| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Allied Health |
| Level | Senior management |
| Reports to | Medical Director |
| Direct reports | Lab Manager, Radiology Manager, Rehabilitation Manager, Pharmacy Manager, Senior Dietitian |
| Experience | 12+ years in hospital allied health services, with 5 years heading a department such as lab, imaging or rehabilitation |
Head of Allied Health Services job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Head of Allied Health Services
Department: Allied Health
Reports to: Medical Director
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
The Head of Allied Health Services leads every clinical support team in a hospital that is neither medical nor nursing: laboratory, imaging, physiotherapy and rehabilitation, pharmacy, dietetics, dialysis, respiratory therapy and the technicians in OT and cath lab. The role sets staffing norms, credentialing, training and quality indicators, plans equipment spending and answers to hospital leadership for all of it. A good head keeps every allied shift staffed, reports on time, machines working and accreditation findings closed.
Key responsibilities
- Set the yearly staffing plan for each allied department from bed count, test and scan volumes, OT lists and dialysis sessions, and get it approved in the budget.
- Approve hiring of technicians, therapists and pharmacists, and verify degrees and professional registrations before any new joiner works without supervision.
- Approve the scope of practice for each technician grade, departmental SOPs and competency checklists that match NABH standards.
- Review monthly allied health indicators such as report turnaround, repeat imaging, sample rejection, medication errors and missed therapy sessions, and act on outliers with department heads.
- Plan replacement and new purchases of CT, MRI, analysers and dialysis machines with biomedical engineering and finance, including utilization and payback workings.
- Keep credentialing files and mandatory training such as BLS, infection control, radiation safety and biomedical waste handling current for all allied staff.
- Resolve cross-department issues with the Medical Superintendent and Nursing Superintendent, such as OT start delays, ICU respiratory cover and ward sample timings.
- Lead allied departments through NABH and NABL assessments, own their corrective actions and present department data at the hospital quality committee.
- Control the allied health budget covering manpower cost, reagent and consumable contracts, and maintenance contracts for major equipment.
- Build career ladders from technician to supervisor, and decide escalations, grievances and disciplinary cases involving allied staff.
Requirements
- Master's degree in an allied health discipline such as MSc MLT, MPT or MSc Radiology and Imaging Technology
- Master of Hospital Administration (MHA) or MBA in healthcare is an advantage
- NABH assessor or quality management training is an advantage
- 12+ years in hospital allied health services, with 5 years heading a department such as lab, imaging or rehabilitation
KRAs and KPIs for a Head of Allied Health Services
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Shift coverage | Rostered allied health shifts left uncovered below 1 percent each month |
| Diagnostic turnaround | Lab and imaging reports within agreed turnaround time for at least 95 percent of cases |
| Quality indicators | All allied health indicators reported by the 5th of each month, with action plans for every outlier |
| Accreditation | Zero major non-conformities for allied departments in NABH or NABL assessments |
| Equipment availability | Critical diagnostic equipment available for at least 98 percent of scheduled hours |
| Budget control | Allied health spend within 5 percent of the approved annual budget |
| Credentialing | Every allied staff member with verified qualifications and current mandatory training |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Hospital information system (HIS), Laboratory information system (LIS), RIS and PACS, Biomedical asset register, MS Excel and PowerPoint.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Hospital Unit Head, Hospital Director, Chief Operating Officer
Interview questions for a Head of Allied Health Services
- How would you work out the number of radiographers needed for a 300-bed hospital running CT and MRI round the clock?
- Emergency lab turnaround has slipped for three weeks. How would you find the cause?
- Which allied health indicators would you report to the quality committee every month, and why those?
- A senior physiotherapist and an intensivist disagree on chest physiotherapy frequency in the ICU. How do you settle it?
- Tell me about a major equipment purchase you justified. What numbers did you present?
- How do you keep good technicians when promotions to supervisor are slow?
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What does a head of allied health services do in a hospital?
The head of allied health services runs the clinical support departments staffed by people who are neither doctors nor nurses: laboratory, radiology, physiotherapy, pharmacy, dietetics, dialysis, respiratory therapy and the OT and cath lab technicians. The role sets staffing, standards, training, equipment plans and quality indicators, and is accountable for them to hospital leadership.
What qualifications are needed for head of allied health services?
Most hospitals look for a postgraduate degree in an allied health subject, such as MSc MLT, MPT or an MSc in imaging technology, often with a hospital administration degree or MBA. Around 12 years of experience, several of them heading a department, and hands-on accreditation work are usually expected.
Who does the head of allied health services report to?
The role usually reports to the Medical Director or the Chief Operating Officer of the hospital. In a hospital group it may report to a group clinical operations head, with a dotted line to the unit head of each hospital it covers.