LAUSR

After being a consultant for 4 years, the clinical director in my trust left. None of the more senior consultants put themselves forward for the vacancy, and while I had not really considered a management role previously, I felt ready for a new challenge. After the interview, I was offered the position. In this article, I will explain what a clinical director does, the pros and cons of the role, and what skills are required. The role of clinical director will vary from organisation to organisation, dependent on the size of the organisation, and is usually distinct from a clinical lead role. Whereas the clinical lead will usually be responsible for the day-to-day business of a particular specialty, the clinical director has a more formalised management role. Clinical directors are ultimately professionally responsible to the medical director and managerially responsible to the chief executive.1 While clinical directors do not sit on the trust board, in my organisation, we have a monthly hospital executive group, where the clinical directors and the executive management team meet. In my case, I am the Clinical Director …