NHS England • Cambridge CB21 5XB

Training Programme Director - Psychiatry – Learning Disability | NHS England

About this role

The role of Training Programme Director is to work with and support the Postgraduate Dean in leading the delivery of a wide range of functions within their specialty, aligned to the NHS England mandate.

Educator roles are usually recruited for a fixed 3 year term, maximum of 2 x 3 year tenure, however due to NHSE organisational change currently we are only able to offer contract till 31 March 2027. We are hoping this will be reviewed soon.

The salary contribution towards this role is in line with TPD sessional payments at £10,000 per session. Please make sure you discuss it with your employer before applying.

A speciality Training Programme Director (TPD) is a member of the Speciality Training Committee (STC) who is managerially responsible to the Postgraduate Dean for the delivery of training in that speciality according to the standards set by the GMC and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The demands on TPDs are likely to vary at times and the guidance below should be interpreted flexibly.

NHS England has a wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers. These are focused on supporting the wider NHS to deliver high quality care, as well as doing those things that are best done once for the whole NHS.

Our staff bring expertise across clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial specialisms — enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.

In March 2025,the Government announcedthat NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care will increasingly merge functions, ultimately leading to NHS England being fully integrated into the department.

If you currently work within the NHS and if successful at interview, we will initiate an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). This retrieves key data from your current or previous NHS employer to support onboarding, including competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You may opt out at any stage of the process.

Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in our offices.

We cannot offer visa sponsorship for any vacancies.

Education and Training Quality Improvement and Performance

To emphasise the importance and promote the development of a quality learning environment for all learners.
To ensure all learners have equity of access to learning opportunities in an environment free from negative workplace behaviours
To support Postgraduate Deans in meeting all NHSE statutory requirements.

Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality Improvement

Assist in the development of quality processes which are complementary across the healthcare workforce.
To support the use of clinical skills training and simulation (where appropriate/applicable), stressing the importance of teamwork and human factors.

School Programme Management

To oversee the Specialty’s Regional Training Programme and advise Postgraduate Deans and Heads of

School on the following matters

Specialty-specific matters and trainee/trainer concerns;
Recruitment to training posts and programmes;
Postgraduate programme management, including assessments, progression, rotations, support and remediation, OOP management, trainee management, careers support, less than full-time training, inter-deanery transfer, academic training and other related work-streams.
To provide reports to the Specialty Training Committee and School Board
To complete the annual school development plan
Educational and Workforce Development
To advise and support the Postgraduate Dean in educational and workforce development elements, including professional development of the educational faculty
To support compliance with requirements particularly with regard to the supervision and support for trainees and learners.
To identify learning needs and support provision of educational appraisal, educator development and resource for faculty, trainees and learners.
To create and promote shared learning opportunities to increase effective inter-professional working across the School.

Intelligence Support/ provision

To ensure local intelligence processes inform quality management processes.
To engage with information systems (trainee database, post establishments)

Strategic Workforce Development and Commissioning

To contribute to workforce planning, ensuring clinical engagement with local and national workforce planning processes.
To develop educational programmes where needed to support achievement of curriculum competencies, engaging with commissioning processes as required.
To identify and support the implementation of alternative workforce solutions within the School.
To advise the Postgraduate Dean on commissioning and decommissioning activities.

Finance

To engage with financial business planning processes and associated School budgets as needed.
To ensure compliance with procurement requirements.

You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.

Secondments

Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.

This advert closes on Tuesday 16 Jun 2026