Clinical Director, National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN)

Job Title: Clinical Director, National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN)
Contract Type: Honorary role until 30 September 2027.
Time commitment/reimbursement: NHS Employers will be reimbursed for two clinical session per week for the
Clinical Director role

About us
The Royal College of Surgeons of England is one of the best known professional membership organisations in the
world, with a name and reputation that speak for excellence in the UK and across the globe. We provide education,
assessment and development to nearly 30,000 surgeons, dental surgeons and members of the wider surgical and
dental teams at all stages of their career; we set professional standards, facilitate research and champion world-class
surgical outcomes for patients.

About the role

The Clinical Director position provides a unique opportunity to shape a national centre of excellence dedicated to
strengthening NHS cancer services and reducing variation in care. The role is based at the National Cancer Audit
Collaborating Centre (NATCAN) within the Clinical Effectiveness Unit (CEU), jointly run by the Royal College of
Surgeons of England (RCS England) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

The successful candidate will play an important role in ensuring NATCAN translates NHS cancer priorities into
strategies related to performance assessment, outlier detection, the use of national data sources, and quality
improvement activities. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience and expertise in all these areas at a
national and international level. The Clinical Director helps NATCAN respond to changes in cancer service delivery,
with an effective communication strategy that ensures the cancer audits remain clinically relevant and impactful

The Clinical Director acts as an ambassador for NATCAN, supporting dialogue with the wider NHS cancer care
community and with NHS commissioners and providers, especially in the context of performance assessment and
quality improvement. The successful candidate will be familiar with the existing national quality improvement
landscape and will identify opportunities to improve collaboration and avoid duplication.

The Clinical Director supports the Clinical Leads of NATCAN audits so that each cancer audit benefits as much as
possible from the “critical mass” of expertise available within NATCAN, and consistently implements Centre strategy
and policy whilst recognising the specific clinical requirements and circumstances within each audit.

The Clinical Director works with other members of NATCAN’s Executive Team to support the portfolio of NATCAN’s
developmental activities, ensuring the clinical perspective is represented at the highest level within the Centre, and
liaising with the Clinical Leads within NATCAN.

Responsibilities

•  Provide strategic clinical leadership for NATCAN, ensuring the programme aligns with national cancer

policy and evolving NHS priorities.

•  Ensure clinical coherence and governance across all 10 national cancer audits, supporting audit Clinical

Leads and promoting consistent standards, interpretation and communication of results.

•  Act as a key external ambassador, maintaining strong relationships with clinicians, commissioners, cancer

charities, professional bodies and national stakeholders to build confidence in NATCAN’s outputs
•  Provide clinical advice on effective communication strategies for NATCAN activities and outputs
•  Shape and support NATCAN’s quality improvement agenda, including national “closing the loop” strategies

and enhanced audit-and-feedback mechanisms.

•  Contribute to the developmental activities of the Centre, ensuring clinical perspectives are embedded in

audit methodology and innovation.

•  Foster cross-audit learning, including through monthly internal meetings, regular engagement with Clinical

Leads and annual cross-NATCAN events.

•  Support delivery of the audits through engagement with NATCAN’s Executive Team on structure, staffing,

internal communication and enabling effective audit delivery.

•  Mentor NATCAN Clinical Fellows and contribute to staff development where required.

About you
We are looking for applicants with:

•  Membership of a Royal College
•  A national clinical profile in the area of cancer services
•  A proven national leadership role in cancer care quality improvement
•  Extensive experience in developing and implementing novel approaches for the performance assessment of

cancer services at national level

•  Evidence of a leadership role in multidisciplinary teams at national level
•  Excellent verbal and written communication skills at national and international level
•  Outstanding organisational skills
•  Demonstrable leadership skills within and outside the health service.

Interested Candidates:

If you would like to apply for this role, please provide a cover letter outlining your vision for NATCAN in the short and
medium term (in no more than 2 – 3 paragraphs) alongside your CV to RCSHR@rcseng.ac.uk no later than Monday
20th April.

Informal enquiries regarding this post should be directed to Dr Julie Nossiter, Director of Operations, NATCAN
(jnossiter@rcseng.ac.uk), Prof David Cromwell, Director of the CEU or Prof Kate Walker, NATCAN Lead Statistician

Any personal data collected from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us in accordance with our
recruitment processes. If unsuccessful in your application, your information will be held by us on our database for a
period of 6 months before deletion. If you would like your information removed sooner, please contact
RCSHR@rceng.ac.uk

Closing date: 20 April 2026

Interviews will take place on Monday 11th May.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We are open to all talent and we
actively ensure that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regards to age,
disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or
sexual orientation.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is committed to protecting your privacy. We are registered as a data
controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). All College employees are responsible for records held,
created and used as part of their work for the College including patient/client, corporate and administrative records.
Records are managed according to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and ensure confidentiality. The
College ensures that staff are trained to handle the information you submit to us with care and discretion, seeking
advice where necessary.