Interim Director — Hospital Commissioning

Build the readiness pathway

Translate the planned service scope into commissioning workstreams and dependencies. Establish readiness criteria for staffing, equipment acceptance, supplies, information systems, support services and administrative processes. Identify approvals or licences requiring specialist confirmation without assuming their status from the project schedule.

Executive coordination

Resolve gaps between construction handover and operational use. Organise workflow rehearsals and scenario testing, including escalation when essential support is unavailable. Keep a clear record of outstanding issues, their service implications and the authority required to accept or defer them.

The integrated readiness review should identify dependencies that individual workstream reports can miss: equipment may be installed but lack trained users, supplies may be ordered but not distributed, and systems may be live without usable access for the rostered team. The director should require end-to-end demonstrations of selected workflows and a clear route for resolving failures. An opening recommendation should state any proposed limits, outstanding risks and the support needed during initial operation, rather than reducing readiness to a single percentage-complete figure.

Candidate qualifications

Candidates should have led hospital commissioning, service launch or major healthcare expansion. They need practical experience integrating clinical, operational and project teams. Strong sequencing and escalation judgement are essential; construction delivery experience alone does not cover the remit.

Readiness and handover

The outcome should be a defensible opening recommendation, an owned issue register and a stabilisation plan for the initial operating period. Candidates should discuss a launch they delayed, phased or restricted because readiness evidence was insufficient. Clinical readiness decisions remain with authorised clinical leaders, and the director must ensure their requirements are reflected in the integrated plan.