Job type

Health service manager

£31k - £105k

Typical salary

37 – 39

Hours per week

Health service managers run local healthcare services like hospitals, GP practices and community health services.

More info

  • Work in a management position in a hospital, GP practice or health trust, leading teams who deliver health services
  • You'll need great organisation skills, leadership skills, and the ability to manage budgets and resources
  • Work your way up from admin or functional roles (e.g. in HR or finance) or from being a healthcare professional

As a health service manager, you could be responsible for controlling resources in a range of roles, like chief executive of a large hospital, or manager of a GP practice. You could specialise in finance, human resources (HR), project management, health informatics, or facilities management and premises security.

DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES

  • Working with clinical staff and other professionals
  • Recruiting, training and supervising staff
  • Dealing with the health service's day-to-day performance
  • Setting and managing budgets
  • Writing reports and giving presentations
  • Using data to monitor and improve services
  • Making sure regulations are followed
  • Managing premises and security

DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT

You could work at a health centre, in an NHS or private hospital or at a GP practice.

You'll need

This role would be ideal for someone with leadership and administration skills, business management knowledge, the ability to work well with others, and patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations.

There are no set requirements for this job, but a common way in is through a degree in a health or management-related subject.

You can also get this job with a chartered manager degree apprenticeship.

You can get into health service management by working your way up from an administrative or clinical role within the NHS. With experience, you can move up to supervisory or management level.

The most direct route for this job is through an NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme. To apply for this, you'll need a degree, or equivalent qualification, in healthcare or management. You can also apply directly for this job if you already have management experience from the private, public or voluntary sector.

CAREER PROSPECTS

With experience, you could apply for jobs at director or chief executive level.