Skip to main content

This site is independent of the NHS and the Department of Health.

Please wait, loading

Job summary

Main area
Corporate
Grade
Band 8c
Contract
9 months (Fixed Term or Secondment to 31st March 2026)
Hours
  • Full time
  • Home or remote working
37.5 hours per week (Home Based with travel to sites within L&SC - occasional travel may be required outside L&SC)
Job ref
435-C059-25
Employer
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
Town
Blackburn
Salary
£74,290 - £85,601 per annnum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
18/07/2025 23:59

Employer heading

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust logo

Diagnostic Operational Performance & Improvement Lead

Band 8c

At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care.  We currently provide high quality services and treat over 600,000 people across East Lancashire and the surrounding area. We employ over 9,500 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work.

Job overview

Working as part of a wider Diagnostic Portfolio within the Lancashire and South Cumbria Provider Collaborative, the Diagnostics Operational Performance & Improvement Lead will be responsible for leading the oversight, assurance, and delivery of a collaborative programme of improvement focused on performance and productivity improvement. 

This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced leader to gain insight and experience of working across multiple organisations within a system role, supporting operational leaders to improve performance and productivity. 

The post holder will be expected to provide operational and analytical management of delivery, build relationships to drive improvement, provide strategic oversight and reporting,  monitoring performance and productivity to provide assurance to NHS England, Provider and ICB Boards.

Main duties of the job

The role will lead the coordination of the provider collaborative diagnostic performance monitoring and oversight, supporting trusts to meet the constitutional standards, including DM01, cancer and 
elective reform standards. 

The role also supports operational performance improvement of diagnostics tests which may fall outside of the DM01 standards but support delivery of cancer pathways, elective, urgent and 
emergency care, and patient flow where appropriate. 


The post holder will be responsible for leading operational excellence in diagnostics across the provider collaborative including optimised productivity and utilisation across Lancashire and South Cumbria (L&SC) provider organisations using national guidance and best practice alongside local intelligence to inform strategic decisions about service delivery. 

 

Working for our organisation

Please see attached job description and person specification for further details about the role and working within the Diagnostic Collaborative

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification for further details about the role and working within the Diagnostic Collaborative

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Master’s Level Education or equivalent professional experience gained through a degree and supplemented by post graduate training and development.
  • Evidence of recent professional and / or managerial development.
Desirable criteria
  • Leadership & Management qualification
  • PRINCE2 Project Management or equivalent
  • Relevant Professional Qualification

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Substantial experience of senior operational leadership of a clinical service(s) in an acute setting.
  • Significant experience of managing performance and performance improvement within a clinical service(s) at a senior level (divisional)
  • Significant experience of managing capacity and demand within a clinical service(s) at a senior level (divisional)
  • Proven experience of developing, interpreting, and implementing strategy at a senior level.
  • Able to work both strategically and closely within the service detail on issues to fully understand the complexity of challenges and possible solutions.
  • Able to work across multiple providers /service areas with different stakeholders where there is complexity and potential conflicting priorities for allocation of resources and/or delivery of performance.
  • Experience of operational planning within services, delivery to performance and financial targets within timeframes.
  • Experience of leading and managing substantial service change and redesign in a complex and financially challenged environment.
  • Experience of presenting highly complex potentially contentious reports to senior executives in a concise and balanced manner. (both verbally and/or in writing)
  • Experience of financial management of budgets, completion of bids, effective business cases and operational plans and understanding implications of different funding streams.
  • Experience of leading change across large teams of staff including, medical clinical and non-clinical groups
Desirable criteria
  • Substantial experience of senior operational leadership of a diagnostic and/or CDC service(s) in an acute setting
  • Significant experience of managing performance and performance improvement within a diagnostic service(s) at a senior level (divisional).
  • Significant experience of managing capacity and demand within a diagnostic service(s) at a senior level (divisional).
  • Experience of leading across a system
  • Skills in developing dashboards and/or performance metrics to monitor service improvement.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential criteria
  • In-depth knowledge in a number of management disciplines acquired through training and development and considerable experience.
  • Expert knowledge of performance and productivity metrics across numerous specialisms and can offer solutions to support improvement.
  • Has the skills and ability to interpret data, ensure compliance with policy and use expertise to effect change.
  • Is able to connect and understand the impact on service provision to any positive or negative changes in performance and support teams to develop recovery plans as required.
  • Is able to develop and produce complex reports to monitor multiple performance & productivity metrics which can be adapted to the audience, from service level to executive board level.
  • Is able to communicate the vision and describe the future state and the benefits (quality, financial, and performance) to influence stakeholders to work collaboratively to a common purpose.
  • Competent to use and produce high quality reports using a variety of software including office 365, excel capability for analysing data, MS Teams, data analytics platforms, Healthroster, and other hospitals systems as required
  • Experience of and ability to manage complex operational situations that involve staff from all levels within the organisation and across a range of professional and organisational boundaries.
  • Able to identify, interpret and analyse highly complex information using judgement across a range of options in order to make decisions and formulate plans.
  • Ability to write and present Board papers which are meaningful and concise
  • Have working knowledge of Financial Systems e.g., monitoring budget management, processing invoices and procurement.
Desirable criteria
  • In-depth knowledge of managing a diagnostic service(s) in a number of management disciplines acquired through training and development and considerable experience.
  • Expert knowledge of performance and productivity metrics across a number of specialisms associated with delivery of diagnostic services and can offer solutions to support improvement.
  • Experience of producing and interpreting performance reports using SPC Charts and NHSE Making Data Count.
  • Advanced IT skills
  • Understanding of current NHS National Policies and their impact on provision of health care
  • Is knowledgeable of current diagnostic policy and guidance and uses this to influence strategic decisions.

Personal Atributes

Essential criteria
  • Professional, inclusive, and credible leadership style.
  • Ability to influence, resolve conflict with teams and with users/stakeholders, both internally and externally.
  • Demonstrable drive, commitment, and self-motivation.
  • Enthusiasm for the role and system success.
  • Ability to stay calm in a busy and stressful work environment.
  • Ability to prioritise work and meet deadlines
  • Resilient – able to deal effectively with stressful working environment without affecting performance.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardPositive about disabled peopleInvestors in PeopleCare quality commission - GoodDisability confident committedStep into healthHappy to Talk Flexible Working

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Jack Smith
Job title
Director - Diagnostic Collaborative
Email address
[email protected]
Apply online nowAlert me to similar vacancies