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: Secondment Opportunity until 31st March 2028 Location: Homebased with travel as and when required Closing Date: Sunday 5th July 2026 at 11.59pm

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 As an NPA for Surgery, you will

• Provide expert clinical advice on complex regulatory cases involving surgical services
• Support consistent, high-quality decision-making across inspection and regulatory activity
• Help shape future inspection models and approaches to regulating surgical care
• Advise on emerging clinical standards, guidance and policy developments
• Build relationships with senior surgical leaders and professional bodies, strengthening CQC’s clinical credibility

Why This Role Matters This role provides the opportunity to:

• Influence care quality and patient safety at a national level
• Ensure regulation reflects real-world surgical practice and pressures
• Contribute to improving outcomes for patients across hospital services in England

Who We’re Looking For We are keen to hear from individuals who:

• Hold significant senior experience in surgery, with regional or national influence
• Have experience advising, leading or shaping clinical practice or strategy
• Can provide clear, credible advice on complex clinical issues
• Are experienced in working with senior stakeholders and professional bodies
• Are motivated to make a broader system-wide impact beyond their current role

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 via the Recruitment System. Your Supporting Statement should be no more than 750-words and outline your motivation for applying for the role and what you can bring to CQC.

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: Prem.Premachandran@cqc.org.uk.

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 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. Spell-checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively. Do not copy and paste AI generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember we want to hear about your skills and experience. Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.