Director of Improvement and Transformation

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Please note in order to progress your application, your data will be processed by our 3rd party recruitment providers - North London Partners Shared Service, who conduct recruitment activities on behalf of Whittington Health NHS Trust.

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By applying for this role, you accept in the event you are successful that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which is aimed at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers.

Job overview

The Director of Transformation & Improvement will be responsible for a diverse range of quality, transformation and service improvement priorities which will support the Trust to drive and deliver an agreed programme of priorities that contribute to the delivery of the Trust annual workplan, financial efficiency plans and change and transformation programmes across the Trust. The improvement and transformation function is critical in supporting the Trust to respond to national operational and financial pressures, whilst delivering on our longer-term strategic ambitions.

Main duties of the job

Lead the Improvement team and oversee improvement, transformation, change management, and PMO activity.

Build strong relationships with internal teams, external partners, the ICB, and the local community.

Drive strategic transformation programmes aligned with Trust priorities and national productivity goals.

Work with clinical and operational leaders to identify barriers and allocate improvement resources effectively.

Support financial recovery by delivering programmes that reduce waste and generate savings.

Develop transformation approaches across hospital, neighbourhood, and integrated care pathways.

Embed consistent improvement methodology and build Trust-wide QI capability.

Provide leadership, direction, and matrix-style support to the Improvement team.

Manage team workload to ensure delivery, productivity, and high-quality outputs.

Working for our organisation

Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Director of Transformation & Improvement is a senior strategic leader responsible for driving Trust-wide improvement, transformation and productivity programmes that support delivery of the annual workplan, financial recovery, and long-term strategic ambitions. The role leads the Improvement Team, builds strong internal and external partnerships, and ensures the Trust delivers high-quality, sustainable clinical services.

Core Purpose

Lead Trust-wide improvement and transformation programmes to enhance quality, productivity, efficiency and patient outcomes.

Support delivery of the Trust's financial recovery plan through waste reduction and savings.

Develop and embed a consistent improvement methodology and build QI capability across the organisation.

Strengthen relationships across the ICS, local authorities and community partners to support integrated care and pathway redesign.

Provide expert strategic advice to the Board, Executive Team and clinical/operational leaders.

Strategy & Development

Analyse strategic options and provide evidence-based advice to senior leaders.

Align improvement and transformation programmes with Trust strategy and ICS priorities.

Lead implementation of major strategic programmes across the Trust and system.

Ensure strong stakeholder engagement and communication around improvement plans.

Support coherent activity, capacity and workforce planning with COO and Workforce Director.

Transformation & Change Management

Design and deliver complex transformation programmes including clinical redesign, digital change and workforce optimisation.

Embed change management approaches to secure cultural and operational shifts.

Oversee governance, risk management and programme delivery ensuring milestones are met.

Drive pathway redesign to improve quality, experience and efficiency.

Quality Improvement

Lead the Trust's QI strategy and ensure a coherent, evidence-based approach.

Build QI capability and capacity through training, education and recruitment of experts.

Promote cross-organisational learning and ensure systems support implementation of recommendations.

Oversee phased rollout of QI programmes internally and with ICS partners.

Collaboration, System Working & Stakeholder Engagement

Develop strong partnerships across the ICS, local authorities and other providers.

Engage patients and the public to ensure transformation reflects community needs.

Lead internal and external transformation communications to support Trust priorities.

Represent the Trust in system-wide planning and integrated care initiatives.

Staff Leadership & Management

Lead and develop the Improvement & Transformation team, promoting a culture of innovation and high performance.

Ensure effective communication of Trust priorities and CEO direction.

Build internal consultancy, PMO and change management capability within the team.

Business Development

Support tender responses and ensure high-quality submissions.

Identify capital funding opportunities and advise on investment prioritisation.

Provide expert advice on business cases and procurement to divisions.

Financial Management

Oversee budgets for the Improvement & Transformation function.

Ensure delivery within financial parameters and identify income-generation opportunities.

Person specification

Skills, Abilities & Attributes

Essential criteria

• An excellent communicator, both in person and in writing, with the ability to present advice and information in a clear and logical way;
• Presenting to and persuading large groups of (often senior) managers, conveying concepts clearly and persuasively;
• Ability to work on own initiative and organise own workload with minimal supervision working to tight and often changing timescales
• Demonstrable project management experience, with a track record of delivering to time, specification and budget;

qualifications

Essential criteria

• Experience of Improvement approach
• MSC or equivalent experience

Desirable criteria

• post grad qualification in related area

Experience & Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Understanding of health system leadership
• Considerable experience of working within senior NHS leadership roles
• In depth knowledge in underlying data structures required to support healthcare
• Experience of leading and managing teams to be successful and motivated
• Experience in the delivery of complex work, incorporating multiple inputs and stakeholders, management of fluctuating workflow and associated resource management;

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS

To comply with the Trust's Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults This will require you to:

• Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.

• Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.

• Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
• Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
• Participate in required training and supervision.
• Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct

Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Your application form -

1. Provide only business email address for your referees - we are unable to request references from yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail accounts.
2. Make sure you to include all evidence of where you meet the essential requirement on the jobs description as this forms the base of our shortlisting criteria.

Our processes -

1. Closing dates are given as a guide; we are within our right to close adverts early so please ensure you submit your application as soon as possible to avoid delay.
2. If you do not hear from us up to 3 weeks after the closing date of the job unfortunately this means you have not been successfully shortlisted for interview. If your require feedback on your application please contact the appointing manager detailed in the body of the advert.
3. Please check your emails regularly as all correspondence from us will be via trac.systems - occasionally these emails will go into your Junk folder.
4. Employment at Whittington Health is offered subject to successful completion of a 6 month probationary period for all staff with the exception of GMC Registered Doctors.

Other important information -

• Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
• Applications are welcome from people wishing to job share or work flexible patterns. We are committed to equal opportunities.
• In submitting an application form, you authorise Whittington Health NHS Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process should you be appointed to the post.

If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks your identity and right to work documentation will be verified remotely (in most circumstances), using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a "selfie" using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk

Please note that during the recruitment process your Identity Documentation (i.e. passport, driving licence, visa, etc.) will be scanned using a device which recognises UV, Infrared and Machine Readable Zone security features of the documents provided

The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.

We would welcome applications from individuals who are from underrepresented groups in the organisation

For further support on submitting an application please refer to the NLPSS Applicant Toolkit: https://royalfree.pagetiger.com/cuuomnr/1

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.
Documents to download

• Director of Improvement (PDF, 368.4KB)
• Whittington Probationary Policy (PDF, 298.0KB)
• Whittington Employment Promise (PDF, 22.4KB)