General Ultrasound Lead
NHS Orkney
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About the Organisation:
NHS Orkney is committed to delivering excellent care to our 22,000 residents. Whether you’re new to the NHS or bringing experience from elsewhere, your skills will make a real difference.
Our modern healthcare facility, The Balfour, brings together inpatient care, emergency services, outpatient clinics, diagnostics, GP practices and the Scottish Ambulance Service. We’re also investing in services across our outer isles, ensuring high-quality care reaches every corner of Orkney.
We are guided by our core values that shape everything we do – Open and honest, Respect and Kindness – from how we care for our patients to how we support each other as colleagues.
About Orkney:
With over 70 islands – 20 of them inhabited – Orkney offers a unique blend of natural beauty, close-knit community and an opportunity for adventure. From dramatic coastlines and rare wildlife to rich cultural traditions and active lifestyles, it’s a place where compassion thrives and every day brings something new. Regularly named one of the UK’s best places to live, Orkney offers a lifestyle that’s both fulfilling and inspiring.
The Opportunity
This is a rare opportunity to take on a senior clinical leadership role, with real scope to shape and lead the General Ultrasound service for the people of Orkney.
As General Ultrasound Lead, you will have overarching responsibility for the quality, direction and sustainability of the service. You will lead a small, highly skilled team, influence how diagnostic care is delivered, and play a key role in developing clinical policies and patient pathways that meet the needs of a remote and rural population.
The role brings together advanced clinical practice and genuine leadership responsibility. You will deputise for the Radiology Services Manager when required and contribute to wider radiology and diagnostics leadership discussions, giving you visibility and influence beyond the ultrasound service.
For the right candidate, this is an excellent opportunity to accelerate your leadership development. NHS Orkney offers a breadth of responsibility and autonomy that is rarely available at this stage in larger organisations, alongside the chance to live and work in one of Scotland’s most distinctive and beautiful island communities.
Who This Role Is For
We are looking for an experienced ultrasound practitioner who is ready to move into, or further grow within, a formal leadership and management role.
You may already be working in a lead or senior position, or you may be an experienced sonographer with the confidence and ambition to take on wider responsibility – leading people, influencing how services operate and helping shape the future direction of care. The will support the successful candidate in applying for the Society of Radiographers leadership programme to help develop their leadership and management skills.
You will bring strong clinical credibility, sound professional judgement and an interest in improvement and innovation. This role will particularly appeal to those aspiring to senior healthcare management or leadership roles, who want meaningful responsibility, autonomy and the opportunity to make a visible difference.
Just as importantly, this role will suit someone who is drawn to the professional and personal rewards of working and living in Orkney – combining a high‑impact role with a unique quality of life, strong sense of community and unrivalled natural environment.
What You’ll Be Responsible For
You will provide leadership for the General Ultrasound service, working closely with the Radiology Services Manager to ensure it is well‑run, resilient and forward‑looking. You will lead and support the ultrasound team, with responsibility for workforce planning, recruitment, development and day‑to‑day management.
A key part of the role will be shaping how the service operates – reviewing and developing policies, protocols and diagnostic pathways, and ensuring effective governance, quality assurance and performance oversight are in place. As part of the wider radiology leadership team, you will contribute to service planning and improvement activity and deputise for the Radiology Services Manager at local and national meetings when required.
Alongside your leadership responsibilities, you will maintain an autonomous clinical workload and act as the senior clinical decision‑maker within the service.
Location, Working Pattern and Contract Duration:
This post will be based at The Balfour
The successful candidate will work: Full Time 36 hours per week
This post is Permanent
It is a condition of this employment that you must live and remain a resident within the UK for the post in which you will be employed with NHS Orkney.
Benefits and Salary:
Did you know NHS Scotland salaries are higher than those in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland?
The salary for this post is Band 8a and if residing on Orkney, you’ll also receive a Distant Islands Allowance of £1,719 pro rata per annum, adding extra value to your rewarding career with us.
NHS Orkney also offers an attractive pension scheme, wide range of work life balance policies, employee assistance programme and various discounts to both local and national retailers.
Further Information:
If you share our vision and are ready to be part of Team Orkney, we’d love to hear from you. Your rewarding career starts here!
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process, and you will be asked whether you require any during your application. If there are additional requirements you would like to request, please contact ork.recruitment@nhs.scot
For further guidance on the recruitment process and tips for creating a strong application, please refer to our Candidate Application Pack.