Medical DirectorNHS

Job summary

As Divisional Medical Director, you will share accountability for all aspects of the Diggory Division alongside the Managing Director and Director of Nursing. You will provide strong, compassionate clinical leadership, helping to shape the strategy, culture, and future direction ofmental health services within the Directorate.

You will be central to our transformation journey, ensuring clinical quality, developing the next generation of clinical leaders, and embedding research and innovation across services. You will represent CNWL in key system forums, influence regional strategy, and champion the delivery of high-quality, inclusive care.

Interviews will be held mid-January 2027

Main duties of the job

The postholder will be based in London but will be expected to maintain a regular and visible presence across the full geographical footprint of Diggory Division, including services in Milton Keynes and Surrey. This is a fundamental requirement of the role, ensuring accessible clinical leadership, effective engagement with staff and service users, and strong relationships with local partners. The postholder must therefore be willing and able to travel regularly between sites as required.

Job description

The Diggory Medical Director will be jointly responsible and accountable for all aspects of the Diggory Division alongside the Diggory Managing Director and Director of Nursing.

The Diggory Medical Director will provide clinical leadership and strategic direction for the Division and will ensure, alongside the Diggory Managing Director and Director of Nursing, that services are delivered with high quality, financial and operational sustainability and consistent with the Trust values.

The Diggory Medical Director has a key role in providing a clinical vision to inform service improvement and development across the Division, in keeping with the NHS 10-year plan. You will provide strong clinical leadership to shape and improve care across mental health, community, addictions, health and justice, and sexual health and HIV services.

Diggory is a diverse division delivering mental health, community and addiction services in Milton Keynes, alongside addictions, health and justice, and sexual health and HIV services across London, Milton Keynes and Surrey. The Medical Director therefore has a significant role representing CNWL with system partners, commissioners and external organisations across this broad geography.

The Diggory Medical Director is responsible, through line management and professional leadership of Clinical Directors and for ensuring all aspects of medical governance are adhered to, including effective recruitment, job planning, annual appraisal and revalidation, and management of performance concerns relating to medical and dental staff within the Division.

The Diggory Medical Director will support the development of medical and clinical leadership within the Division.

The Diggory Medical Director will work closely with the Director of Medical Education to support resident doctors and medical students and embed a culture of learning within the Division.

The Diggory Medical Director will, alongside the Diggory Director of Nursing, have responsibility for clinical governance of the Division. You will actively engage in quality improvement, in responding to and learning from incidents, as well as supporting the divisional relationship with external organisations including the CQC.

The Medical Director will work alongside the Managing Director and Director of Nursing to ensure safe, effective and timely care across Diggory services, including effective patient flow through inpatient and community mental health pathways, using quality improvement and clinically led processes and systems.

CNWL is a strong research organisation and the Diggory Medical Director is expected to actively support development of research within the Division.

The Medical Director will have corporate responsibilities which will vary from time to time and scope.

About us

CNWL (Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust) is one of the largest and most diverse community and mental health Trusts in the country. We have received a rating of "good" from the CQC; we care for people across the life course, from preconception through to the end of life. We have a wide range of outstanding partners and work across vibrant and expansive geography.

Our Trust is structured into three Operational Divisions, working alongside centralised corporate support services. Each Division is made up of borough teams and cross-boundary specialised Directorates. Each Division is managed by a team of three - a Managing Director, Director of Nursing and a Medical Director. These three report, respectively, to the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Nurse and the Chief Medical Officer.

The Divisional teams work closely, along with their Borough and Service line leaders, with the local authority, public health, PCNs and other statutory and non-statutory partners.

We operate across two Integrated Care Systems (ICSs): West North London (WNL) and Central East.