Pathology Results (Path Links) Team LeadNHS

Job summary

Make sure critical clinical information reaches the right people

Laboratory results are central to safe patient care. As our Pathology Results Team Lead, you'll oversee the processing of pathology results, ensuring they reach the correct clinician quickly and accurately.

You'll lead by example, remaining hands-on while supporting your team to deliver a safe, responsive service.

You'll monitor workload, support colleagues, improve processes and make sure patients don't experience delays because paperwork gets stuck.

Main duties of the job

Operational Management

• Lead the day-to-day operational delivery of GP Assistant services across multiple GP practices.
• Ensure all workstreams, including document triaging, referrals, PathLinks, medical reports, safety are managed effectively and delivered within agreed timescales.
• Monitor workload, performance, and capacity across the service, taking action to address backlogs, risks, and service pressures.
• Contribute to the development of processes that improve efficiency, quality, and consistency of service delivery.
• Ensure Standard Operating Procedures for Team are developed, reviewed, implemented and adhered to in a timely manner.

Leadership and People Management

• Provide day-to-day supervision and operational support to GP Assistants.
• Support induction, training, and ongoing development of staff to ensure effective service delivery.
• Hold regular check-ins and contribute to one-to-one meetings and performance discussions as required.
• Support monitoring of attendance, wellbeing, conduct, and capability, escalating concerns in line with organisational policy.
• Support Function Leads in managing workload allocation and maintaining accountability within their workstreams.

Quality, Governance and Risk

• Undertake audits and quality assurance checks within the function.
• Support management of complaints, incidents, and significant events, ensuring appropriate escalation and learning.
• Ensure adherence to organisational policies, information governance requirements, and NHS standards.
• Identify and escalate operational risks, capacity issues, and performance concerns.

Workforce Planning and Resource Management

• Support day-to-day allocation of work and coordination of staffing resources.
• Monitor staffing levels and highlight resourcing concerns to the Service Manager.
• Support monitoring of mandatory training and compliance requirements.

Stakeholder Management

• Act as a point of escalation for operational issues within the function.
• Maintain effective working relationships with GPs, Practice Managers, and clinical teams.
• Support communication with external providers regarding administrative pathways and processes.

Service Improvement

• Contribute to service improvement initiatives within the function.
• Identify trends and recurring issues through operational monitoring.
• Support implementation of agreed service changes to improve quality and efficiency.
• Service Delivery
• Ensure high quality of timely delivery of service in line with Service Level Agreements
• Role model correct ways of working with employees as a player/manager.

Job description

This role is fundamentally a player-manager role - you will be working with your team to make sure your service area delivers effectively - both as a whole and taking on a proportion of work to role model to your team best ways of working and how to efficiently execute.

The Team Lead is responsible for the day-to-day supervision and coordination of their allocated function, ensuring work is delivered efficiently, accurately and to a high standard. They will monitor workload, productivity, quality and capacity across the team, taking proactive action to address issues and maintain service performance.

Acting as the first point of escalation for team members, the Team Lead will provide guidance, support and direction on operational matters, escalating significant risks, staffing concerns and service backlogs to the Service Manager where appropriate. They will undertake regular audits and quality assurance activities to ensure compliance with company standards, policies and procedures.

The role plays a key part in developing team capability, supporting the induction, training and ongoing development of colleagues within their specialist area. Team Leads will also contribute to the creation and continuous improvement of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), helping to identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality and service delivery.

The Team Lead will provide regular updates on team performance, risks, capacity and operational challenges, ensuring managers have clear visibility of service performance and emerging issues.

This is fundamentally a player-manager role, with approximately 80% of time spent undertaking operational duties and 20% dedicated to management and leadership responsibilities. Team Leads are expected to remain actively involved in service delivery, carrying a proportion of the team's workload while providing oversight, coaching and support to colleagues. By working alongside their team, they will role model high standards of performance, demonstrate efficient and effective ways of working, and provide practical leadership that supports both team development and excellent service delivery.

About us

Penrose Health is on a mission to deliver outstanding healthcare to every patient we serve.

We care for 75,000+ people across 9 sites in South East London, supported by a team of 200+ clinicians and staff. Our model is built on permanent, diverse teams, strong governance, and a clear focus on continuity, quality, and access.

We work closely with NHS partners to deliver a full range of services from routine checks to complex, long-term care backed by robust systems and a culture of continuous improvement.

We're proud to hold a CQC "Good" rating and consistently receive strong feedback from patients.

Learn more at penrosehealth.co.uk.