Head of Care

Head of Care Location: National (Regular Travel Required)
Job Type: Full-Time | Permanent

Lead the Future of Specialist Care Are you an experienced senior care leader ready to shape and influence care services on a national scale?

We're seeking an exceptional Head of Care to provide strategic leadership across a portfolio of specialist education and care services. This is a unique opportunity to join a forward-thinking organisation where you'll play a pivotal role in driving quality, improving outcomes, and ensuring the highest standards of care for individuals with complex needs.

If you're passionate about delivering person-centred care, developing high-performing teams, and leading meaningful change, we'd love to hear from you.

The Opportunity As Head of Care, you will provide strategic and operational leadership across multiple specialist services, ensuring every individual receives safe, effective and person-centred care.

Working alongside senior leadership teams, service managers, education professionals, healthcare specialists, commissioners and families, you'll help shape the future direction of care services while ensuring compliance, quality and continuous improvement remain at the heart of everything delivered.

This is a national role requiring regular travel to support services across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership

• Develop and implement the organisation's care strategy.
• Provide senior leadership across multiple care services.
• Drive continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Promote innovative, person-centred approaches to care.
• Support executive decision-making and organisational planning.

Quality, Compliance & Governance

• Ensure services consistently meet CQC, Ofsted and safeguarding standards.
• Maintain inspection readiness through effective quality assurance processes.
• Lead audits, service reviews and improvement programmes.
• Oversee clinical governance and person-centred care planning.
• Ensure safe practice across complex care including:
  • Medication management
  • Infection prevention and control
  • Delegated healthcare tasks
  • Complex health support
  • Moving and handling
  • Dysphagia management
  • Epilepsy care
  • Respiratory support
  • Enteral feeding
  • Continence support
  • Intimate care
• Work collaboratively with healthcare professionals, therapists and nursing teams to ensure safe delegation, competency assessment and effective clinical governance.

Safeguarding & Risk Management

• Provide senior leadership for safeguarding across all services.
• Embed effective risk management processes.
• Foster a proactive safeguarding culture aligned with legislation and best practice.
• Support positive behaviour support and safe care delivery.

Operational Leadership

• Support and develop service leaders across the care portfolio.
• Ensure services consistently meet individual health, care and wellbeing needs.
• Oversee admissions, transitions and compatibility assessments.
• Act as the senior escalation point for complex care matters.

Workforce Development

• Lead and inspire multidisciplinary teams including nurses, care staff and operational leaders.
• Develop robust supervision, appraisal and competency frameworks.
• Promote a culture of accountability, inclusion and continuous professional development.
• Support recruitment, workforce planning and staff retention.
• Ensure staffing models reflect the needs of individuals and services.

Working in Partnership

• Strengthen collaboration between care and education teams to improve outcomes.
• Support learning, independence, communication and Preparing for Adulthood pathways.
• Work alongside education leaders to align care provision with EHCP outcomes.

Stakeholder Engagement Build and maintain strong relationships with:

• Healthcare professionals
• Therapy teams
• Commissioners
• Families
• External agencies

You'll also represent the organisation during inspections, partnership meetings and professional forums.

Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor quality standards and service performance.
• Produce reports for senior leaders, regulators and commissioners.
• Analyse data to identify improvement opportunities.
• Support the implementation of digital systems and performance dashboards.

About You We're looking for an experienced senior leader who is passionate about delivering outstanding care and inspiring teams to achieve excellence.

Essential Experience

• Significant senior leadership experience within health, social care, residential care, specialist education or integrated care services.
• Experience managing complex, multi-site services.
• Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong background in quality assurance, compliance and governance.
• Experience delivering person-centred care for individuals with complex needs.
• Excellent safeguarding knowledge and experience.

Knowledge & Expertise

• Strong understanding of CQC, Ofsted and safeguarding frameworks.
• Expertise in clinical governance and care planning.
• Knowledge of specialist education environments and Preparing for Adulthood pathways.
• Understanding of complex health needs and specialist care delivery.

Leadership Skills You'll be:

• A strategic thinker with strong commercial and operational awareness.
• An inspiring leader who develops and motivates others.
• An excellent communicator with outstanding stakeholder management skills.
• Passionate about continuous improvement and driving positive change.
• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple priorities across a national portfolio.

Why Join Us? This is far more than an operational leadership role—it's an opportunity to shape the future of specialist care across a national organisation.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Lead high-performing care services across multiple locations.
• Influence organisational strategy and service development.
• Drive innovation and continuous improvement.
• Champion outstanding care standards.
• Help improve the lives of individuals with complex needs every single day.

If you're an experienced care leader ready to make a lasting impact, we'd love to hear from you.

To apply or find out more about this opportunity, please contact:

John Deane
? john.deane@servicecare.org.uk