Deputy Chief Operating Officer

Job overview

Do you want to work in an organisation that holds its patients and staff at the heart of everything it does. That encourages development of staff to support the Trust to deliver the best care possible for our patients.

Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is looking to recruit an ambitious and driven individual to the role of Deputy Chief Operating Officer. This is an exciting opportunity for a highly skilled individual to join the Trust and help improve the services we provide to our patients.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the post holder will provide leadership of Trust operations on a daily basis working closely with the divisional triumvirate teams and executives.

• Lead on delivery of the Trust’s core performance and quality standards related to ED, cancer, diagnostics and elective care.
• Lead key strategic changes to how MTW delivers care in partnership with Divisional Teams in areas such as outpatient transformation, diagnostic delivery and patient flow.
• Management of the Chief Operating Officer’s business plan ensuring delivery against key objectives for the department and liaising with other Directors and leads within the COO Directorate.
• Lead operational management from a corporate perspective, acting as a mediator and decision-maker on trust wide issues with cross-divisional implications, and ensuring timely and effective resolution of cross-Divisional issues.
• The Deputy Chief Operating Officer will work with the Chief Operating Officer and other executives to lead key programmes of strategic change to realise the Trust’s priority objectives. These will be determined based on Trust priorities but initial areas of focus include: Outpatient Transformation: supporting the Director of Operations for Cancer and Outpatients to lead the outpatient transformation programme. This includes improving key performance indicators by maximizing the use of outpatient space, working with the Chiefs of Service to develop virtual outpatient pathways, improving communication with patients and ensuring electronic patient systems are fully integrated.

Working for our organisation

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust ranks among the top 10 NHS Trusts nationwide and was named the second-best Trust to work for in the South East in the 2023 NHS Staff Survey.

We are a large acute hospital trust in south-east England, providing general hospital services and specialist care to around 600,000 residents in West Kent and East Sussex. With a dedicated team of over 8,000 staff we are proud to offer specialised cancer services to over two million people through the Kent Oncology Centre.

Fordcombe Hospital, near Tunbridge Wells, became part of the Trust in October 2024. Specialising in planned care, it offers two operating theatres, 28 inpatient and day-care beds, diagnostic services (X-ray, MRI, CT, and endoscopy), and consultation/treatment rooms.

We are a flexible working-friendly organisation. Whether it’s adjusting your hours or exploring other flexible arrangements, we want to work with you to find the best solution for you, our patients, and the Trust. Talk to us about how we can accommodate your working needs.

Joining us includes a comprehensive benefits package:

• At least 27 days of annual leave plus public/bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time staff).
• Membership in the NHS Pension Scheme, with a 20.6% employer contribution and life assurance benefits
• Blue Light card eligibility
• And more, additional benefits can be found in the benefits documents below

• Deputise for the Chief Operating Officer and shares responsibility for leading the Trust’s Divisional teams in the absence of the COO to ensure the safe and effective operations of the organisation are maintained.
• Participate in the Executive On call rota, supporting the senior managers in delivering effective services out of hours.
• The post holder will be expected to act independently, taking timely and significant decisions to ensure the operational safety of the organisation, driving change and improvement by supporting and influencing both the clinical directorates and corporate team.
• Work together with the existing Deputy COO to lead on patient flow from arrival in ED to discharge. This includes supporting the Deputy Director of Patient Flow and Integrated Discharge Service to lead a programme of work across the organisation to maintain good patient flow by ensuring patients get prompt access to diagnosis, treatment and discharge using the new Teletracking system. This programme is intended to reduce overall non-elective length of stay and particularly reduce the number of patients in hospital over 21 days whilst improving patient experience and flow through the Trust.
• Lead a programme of change across the Trust linked to organisational priorities reporting on these to the Trust Management Board. These priorities will include leading Trust plans for transforming outpatients and diagnostics, including integrating electronic patient systems. Outpatient transformation is a key Trust priority and the post holder will work closely with the Cancer & Outpatients Division and Diagnostic Division to drive change in order to improve patient experience. This programme of work will link in closely with the Trust’s elective recovery following winter pressures.
• Lead for the Trust on external reporting, ensuring that the Trust meets all the national requirements made by NHSI/E.
• Lead, on behalf of the Chief Operating Officer, the review and mitigation of operational risks.
• Regularly review all corporate risks identified via the Trust’s Risk Management Framework that are the responsibility of the Chief Operating Officer and ensure the required reporting and mitigating actions are adhered to.
• The Deputy COOs will lead improvement in these areas through engaging with clinical teams and implementing service changes and improvement underpinned by clear trajectories.
• A specific focus will be on improving performance against the 18-week referral to treatment national standard as part of the recovery plan and improving key performance indicators for outpatients and diagnostics. This will require close working with the Chiefs of Service, Directors of Operations and Directors of Nursing and Quality across the Divisions.

Person specification

Qualifications

• • Graduate level education and/or professional/clinical professional qualification or equivalent experience
• • Post-graduate qualification or undertaking Master’s Degree/MBA or equivalent experience
• • Evidence of extensive and recent commitment to continuing managerial development

• • Prince 2 Qualification

Experience

• • Extensive leadership and senior management experience in a medium/large acute healthcare provider setting
• • Substantial management experience and achievement at operational level plus evidence of significant achievement in strategic level projects or work streams
• • Proven record in leading and managing substantial service change and redesign in a complex environment.
• • Detailed knowledge of current acute Trust issues and the regulatory Framework
• • Demonstrable track record of achievement of performance management improvement and delivery at a senior management level.
• • Significant experience of budget and staff management
• • Demonstrable understanding of quality and risk management issues and standards.
• • Have substantial experience of preparing and presenting written briefings at a senior management level

• • Experience in the mobilisation of integrated services

Skills

• • Demonstrable experience of establishing productive relationships, communicating with and effectively engaging clinical and non-clinical staff.
• • Ability to develop and deliver effective business and operational plans which are financially sound
• Skills in, experience of influencing and enabling others to perform, and of effective performance management
• • Ability to operate effectively within difficult financial and performance challenges
• • Professional, inclusive and credible leadership style.
• • Ability to drive for and achieve results across a broad range of key outcomes, maintaining patient focus and a high level of personal integrity at all times
• • Ability to resolve conflict with teams and with users/stakeholders, both internally and externally
• • Demonstrable ability to achieve demanding objectives against deadlines
• • Ability to write and present Board papers which are meaningful and concise.

In the event that we receive a high volume of applications, we may need to close the application process earlier than planned. To avoid missing out, we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.

Please contact the Recruiting Manager for an informal discussion should you have any queries relating to the role for which you are applying.

We are committed to being a diverse employer and strive to reflect everyone in our local communities. We welcome applications from people of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences and celebrate the diversity of thought, viewpoints, and ideas that will make our Trust the best place to work.

You can find out more here: Access to Work: get support if you have a disability or health condition: What Access to Work is - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Good luck! We look forward to welcoming you to our exceptional team!