Director of Safeguarding and Complex Care

Job description

Job responsibilities

Role Summary

Leads the management of patients with complex, high-cost needs, ensuring care is coordinated, cost-effective, and safeguards are in place to protect vulnerable individuals.

Role Accountability

Develop and implement strategies for managing high-cost patients that balance quality, safety, and financial sustainability.

Lead identification, monitoring, and care planning for high-cost, high-need patients.

Direct safeguarding frameworks, ensuring compliance and promoting a culture of safety.

Use analytics to identify risks, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improved outcomes.

Lead a multidisciplinary team across case management, safeguarding, and clinical leadership.

Build strong partnerships with internal teams, external agencies, and safeguarding partners.

Report on performance, risks, and improvements to senior leadership and governing bodies.

Drive innovation in care models, using digital tools and predictive analytics.

Provide managerial and strategic oversight of complex clinical cases, which may involve direct patient care and direct contact with patients and their relatives.

Overseeing All aged Continuing Health Care and ensure appropriate transfer of CHC function to providers over time

Role Responsibilities

Strategic Oversight of High-Cost Patient Cohorts - Lead the strategic and operational management of patients with complex, high-cost needs. Ensure care pathways are clinically appropriate, financially sustainable, and focused on improving outcomes while reducing avoidable expenditure.

Safeguarding and Risk Management - Oversee safeguarding frameworks across the ICB, ensuring compliance with statutory duties and promoting a culture of safety and vigilance. Work closely with system partners to protect vulnerable individuals and embed safeguarding into all aspects of care delivery. Escalation point for all safeguarding matters which involves direct patient care and direct contact with relatives in complex cases.

Value-Based Care and Service Integration - Drive value-based care initiatives for resource-intensive patient groups. Integrate cross-functional teams including clinical, social care, and commissioning colleagues to enhance patient safety, quality, and cost-efficiency across the care continuum.

Clinical Leadership and Quality Assurance - Provide expert clinical input into service design, transformation programmes, and utilisation reviews. Ensure clinical perspectives inform decision-making, outcome evaluation, and continuous improvement in care coordination and quality.

Partnerships and System Collaboration - Collaborate with local government, provider collaboratives, and community organisations to co-design priorities that address health inequalities and improve life outcomes. Ensure services are responsive to local needs and aligned with broader system goals.

Performance Monitoring and Improvement - Monitor service performance and patient outcomes across high-cost cohorts. Identify areas for improvement, support targeted interventions, and ensure accountability for delivery against agreed objectives.

Cluster Accountability

All members of the management team will hold accountability across the three current Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) from appointment until the point of formal merger (date to be confirmed). Each postholder will hold office in all three organisations and will discharge their duties through agreed and transparent governance structures.

This collective accountability means acting as part of one unified leadership team, rather than representing or prioritising any legacy organisation. Decisions, behaviours, and leadership actions must always reflect the shared interests of the combined population and system, rather than narrower organisational loyalties.

Postholders will be expected to:

Work seamlessly across the three ICBs, ensuring consistent leadership and decision-making.

Uphold the integrity of governance processes and operate with transparency, fairness, and clarity.

Take shared responsibility for the outcomes, performance, and reputation of the system as a whole.

Foster a culture of unity, trust, and shared purpose across all parts of the organisation during the transition period.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Extensive clinical leadership experience in a large, complex, multi-agency environment, ideally within health and care commissioning.
• Demonstrable success in delivering organisational change, transformation, and integration at scale.
• Deep understanding of the NHS, Integrated Care Systems, and the wider health and care policy context, including the priorities of the NHS 10 Year Plan and statutory duties of an ICB.
• Strong clinical track record in strategic planning, commissioning, and/or system-wide service redesign to improve outcomes and value for money.
• Evidence of working effectively with a broad range of partners, including local authorities, providers, community organisations, and national bodies.
• Experience of leading in a politically sensitive environment and balancing competing demands with diplomacy and sound judgement.

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to Masters degree level or equivalent level of experience in a relevant field (e.g. health, care, public services, management, or related discipline).
• Evidence of continuous professional development, with a track record of keeping skills and knowledge current.
• Significant experience at board or sub-board level within the NHS, public sector, or a comparable complex system.
• Current relevant professional clinical registration and up to date on CPD.

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.

Employer details

Employer name

NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough

Address

Gemini House

Cambridgeshire Business Park

Ely

CB7 4EA

Employer's website

https://www.cpics.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)