Periods when Tom was in UK hospital management (6)
I believe the answer is:
months
'periods' is the definition.
(month is a kind of period)
'when tom was in uk hospital management' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'when' could be 'on' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'on' is located in the answer.
'hospital' could be 'h' (abbreviation for hospital on maps) and 'h' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'mts' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for months that I've seen before include "17 and December" , "Calendar divisions" , "Divisions of year" , "In January and February, perhaps" , "Periods of time" .)