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Job summary

Main area
Director of Operations
Grade
Executives / VSM: Executives / VSM
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
319-7217982HD
Employer
Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
The Northumbria Specialist Care Hospital
Town
Cramlington
Salary
£100,000 - £200,000 pre annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
02/06/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust logo

Executive Director of Operations

Executives / VSM: Executives / VSM

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022).  Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!

What the Northumbria Way means for you:

  • Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
  • Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
  • A range of flexible working opportunities
  • Generous annual leave and pension scheme
  • Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
  • Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
  • On-site nursery places via salary sacrifice
  • Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy. 

If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.

Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes.  If you use AI, and it poses a risk  to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process. 

Job overview

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is the leading, progressive and innovative £800 million turnover healthcare provider delivering an extensive range of acute, community, primary and social care services to one of the largest geographical areas of any NHS Trust in the country, stretching from Tynemouth to Berwick upon Tweed. We support a population of over 500,000 via three major locality hospitals, a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics, our expanding subsidiary Northumbria Primary Care Ltd and, as we further expand our social care offer, through care packages delivered at home and in intermediary care settings.  We also provide support services including fleet and facilities management. 

We have been twice rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission and were rated amongst the top performers for acute and combined acute and community trusts in the country by our staff in the latest NHS Staff Survey. We routinely deliver very high performance against national targets.  As a collaborative anchor organisation in the North East and North Cumbria ICS and the Great North Healthcare Alliance, our partner relationships have strong foundations and, as we continue to support the reduction in health inequalities and the transformation of health and care services, we look forward to further collaboration. 

Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy early if a suitable number of applications are received.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will be an innovative, inspirational, and visible leader, with highly developed skills in operational delivery, transformation, and partnership working. As senior operational leader, you will be experienced in driving operational performance and delivery in a large and complex acute healthcare organisation. Currently operating at board or sub-board level, you will have a track record of delivering sustained change across organisational boundaries, and leading innovation and service improvements that put the patient first and are achieved within tight financial constraints.

We are now seeking to appoint an Executive Director of Operations to be responsible for all aspects of the operational performance of the Business Units  whilst maintaining quality standards and for ensuring the implementation and maintenance of good governance arrangements. This includes a clear line of ward to board assurance, the board assurance framework and associated risks and the line management of Deputy Directors, General Managers, and associated teams.  Reporting to the Chief Executive O and as a full voting board member, you will have accountability for delivering both trust-based and regulatory performance metrics effectively.

Working for our organisation

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, covering one of the largest geographical areas of any NHS trust in the country. Leading in innovation and quality – opening a state of the art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England?  Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare, this is the Northumbria Way! Please read ‘applicant guidance notes’ before submitting your application.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Our senior team operates at pace and to tight timescales.  This creates an exciting and rewarding work environment, and it is an approach you will need to feel comfortable with, as a good fit to the senior team will be essential.  This is an exceptional opportunity to work in a dynamic and high-performing Trust, and to bring your skills and experience as we continue to invest in our future.  If you are ambitious to develop your wider corporate skills and if from day one you can bring the operational expertise we will need, we want to hear from you. 

Please read the attached Job Description for a comprehensive overview of this post. 

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Master’s level degree or equivalent portfolio of experience gained within relevant field such as management

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Senior leader with significant experience of strategic and operational delivery in a complex healthcare organisation.
  • Significant acute operations experience, with responsibility for meeting a wide range of service and business performance targets.
  • Experience in successfully managing complex organisational change.
  • Experience in producing trust wide strategically important improvement on behalf of the Trust Board/Chief Executive.
  • Experience of contract management (ongoing management of contracts and contract negotiations).
  • Experience in producing or contributing to the trust strategic plan, annual plan and/or quality account.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyAge positiveArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardDisability confident employerCare quality commission - OutstandingStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Better Health at Work Award - Maintaining ExcellenceHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - Gold

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
Ceri Clark
Job title
Principal HR Manager
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