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Job summary

Main area
Administration
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8a
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week (1.0WTE)
Job ref
354-CO-21961-1
Employer
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Portland House
Town
Worthing
Salary
£57,528 - £64,750 pa
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
22/11/2026 08:00

Employer heading

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Improvement Advisor

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Come and join us

We’re looking for people who share our values of compassion, accountability and optimism to help us provide high quality care for the patients, carers, families and communities we serve. We specialise in NHS mental health and learning disability services and we’re proud to make a difference every day.

At SPFT we put people first. We’ll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. You’ll have opportunities to learn, grow and gain new experiences to support your career, with access to lifelong learning and professional development.

We actively promote flexible working and understand how important work life balance is, especially in healthcare. Whether it’s part time hours, hybrid working or flexible start and finish times, we’ll explore what works for you and the role.

We recognise that tools like AI are becoming part of everyday life and you may choose to use them when preparing your application. We welcome this, as long as what you submit reflects your own experience, skills and voice. AI can be helpful for structuring or refining your answers, but it should not replace your own examples or create content that isn’t based on your real experience.

Our recruitment process is designed to get to know you, and we’ll explore your examples further at interview, so it’s important your application genuinely represents what you bring. You can read more about using AI in applications and interviews on our recruitment process page.

We’re shaping a workplace where ideas are encouraged, technology supports you and everyone has a voice in how we improve. If that sounds like the kind of organisation you want to be part of, we’d love to hear from you.

Job overview

Job overview

The Senior Improvement Lead will play a key role in supporting Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s continuous quality improvement journey, including the development and implementation of the Trust’s quality management system. The role will provide senior improvement leadership across multiple workstreams, with a particular focus on hospital management, frontline support and embedding practical improvement routines within everyday work.
The post holder will work with clinical, operational, corporate and frontline teams to translate improvement ambition into visible practice, measurable improvement and sustainable change. They will support teams to strengthen problem solving, use data and learning effectively, and apply improvement methods consistently to deliver measurable benefits for patients, staff and services.

Main duties of the job

Job overview

The post holder will lead and coordinate agreed improvement priorities across Sussex Partnership, including quality management system implementation, improvement infrastructure, capability building and priority improvement projects. They will support the planning, delivery and assurance of improvement activity, including readiness assessment, maturity tracking, sustainability planning, benefits realisation and clear escalation of risks and issues.
A key part of the role will be providing visible, practical support to hospital management and frontline teams through coaching, facilitation, constructive challenge and observation of work. The post holder will help teams embed routines such as huddles, leader standard work, visual management, status sheets and measurement for improvement. They will also contribute to improvement training, collaborative learning, governance reporting and the development of consistent improvement practice across the Trust.
The role includes line management and development of improvement practitioners or advisors, supporting delivery against agreed priorities and modelling compassionate leadership, reflective learning and high standards of improvement practice.

Working for our organisation

Working for your organisation

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust are fully committed to embracing quality in patient and staff safety, experience and effectiveness. We work to ensure we provide the very best care to the people who use our services, utilising resources, expertise and energy to think creatively and differently about service delivery. Embedding quality improvement across the Trust as the method for change is fully supported by our Executive board and equally by our staff, patients and partners, who are excited about the prospect of not only thinking about but doing things differently.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

As detailed within the job description and main duties above.              

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Trained and accredited in Operational Excellence to Yellow Belt level; or equivalent experience
  • Educated to Degree Level or equivalent experience

Knowledge/Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of successfully managing and delivering improvement or change programmes in challenging environments
  • Experience of leading projects which are recognised as being successful and where the project or change management supported the departmental or organisation’s success
  • Ability to work independently, make informed decisions and achieve objectives whilst working with continually changing demands and priorities
  • Knowledge and experience of improvement tools and methodology
  • Experience of providing improvement training
  • Knowledge and experience of Coaching and coaching standards/ practises
  • Experience of programme planning and delivery, including all aspects of programme governance and control
  • Experience of training large groups
  • Experience of forming effective working relationships with colleagues to achieve common goals
  • Ability to work independently, make informed decisions and achieve objectives whilst working with continually changing demands and priorities
  • Demonstrate background of delivering projects in complex and challenging environments

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyDisability confident leaderDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - BronzeCare quality commission - GoodArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardStep into healthPride In Veterans

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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
James Atkinson
Job title
Deputy Director Improvement & Effectiveness
Email address
[email protected]
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