, pathway redesign and productivity improvements.
• Provide senior leadership across operational and administrative teams, contributing to workforce planning, service resilience and delivery against Trust objectives.

• Significant operational management experience within a complex healthcare environment, with evidence of delivering against performance targets.
• Strong, credible leadership with the ability to influence at senior level and drive change across multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent analytical capability, with a track record of using data to inform decision‑making and improve service performance.

• First degree or equivalent.
• Evidence of post‑qualification study or professional development to Masters level (post‑grad certificate, MBA, MSc) or equivalent general management experience.
• Leadership training.
• Management training.
• Experience of working competently in an acute healthcare setting in a clinical care group or equivalent setting in a senior operational delivery/management position.
• Demonstrable knowledge of National and Local NHS, including national service frameworks.
• Evidence of advanced leadership qualities.
• Evidence of presenting complex information to internal and external groups in an understandable way.
• Report writing skills and experience.
• Ability to analyse and interpret complex data, to facilitate operational delivery decisions to support key performance targets.
• Experience of successful delegated budget management and evidence of achieving financial and finite resource targets.
• Operational management experience in a clinical care group for more than 2 years.

• Membership of a professional body.
• Experience of working in NHS.
• A breadth of clinical experience across the specialist area.
• Project management experience.
• Evidence of successful leadership, management and engagement of clinical teams to introduce change.

• Working Together.
• Always Improving.
• Patients First.