Job summary
Transfer of Care Discharge Hub Lead (Band 7 or 8a depending on experience) Maternity Leave 8-months fixed term cover.
Exciting Opportunity Alert! We're looking for an enthusiastic, can-do Integrated Discharge Hub Lead to join our team from 1st September 2025 for 8 months to cover maternity leave.
This is a senior role where you'll oversee the strategic and operational direction for getting patients discharged from acute settings to community providers as quickly and smoothly as possible. You'll work together with our Health and Social Care Senior Operational Leads to make the discharge process a breeze.
Your key responsibilities will be to:
- Optimise patients' length of stay - get patients home as soon as we can
- Develop and implement systems to ensure everyone is on the same page and working together seamlessly with our partner agencies
- Evaluate our services and redesign them to improve those discharge pathways, keeping up with the latest guidance
- Monitor, review, and report on our discharge and delay performance so we're always improving
- Be the Trust Lead for our discharge standards and policies
You'll also get to support managing some exciting Trust-wide projects, collaborating with both NHS and non-NHS partners.
Does this sound like the challenge you've been looking for? If you're enthusiastic, up for a challenge, and ready to make a real difference, we want to hear from you!
Main duties of the job
MAIN DUTIES
- To provide expertise in the performance and management of the functioning Integrated Discharge Hub.
- To regularly review the Systems capability to effectively manage flow, and make recommendations to Senior Management as necessary.
- To develop longer term plans to deal with flow and capacity issues in changing demands across the year and support the business planning activity by advising on the impact on capacity and flow of service developments and changes.
- To ensure Senior Managers follow the appropriate trigger points for service escalation, and ensure that all localities have agreed escalation level specific actions.
- To maintain oversight of national and local policies, relating to Medically Ready for Discharge Transfers, and ensure that these are understood, and reflected in Trust policies and procedures.
About us
Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way welook after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Operational Management / Leadership responsibilities
- Take lead responsibility for delivery of the Hospital Discharge Hub to expedite admission avoidance and delivery of the safe and timely discharge of patients promoting across all pathways.
- Lead and manage the discharge hub teams, ensuring the highest professional standards of practice and patient care are achieve.
- Participate and contribute to the delivery of clinical quality and standards for practice.
- Lead the development and application of systems, control processes to ensure that there is a daily accurate record of performance on patients who are ready for discharge but remain in hospital to reduce the need to escalate individual cases.
- Ensure that the systems performance is reported correctly to the CCG in line with legislative and SITREP requirements.
- Required lead on the development, implementation and on-going review of a range of policies in relation to discharge and other connecting policies.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Operational Management / Leadership responsibilities
- Take lead responsibility for delivery of the Hospital Discharge Hub to expedite admission avoidance and delivery of the safe and timely discharge of patients promoting across all pathways.
- Lead and manage the discharge hub teams, ensuring the highest professional standards of practice and patient care are achieve.
- Participate and contribute to the delivery of clinical quality and standards for practice.
- Lead the development and application of systems, control processes to ensure that there is a daily accurate record of performance on patients who are ready for discharge but remain in hospital to reduce the need to escalate individual cases.
- Ensure that the systems performance is reported correctly to the CCG in line with legislative and SITREP requirements.
- Required lead on the development, implementation and on-going review of a range of policies in relation to discharge and other connecting policies.
Person Specification
Education & Qualifications
Essential
- RGN/Midwife or BSC /Diploma in any of the AHP professions
- Comprehensive knowledge of the national best practice in relation to discharge system and processes, e.g. discharge to assess models.
- Significant experience in delivering care through partnership working.
- Proven ability to analyse complex problems and to develop and successfully implement practical and workable solutions to address them
- Knowledge and understanding of the operation of a major acute hospital, community trusts and across social care sector.
- Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of National Policy and drivers in Discharge Planning and Patient Flow across the whole health and social care system.
- Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of Clinical Governance and risk management systems.
Desirable
- Master's degree qualification or working towards
- Nurse NMC/AHP/OT/PT qualification
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- Ability to motivate staff in different settings
- Ability to demonstrate awareness of need for effective teamwork
- Ability to demonstrate personal management skills
- Excellent time management
- Computer literate (with ability to generate reports)
- Effective people management skills
- Good verbal and written communication skills
- Proven conceptual, analytical and problem-solving skills
- Ability to secure commitment from others to change programmes and able to use persuasion and influence to enthuse
- Able to multitask, prioritise and continue to function to a high standard when under pressure
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Understanding and insight into health policy
- Excellent communication skills
- Excellent clinical and holistic assessment skills
- Knowledge of current challenges in the NHS
- Experience of Audit/Change initiatives
- Good knowledge of infection prevention and control
- Experience in Community and Acute
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Proactive
- Dynamic
- Motivated to invest in professional development
Person Specification
Education & Qualifications
Essential
- RGN/Midwife or BSC /Diploma in any of the AHP professions
- Comprehensive knowledge of the national best practice in relation to discharge system and processes, e.g. discharge to assess models.
- Significant experience in delivering care through partnership working.
- Proven ability to analyse complex problems and to develop and successfully implement practical and workable solutions to address them
- Knowledge and understanding of the operation of a major acute hospital, community trusts and across social care sector.
- Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of National Policy and drivers in Discharge Planning and Patient Flow across the whole health and social care system.
- Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of Clinical Governance and risk management systems.
Desirable
- Master's degree qualification or working towards
- Nurse NMC/AHP/OT/PT qualification
Skills & Abilities
Essential
- Ability to motivate staff in different settings
- Ability to demonstrate awareness of need for effective teamwork
- Ability to demonstrate personal management skills
- Excellent time management
- Computer literate (with ability to generate reports)
- Effective people management skills
- Good verbal and written communication skills
- Proven conceptual, analytical and problem-solving skills
- Ability to secure commitment from others to change programmes and able to use persuasion and influence to enthuse
- Able to multitask, prioritise and continue to function to a high standard when under pressure
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Understanding and insight into health policy
- Excellent communication skills
- Excellent clinical and holistic assessment skills
- Knowledge of current challenges in the NHS
- Experience of Audit/Change initiatives
- Good knowledge of infection prevention and control
- Experience in Community and Acute
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Proactive
- Dynamic
- Motivated to invest in professional development
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
