Director of Operations
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 15,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.6 billion.
We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.
We’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country, supporting people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.
Our staff oversee around 6,500 patient contacts each day, delivering high standards of healthcare.
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and recognise the benefit in providing an inclusive environment. We value and respect the diversity of our employees and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects the communities we serve, and is equipped to deliver the best service to our patients.We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.
Newcastle Hospitals are proud to be one of the exemplar organisations across the NHS on sustainability, with a long history of delivering Sustainable Healthcare in Newcastle (Shine) and the first healthcare organisation in the world to declare a climate emergency.Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.
Job overview
Selection date: Friday 7 February 2025
It is a critical time for our organisation as we strengthen and improve our operational services so that we can best serve our population across the North East and beyond. We now have a vacancy for a Director of Operations.
Our Directors of Operations are vital senior roles driving the delivery of complex, high quality services, while leading our strategic developments and transformation to enable us to remain a specialist centre of clinical, teaching and research.
Our clinical services are led and managed through eight Clinical Boards. Each has responsibility for strategy, performance, workforce and finance in their area, covering a range of specialities and sub-specialities. Each Clinical Board is led by a triumvirate leadership team including a Clinical Board Chair, a Director of Operations (this post) and Head of Nursing.Directors of Operations report to the Clinical Board Chair and the Deputy Chief Executive. With accountability for up to 3,000 staff and a budget of up to £250m you will provide the highest quality operational and strategic business planning and leadership to ensure that the Clinical Board provides high quality patient care and achieves its performance objectives.
Main duties of the job
The organisation like the wider NHS, has faced unprecedented challenges over the last five years, including increasing demand and a changing financial model. We can expect that the next 5 years are going to be no less challenging, as we seek to achieve NHS performance standards and moving towards the key shifts for the NHS.
We are looking for a proven leader who is resilient, flexible and committed to ensuring provision of sustainable high-quality services for the community we serve.
Working for our organisation
Our staff oversee over 6,500 patient contacts every day, delivering high standards of healthcare from the following sites:
- Freeman Hospital
- Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
- Health Innovation Neighbourhood (on the former Newcastle General Hospital and Centre for Ageing and Vitality site)
- Newcastle Dental Hospital
- Newcastle Fertility Centre
- Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
- Northern Genetics Service
- Cramlington Manor Walks
These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.
We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.
Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under ‘Documents to download’ or ‘Supporting documents’.
For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Suitable candidates will be able to demonstrate previous success in a senior leadership role in a similarly complex organisation or system, ideally in an acute healthcare provider. As an experienced, compassionate and inclusive manager, with significant operational experience, you will have a drive for excellence and a distinctive recent track record of achieving targets, high levels of patient and staff satisfaction, and the ability to innovate and deliver transformation and financial balance.
Personal attributes include excellent communication and interpersonal skills, alignment to our core values and behaviours, and the credibility to work collaboratively with clinicians, senior management, staff and key stakeholders across the system to build productive relationships.
Essential requirements include degree level education supplemented by a relevant postgraduate professional qualification and management experience to masters or equivalent level.
Person specification
Qualifications & Education
Essential criteria- First degree or equivalent
- Evidence of other specialist knowledge masters level or above
- Extensive knowledge of the NHS in the acute sector with up to date knowledge of medical/surgical services
- Evidence of CPD.
- MBA or Masters level Qualification
Knowledge & experience
Essential criteria- Significant experience within the Healthcare sector at very senior manager level including responsibility for strategic planning and budgetary control for a group of complex specialties/departments.
- Demonstrable success in delivering large scale change and performance with and through management and clinical teams
- Track record of financial delivery including efficiency savings, income and expenditure targets
- Extensive experience of writing complex business cases and policies.
- Extensive experience of managing and deciding on complex employment issues
- Proven record of pro-active performance management.
- Experience of delivering large scale clinical service management at a senior level in a complex hospital environment.
- Well-developed IT skills to manage and report on complex performance management information.
Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria- Able to demonstrate self-awareness
- Able to act with integrity, and to value respect and promote equality and diversity.
- Ability to think and plan strategically, tactically and creatively, and to prioritise work programs in the face of competing demands
- Ability to build successful teams.
- Highly developed leadership and influencing skills with the ability to enthuse, motivate and involve staff to meet challenging targets including individuals and teams in partnership organisations.
- Able to develop effective networks, and to work in partnership with others to deliver and improve services.
- Excellent communications skills, written and oral
- Ability to influence and motivate staff to deliver challenging targets.
- Ability to think and plan strategically, tactically and creatively, and to prioritise work programs in the face of competing demands.
- Ability to manage and deliver services within resources.
- Ability to critically analyse complex financial and clinical data sets.
- Able to effectively manage performance by holding themselves and others to account for service outcomes.
- Able to ensure patient safety by assessing and managing risk associated with service developments.
- Able to facilitate transformation and change to improve services.
- Able to demonstrate sound political judgement and astuteness in understanding the contexts for change.
- Ability to analyse highly complex problems and to develop practical and workable solutions using knowledge and evidence.
- Able to make sound decisions using all available evidence, and evaluate their impact.
- Able to participate in on-call rota
- Experience of working in a management on-call rota.
Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form
All references from current and previous employers will be sought and must cover a minimum of 3 years employment. Therefore, when completing the reference section of your application form, please give the address, telephone number and work email address of each of your current/previous line managers that cover 3 years employment.Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.
Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.
Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.