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NELFT NHS Foundation Trust

About
NELFT NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and community services for over 4.9 million people living in the London Boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, and across Essex and Kent.
We work to ensure our patients, their friends and family, feel confident that their health needs are well met. With an excellent reputation for research and development, our skilled health professionals are at the cutting edge of evidence-based innovation, opening up the possibilities for better ways of working and delivery of care.
Contact
- Address
- Trust Head Office
- West Wing
- CEME Centre
- Marsh Way
- Rainham
- Essex
- RM13 8GQ
- Contact Number
- 0300 300 1530
Director of Allied Health Professionals
Accepting applications until: 30-Oct-2025 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 30-Oct-2025 23:59
Key details
Location
- Site
- CEME
- Address
- Marsh Way
- Town
- Rainham
- Postcode
- RM13 8GQ
- Major / Minor Region
- London
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job share
- Flexible working
Salary
- Salary
- £109,179 - £125,637 per annum pro rata plus HCAS and On-call Allowance
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 9)
Specialty
- Main area
- AHP Leadership
- Interview date
- 14/11/2025
Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.
The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.
Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video
Job overview
NELFT is looking for a new Director of Allied Health Professions to be part of our senior clinical leadership team reporting to our Executive Director responsible for AHPs, Psychological Professions and Social Work. The successful candidate will be responsible for the professional standards of a cohort of 750 staff. Coproduction with staff, patients and carers will be at the centre of their work. The post is offered as an interim 6 month contract.
The successful candidate will lead and manage a talented, experienced and effective group of associate directors of AHPs who work across all 7 directorates in NELFT: in North East London, Essex and Kent. They will be able to bring the voice of AHPs to a wide variety of stakeholders across physical and mental health care.
Advert
The main duties of the role include embedding an overall clinical strategic vision for Allied Health Professions across NELFT; supporting the delivery of innovative and effective services; continuing a successful workforce initiative which has shown considerable positive impact on staff recruitment and retention; providing professional leadership to all AHPs across NELFT; showing a commitment and drive to address health inequalities in the delivery of AHPs across our directorates.
The successful candidate will be an inspirational leader with high energy and a passion to deliver best patient care. They will integrate AHP provision whilst maintaining professional identity and evidence base. They will encourage quality through creativity and innovation to ensure that AHP provision is a key ingredient of a multidisciplinary package of care. They will understand the importance of working across a system and of the need to walk hand in hand with people who use our services in order to ensure best possible care.
Working for our organisation
Our Values 2025 - 2030
Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have coproduced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.
They are:
We are kind.
We are respectful.
We work together with our communities.
These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.
Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).
High Cost Area Supplement – Outer London
This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,714 to a maximum of £5,941 per annum (pro rata for part time).
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- The successful candidate will provide professional supervision and guidance to professional leads.
- They will undertake some clinical practice and maintain HCPC registration.
- They will work closely with operational colleagues to promote governance and development of services, ensuring newest research innovations, national policy and efficient delivery.
- They will be competent at reviewing outcome data and acting to rectify issues highlighted through analyses of delivery.
- They will be visionary in their leadership style and ensure that AHPs are kept up to date with Trust developments.
- They will be able to work in a multidisciplinary way to ensure best care is created for people who use our services and their carers.
- They will maintain the highest standards possible of professional practice throughout the cohort.
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.
We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Please apply as soon as possible as some posts close early to limit the number of applications.
Certificates of Sponsorship
Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.
Use of AI
Please see attached document regarding acceptable use of AI during the recruitment process.
Benefits
We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:
- A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
- A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our efforts to support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
- Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
- Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.
Supporting our Armed Forces
We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans. reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.
Equal opportunities employer
We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.
We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email [email protected].
Correspondence with us
You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.
As part of our recruitment process, we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same.
Applicant requirements
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to Masters (MSc) level (or equivalent) with senior AHP leadership experience.
- HCPC registration.
- Postgraduate qualification in leadership and management or another relevant topic.
Desirable criteria
- Expert/specialist across relevant functions evidenced by certifications e.g. QI/LEAN/leadership
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of applying policy, research and legislation to contemporary NHS issues.
- Significant and relevant experience of working clinically with people with complex, chronic, health needs
- Previous Board/sub-board level exposure and experience.
- Extensive experience, expertise and understanding of performance and change management, business planning, budget setting and commissioning processes, within a health service setting
- Track record of significant achievement in directing and managing the delivery and improvement of services within an organisation of comparable size, scale and complexity.
- Successful track record of strategy formulation and implementation
- Proven experience of successful organisational change
- Proven record of establishing constructive interagency partnerships.
- Senior Management experience within the public sector.
- Experience of analysing the business and political healthcare environment and of developing strategies to meet this changing environment.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Expert level knowledge and experience in a senior trust wide AHP role
- Knowledge and ability to lead complex change management
- Knowledge and ability to lead complex and sensitive investigations.
- A detailed understanding of NHS Plans and clinical governance priorities
- Detailed and advanced knowledge of a range of therapeutic interventions and their practical application in a range of health settings.
- Comprehensive knowledge of health policy.
- Knowledge of complex strategic planning processes.
- Knowledge of and ability to lead complex DEI initiatives.
- Comprehensive knowledge of financial management and budget setting processes with ability to lead this on behalf of AHPs.
- Extensive knowledge of national policy developments relating to health and social care reforms with ability to lead their implementation.
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent leadership and influencing skills with ability to engage effectively with a range of stakeholders in sometimes contentious situations
- Excellent communication skills with ability to quickly change communication approach depending on situation and/or audience.
- Ability to lead transformational change.
- Effective written / report writing skills with ability to present complex, detailed information clearly to a range of audiences
- Able to critically appraise and interpret complex data / statistical information to support the improvement of AHP services.
- Ability to lead complex quality improvement initiatives and projects at scale.
- Positive, professional approach and image: a leading role model for staff.
- Proven leadership skills in a complex healthcare setting
- A leading expert within specialist field of practice.
- Resilient, able to challenge as well as deal with challenge.
- Able to work under pressure and to tight Deadlines.
- Establish visibility and credibility in equal measure across all localities and professional groups
- Manage own workload – be a self-starter, working autonomously, able to prioritise knowing when to escalate concerns to executive
- Proactive and able to lead problem solving efforts.
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Judith Friedman
- Job title
- Executive Director of AHP's, PP's and Social Care
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07730619585
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