Operational Lead - Hospital at Home

Job overview

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced operational leader to join our innovative team and help shape a revolutionary approach to urgent and emergency care in the community. This role offers the opportunity to lead a service that is safe, effective, patient-centred, and designed to be smarter, more accessible, agile, and seamlessly integrated.

You will be working in close partnership with the Clinical and Nursing Lead as part of the Hospital @Home Triumvirate to ensure resources are utilised effectively while delivering high-quality, safe, and efficient care to patients in their homes across East and North Hertfordshire.

You will lead with proactivity, compassion, and collaboration, providing visible operational leadership across the system. Your role will ensure that robust systems and processes are in place to meet strategic objectives and drive continuous improvement in service delivery.

*Proposed interview date: 29th May 2026*

• Communicating highly complex and sometimes contentious information to senior clinicians, managers, system partners and external stakeholders, requiring developed persuasive, negotiating and motivational skills to influence decisions, resolve disagreement and secure acceptance of service priorities and change
• Provide daily oversight of a complex caseload and patient flow, interpreting multiple strands of information and comparing pathway, capacity and risk options to resolve bottlenecks and maintain safe, timely care.
• Collaborating with Community Service Leads to optimize service delivery
• Shaping service transformation through proactive care models and integrated pathways.
• Overseeing recruitment, retention, and professional development in conjunction with the Clinical and Nursing Lead.
• Promoting innovation, quality improvement, and best practice in patient care.
• Building strong partnerships with stakeholders and representing Hospital @Home at system-level forums.
• Ensuring compliance with governance, policy updates, and continuous performance improvement
• This role will be part of the senior manager on call rota

Working for our organisation

A big thank you for considering joining us at Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust

You’ll find it a great place to work with many benefits offered to you as a member of our staff

We put our patients, their families and carers at the centre of our vision - Outstanding Services and Healthier Communities

Our staff are proud to be Innovative, Caring and Agile in their work to help achieve the Trust vision

We welcome diversity in our workforce and are interested in applicants from all backgrounds and ages

We don’t want you to miss out so we’d like you to know that if we have a high level of interest in this role, the vacancy may close prior to the advertised closing date, so please make your application as soon as possible - Apply now

You’ve made a great decision to apply to join to HCT - we’re looking forward to taking the next steps of the journey with you.

You can apply to Access to Work to get money for communication support at a job interview - please use this link for more information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-communication-support-at-a-job-interview-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition-access-to-work

You need to apply before the interview takes place.

• Provide visible, proactive operational leadership within the Hospital @Home Triumvirate, ensuring safe and effective delivery of the service and contributing to the strategic direction of the service.
• Make judgements on workforce allocation in highly complex, variable demand conditions, analysing and interpreting capacity, acuity and pathway pressures, and comparing staffing and escalation options to maintain safe delivery and patient flow.
• Support recruitment and retention strategies.
• Drive innovation in virtual care delivery, including remote monitoring, triage systems, and integration with community services.
• Analyse and interpret highly complex performance and operational information (KPIs, dashboards, risk and quality intelligence), comparing a range of improvement and escalation options to determine the most effective actions and ensure safe, compliant service delivery
• Lead the implementation and review of Business Continuity Plans ensuring service delivery can continue.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners, including ICBs, acute trusts, and voluntary organizations, to align service delivery and resolve operational challenges.
• Foster a positive working environment alongside the nursing and clinical lead, that prioritizes health, wellbeing, and safety for all staff.
• Act promptly when professional standards fall short, managing employee relations matters in line with Trust policies and supporting staff through coaching and mentoring.
• Maintain personal and professional development, encourage staff training, and embed a culture of learning and improvement.

Person specification

Qualification and Training

• Degree or Equivalent Experience
• Evidence of Continued Professional Development CPD

Experience and Knowledge

• Subtantial experience in a senior operational leadership role
• Proven experince delivering services in a community, hospital at home or UEC setting
• Experience of Workforce planning, rota and budget management
• Experience of managing performance, quality and operational risk in a complex service
• Strong understanding of patient flow, capacity and demand

• Experience of leading transformation and pathway redesign
• A knowledge and understanding of Business continuity and service resillience

Skills and Abilities

• Evidence of ability to interpret complex data
• Evidence of strong leadership skills, that include visible and compassionate leadership
• Excellent organisational skills and evidence of managing competing priorities

• Experince of using SystemOne or other electronic patient record system
• Evidence of quality improvement