National Professional Advisor – Surgery

Executive Level 3 - Aligned to Professional Experience (please note for part time roles – this will be pro rata)

Contracted Hours: Part-time 1 day per week (equivalent to 7 hours – 0.2 FTE)

Contract Type: Fixed Term / Secondment Opportunity until 31/3/2028

Location: Homebased with travel as and when required

Closing date: Thursday 2 April 2026 at 11.59pm

Interview date: TBC via MS Teams

Make a difference

Every role at CQC helps us make sure people get safe, high‑quality care. If you’re looking for a new role in the Hospitals Inspectorate that gives a real sense of purpose, then you’ve found it.

As a National Professional Advisor, you’ll bring senior surgical expertise that guides national oversight of hospital care and shapes our future direction in regulating surgical services.

Picture this

In this role, you’ll use your surgical background to guide how hospital services are assessed, giving expert advice to CQC staff that protects people and supports safe care. You’ll work with leaders across CQC to help shape new ways of regulating surgical services.

As a National Professional Advisor in the Hospital Inspectorate, you will be asked to:

• Advise on complex regulatory cases where surgical insight is required to support fair decision making.
• Help shape new inspection models for surgical services, making sure they reflect real‑world pressures and current clinical practice.
  
  

The role

You’ll be key in helping us deliver our work. In this role, you’ll:

• Provide specialist clinical insight: Offer senior‑level surgical advice to inspection teams, directors and the Chief Inspector of Hospitals to support strong, consistent and credible regulatory decisions.
• Shape national practice: Review new clinical guidance, emerging surgical standards and policy changes, and help CQC design future inspection and regulatory models that reflect the pressures of surgical practice.
• Strengthen external credibility: Build trusted relationships with senior surgical stakeholders and professional bodies, helping CQC stay connected to frontline expertise and maintain confidence in our regulation of surgical services.
  
  

Show Us

We will be looking for specific skills, knowledge and experience in your application form:

• Experience leading or advising at a regional, national or equivalent level in a surgical field, including guiding clinical groups, shaping improvements or supporting high‑level decision making.

Ability to give clear, expert advice on complex clinical matters, including explaining surgical risks, interpreting emerging guidance and supporting inspection or regulatory decisions.

Experience working with senior professional stakeholders, such as national surgical bodies or specialist forums, using empathy and inclusive leadership to influence and support change.

Join us and help CQC shape the future of health and care.

You can read the full details of the role in the NPA Job Description

How To Apply

To apply for this role, please submit a copy of your CV and Supporting Statement (no more than 750-words) via the Recruitment System.

Your Supporting Statement Should Cover The Following

• How your previous experience makes you suitable for this role?
• What strengths will you bring to the role?
  
  

If you’d like to have an informal chat about the role you can contact – Nicola Wise, Director of Hospitals: Nicola.Wise@cqc.org.uk or Dr Prem Premachandran, National Professional Advisor for Urgent and Emergency Care

. For general enquiries, please email recruitment@cqc.org.uk.

Compliance

To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without valid right to work you won’t be eligible for the role. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Note For Internal Candidates

This is a secondment/fixed term opportunity. Please read the recruitment and selection policy section on secondments. You must discuss your application with your line manager before applying.

Next steps

If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Please see our information for applicants for more details on the process. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether or not you are shortlisted.

The Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits, including:

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually 8 days per year).

Training and development opportunities.

Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.

NHS pension scheme, with around 14% employer contribution.

Discount schemes (including eligibility for a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for 2 years), reward vouchers, car leasing and more!

Please see our benefits page for the full list.

Equity for all

We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need.

We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact recruitment@cqc.org.uk. Please note, if you have previously informed us of adjustments you need for interview or within your role these are not carried over and must be discussed for each individual application you make.

We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission and make our culture stronger. See our ED&I page for more about this.

We Welcome Applications From Everyone, And Colleagues Can Find Support And Community Among Our Many Employee Networks. This Includes People Of Any

• Age
• Sex
• Gender identity or expression
• Sexual orientation
• Religion or belief
• Ethnicity
• Disability
  
  

Values and vision

We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture.

Excellence – being a high-performing organisation.

Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect.

Integrity – doing the right thing.

Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.

We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.

A Note on AI

About

AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind:

• AI can support research, structuring and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience.