Head of Healthcare | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Posting date:	22 December 2025
Salary:	Not specified
Additional salary information:	£64,455 - £74,896 p.a.
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	21 January 2026
Location:	Bristol, BS7 8PS
Company:	Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Job type:	Permanent
Job reference:	7691553/277-7691553-BRIS

Summary

We are currently recruiting for a Head of Healthcare at HMP Bristol. This is an exciting opportunity to blend your clinical knowledge, leadership skills and commitment to delivering high standards of care in an extremely rewarding environment.


You will be responsible for the leadership and operational management of the healthcare service at HMP Bristol. You will work closely with the Regional Manager, peer Heads of Healthcare, HMP Bristol Healthcare teams, sub-contractors, and HMPPS colleagues, and you will regularly link with key stakeholders including commissioners, prison governors and the Independent Monitoring Board.


Our healthcare team have a real impact on promoting health and well-being to those in prison and we pride ourselves on using skills and strategies that instil hope for patient’s future resettlement back into the community. We directly deliver Mental Health, Physical Health, Pharmacy and Clinical Substance Misuse in an integrated healthcare delivery model to provide effective and responsive care to improve wellbeing and support better outcomes in the future.

Important Sponsorship Information for this post: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post


Within this role, you will oversee and manage a multi-disciplinary team that includes but is not limited to; primary care, substance misuse services, mental health, psychology, psychiatry, administration & GP services.


You will support the leadership team within HMP Bristol to provide safe, effective, high quality care; leading and encouraging effective partnership and multidisciplinary working to provide responsive and patient-centred care.


You will ensure that effective clinical governance is in place, including organising and chairing local Quality Management and HMPPS Local Delivery and Quality Boards meetings, and participating in regional management meetings, contract monitoring activity and financial reviews. You will be responsible for liaising with data analyst and quality management colleagues to ensure that all relevant reporting requirements are fulfilled.


You will be required to lead and empower others and demonstrate the ability to plan and implement an innovative practice over a 24/7 healthcare service.


Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:
• We’re Kind
• We’re Fair
• We Listen
• We Care
• Provide direction and co-ordination in conjunction with Heads of Departments and relevant managers in shaping and implementing the future provision, quality and performance of services provided.

• The post holder will exercise a high degree of personal and professional autonomy and can plan and reach complex and critical judgments and have decision making skills to satisfy the expectations of the role.

• To foster and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders including HMPPS senior management team, Governors, staff, NHSE commissioners and sub-contractors.

• Deputise for the Regional Manager as required.

• To strategically develop, deliver, clinically audit and evaluate the Integrated Healthcare Service for the prison. This will include acute & primary care, long term conditions management, enhanced assessment and diagnostic intervention services and health promotion activities and be in line with the NHS Plan, public health indicators and National Service Frameworks.

• To demonstrate and provide robust expert clinical leadership with a sound understanding of evidence-based nursing practice to provide a pro-active approach, to ensure quality and outcome driven practice on a day-to-day basis, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• To ensure the implementation of effective and appropriate patient centred care planning tools I Care Programme Approach (CPA), long-term condition registers and consistent delivery throughout all the prisons and forensic units within the service.

• To ensure performance monitoring systems are in place, to promote the development of evidence-based practice in specialist fields and to promote research as appropriate.

• To ensure the implementation, development and participation in managerial and professional clinical and managerial supervision programmes, to ensure all staff receive appropriate supervision, training and annual appraisal, and to ensure that it becomes an integral part of team practice.

• The post holder will work collaboratively with clinical leads, GPs, psychiatrists and other clinicians/non-clinicians to meet and review service needs as required

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ:


All applicants must be willing to undertake National Security Vetting in order to work in a Prison Setting. This will be completed as part of the pre-employment checks through Oxleas and the prison vetting team.  


You will need to provide: 


Proof of right to work documentation 


Proof of ID, needs to include 1 photographic ID


Proof of address documentation 


Non-UK passport holders will need to have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home office Share code. 


Address History: 


5 years address history will be needed.  


Applicants that are not UK Passport holders who provide less than 5 years UK address history will need to provide a Police Certificate which must be in English from where they resided previously. 


Applicants who are UK Passport holders who have lived abroad for a period of more than six months during the last three years will need to provide a certificate of good conduct or an overseas police check in English from the countries resided in or visited. 


In order to assist you in obtaining a Police Certificate, guidance can be sought from:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants


If the country you have resided in is not listed here, you can obtain the necessary information by contacting the relevant Embassy or High Commission for that Country. Their contact details can be found on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en).




This advert closes on Monday 19 Jan 2026

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