An exciting opportunity has arisen within NHS England North East and North Cumbria office for the position of Head of School of Acute Specialties. Reporting to the Deputy Dean for Specialty Training and Postgraduate Dean, the role is responsible for the training and education of 100+ resident doctors in training in Acute Specialties.
The School of Acute Specialities aims to bring Royal College contacts, NHSE NE staff, LET staff and trusts together to ensure the effective organisation and delivery of Postgraduate Medical Education in Acute Specialties for the North East and North Cumbria.
Expected Start date: 1st September 2026
Hours per week: 2 PAs per week
The Head of School is professionally and managerially accountable to the Postgraduate Dean. The Head of School will focus upon improvement of learner supervision, assessment and experience, engagement of faculty and ensuring effective educational outcomes, both now and in the future. The role is evolving and will also focus on whole workforce transformation and developing multi-professional links mas well as innovative ways of curriculum delivery and workforce well-being strategies.
To support the Postgraduate Dean, Heads of Schools work across the spectrum of health and where relevant, social care, within the context of a team, so that the provision of education reflects changing service models. This will deliver an integrated workforce comprising individuals from a spectrum of professional and other backgrounds.
NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.
Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms — enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.
In March 2025, the Government announced that NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department.
If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.
We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.
You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Secondments
Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.
