Head of Professional Practice

Royal College of Pathologists

Hours
35 hours per week

About the Organisation

Royal College of Pathologists is a professional membership organisation with charitable status, concerned with all matters relating to the science and practice of pathology. It is a body of its Fellows, Diplomates, Affiliates, and trainees, supported by the staff who are based at the College's London offices. The College is a charity with over 13000 members worldwide.

The majority of members are doctors and scientists working in hospitals and universities in the UK. The College oversees the training of pathologists and scientists working in 17 different specialities, which include cellular pathology, haematology, clinical biochemistry, and medical microbiology.

Although some pathologists work in laboratories, many work directly with patients in hospitals and the community. Together, they are involved in the majority of all diagnoses and play an important role in disease prevention, treatment, and monitoring. If you have ever had a blood test, cervical smear, or tissue biopsy, a pathologist will have been involved in your care.

About the role

We are seeking an ambitious leader to drive complex healthcare policy initiatives and high-level programmes of work. As a subject matter expert in policy and standards, you will balance a passion for innovation with an unwavering commitment to customer service. If you have a proven track record of turning healthcare strategy into decisive action, we want to hear from you. 

The Professional Practice Directorate is dedicated to setting the standards for excellence in pathology and supporting our members. By combining strong stakeholder engagement with robust data and intelligence, we develop the essential tools and resources pathologists need to enhance the safety and quality of their services. We are advancing our workforce data collection and analysis to ensure we can use the intelligence we obtain to drive the College’s lobbying efforts and increase our outreach to members to ensure our services evolve to meet their needs.

The primary purpose of this role is to oversee the three directorate teams in line with the College’s strategy:

• Professional Practice: advancing the standards for pathology.
• Member Engagement: actively seeking member perspectives and delivering positive change.
• Workforce: providing vital insights through data collection and analysis and delivering strong outputs, including robust policy positions.

You will support the Director of Professional Practice in fostering a responsive, improvement-focused culture within the directorate that transforms insights into essential resources for clinical safety and support.

Responsibilities

Operational Leadership:

• Oversee the three core Professional Practice functions, supporting the Director of Professional Practice to inspire the directorate staff working within the directorate to ensure delivery against the College’s strategic priorities.
• Champion strategic thinking across the directorate. Supporting departments to seek feedback and intelligence from members, asking the right questions and identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Employ strong coaching skills to drive the development of innovative thinking across the directorate. Helping departments see the bigger picture and challenge the status quo through a collaborative and action-oriented approach.
• Motivate the departments to be ambitious in their approach to work to ensure member data and intelligence is acted on and member needs and wants are front and centre in everything the directorate does.
• Foster strong project management across the directorate, ensuring department managers show good planning, organising and management skills and address issues and risks appropriately.
• Deliver strong programme management skills, ensuring the projects across departments are delivered with a collaborative approach and collective focus on outputs for members, harnessing everyone’s skills and abilities for maximum benefit.
• Oversee strong policy outputs aligned with agreed goals, ensuring they are delivered to a high standard and to time.
• To be a subject matter expert for all the functions delivered by the directorate and be a spokesperson for them at internal and external stakeholder meetings and events when required.

Professional Practice:

• Oversee the development and implementation of the College’s Patient Safety Strategy.
• Oversee the College’s external quality assurance (EQA) function for both technical and interpretive EQA.
• Oversee the timely and effective production and review of clinical guidelines across all specialities.
• Advocate for the development of engaging content, valued by members and informed, driven by strong intelligence.
• Oversee the College’s disciplinary regulations and their application

Member Engagement:

• Oversee the College’s member engagement work, ensuring it is delivered well, spans all specialities, generates intelligence and is actioned by the College.
• Support the Member Engagement Manager in coaching people to embrace innovation and change in order to deliver improvements based on intelligence gathered.
• Ensure the College’s continuing professional development (CPD) offer is strong, up-to-date and forward-looking.

Workforce and Employer Engagement:

• Oversee the Workforce Strategy, delivering strong intelligence gathering, stakeholder engagement and support to provide the best opportunity for pathology to be sufficiently resourced.
• Work with the Director of Professional Practice to showcase and champion the data and intelligence collected and support the lobbying work of the President and Public Affairs department.
• Ensure strong customer service in relation to the College’s job description review service and appointment advisory committee support service.

Management.

• Oversee the Professional Guidelines, Member Engagement and Support and Workforce and Employer Engagement departments.
• Support the Director of Professional Practice in promoting a positive team culture, motivating and supporting individuals and establishing effective business partnering, collaboration and integration across these teams and the wider organisation.
• To be responsible for the day-to-day management and development of staff. This will include assisting with the recruitment and selection of new employees, feeding into the annual appraisal process, sickness absence management, performance, capability and disciplinary issues. This will also include signing off on staff expense claims.
• Coach and facilitate roles across the College to raise the profile of member requirements and develop the College's approach to engagement. This will be achieved through 1:1 meetings/conversations, team workshops and events. 
• Adhere to the budget to ensure appropriate delivery of the Professional Practice portfolio of work.

General Duties:

• Keep up to date with relevant research and developments within one's own professional field
• Engage in regular staff meetings, staff briefings and project groups where appropriate
• Liaise regularly with the Director of Professional Practice, Clinical Director of Safety and Quality, Assistant Registrar and Vice-President of Professional Practice on Professional Practice matters.
• Deputise for the Director of Professional Practice and represent the College when required.
• Undertake any other duties and responsibilities as requested, which are commensurate with this role

Skills, Competencies, Experience & Attributes

Knowledge, Qualifications & Experience:

• Experience in managing, leading and developing staff
• Experience of using data and evidence in policy development and advocacy
• Project management and managing multiple projects
• Experience of using Microsoft applications for writing reports, proposals and documenting procedures
• Previous experience of planning and successfully managing change, preferably within the not-for-profit sector
• Experience in managing budgets 
• Experience of working for a professional body in a medical education environment or the healthcare sector
• Experience of professional standards in the health service and regulatory frameworks
• Experience in developing and implementing innovative solutions and best practices in supporting professional practice
• Knowledge of the NHS and the medical profession with regard to best practice, guidelines and/or relevant NHS/clinical bodies

Skills & Abilities:

• Ability to work effectively with staff, trustees and officers, members, stakeholders and other internal and external people and organisations
• Ability to prioritise competing demands
• Ability to work independently, use initiative, solve problems, exercise sound judgement and make high-level decisions
• Strategic and creative thinking skills

Requirements:

• Ability to formulate, write and revise policies and envisage implications 
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Experience in writing reports, papers and proposals for publication and documenting procedures
• Ability to form good working relationships at all levels and liaise with externally based professionals and other key stakeholders
• Ability to lead, motivate and develop others
• Attention to detail 
• Planning skills, especially about developing work plans and complex programmes with multiple stakeholders

Personal Qualities:

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills (writing, presenting, listening, influencing and diplomacy)
• Commitment to a member/customer-focused culture
• Commitment to equality and diversity, and understanding of how this would apply to one's own role and responsibilities
• Collaborative approach to work
• Committed to continual improvement
• Commitment to high-quality outputs 
• Maintains sufficient levels of IT skills and knowledge, including database reporting skills and CMS skills

Required Qualifications

• Graduate or equivalent, and relevant professional experience
• Postgraduate, and relevant professional qualification

Working locations

• Hybrid model, working in the London office and remotely

How to apply

• Apply to our website

Policies

The Royal College of Pathologists understands the value and strength that diversity brings, and we are proud to be an organisation of members from a wide range of backgrounds. We are keen to encourage and enable more people of all identities and from all backgrounds to become involved in the College.

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