Programme Director - Startwell Programme

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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 Programme Director will lead the Startwell Programme hosted by Whittington Health on behalf of North Central London (NCL). This role is responsible for delivering a major reconfiguration of maternity, neonatal, and paediatric surgical services across NCL, following the decision to close the Royal Free Hospital maternity and neonatal units and the Edgware Birth Centre.

The post holder will provide senior leadership, programme management, and strategic oversight to ensure successful implementation, including capital works, workforce planning, governance, and stakeholder engagement. They will work closely with executive leaders across Whittington Health, UCLH, Royal Free London, and the NCL ICB, managing complex stakeholder relationships and ensuring delivery of agreed outcomes.

The Programme Director will also lead the programme team, manage budgets, monitor risks, and report to Trust and ICB boards. The role requires a visible, credible leader with extensive NHS experience, excellent communication and negotiation skills, and a proven record of delivering complex change programmes.

Main duties of the job

• Provide senior programme leadership and management to deliver the Startwell Programme successfully.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive programme plan with clear milestones and deliverables.
• Chair project meetings and provide robust challenge, coordination, and leadership across multiple workstreams.
• Line manage programme team members (including an 8b manager and band 6 project officer) and oversee additional secondees or consultants as required.
• Manage the programme budget, ensuring projects are delivered within agreed financial envelopes.
• Identify, manage, and mitigate programme risks and issues, escalating where necessary.
• Ensure effective reporting through Trust and ICB governance structures.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with executive leaders, clinical directors, managers, and external partners across NCL.
• Lead the development and implementation of an effective communications and stakeholder strategy.
• Represent Whittington Health and the Startwell Programme externally, promoting collaboration and raising the profile of the programme.
• Support clinical and managerial teams across NCL to ensure smooth transition and service redesign.

Working for our organisation

At Whittington Health, you will join a dynamic and collaborative team committed to providing safe, personal, and coordinated care to the local community. Our staff work across both hospital and community settings, serving over 500,000 people in Islington, Haringey, and surrounding boroughs.

The Startwell Programme team operates in a fast-paced, high-profile environment where innovation, flexibility, and problem-solving are essential. Team members are supported to develop professionally and are encouraged to contribute ideas and solutions, with a strong culture of mutual respect, trust, and open communication.

Our organisation values leadership, teamwork, and the wellbeing of staff, promoting equality and personal development. Staff benefit from structured appraisals, opportunities to work on complex, high-impact projects, and the chance to make a real difference in transforming healthcare services across North Central London.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Programme Leadership & Management:

Provide senior leadership for programme projects, maintaining the programme plan to ensure delivery.

Develop a comprehensive programme plan with delivery timetables and workstream approaches.

Chair project meetings, providing robust challenge, coordination, and leadership across multiple workstreams.

Line manage project staff, including an 8b manager, a band 6, and other temporary or seconded staff.

Oversee programme budget and ensure financial management aligns with Trust policies.

Monitor programme risks and implement mitigation strategies, escalating where necessary.

Report programme status to Trust committees, boards, and the ICB Board.

Coordinate programme functions and provide assurance on projects, managing dependencies both within and outside NCL.

Support directors and teams with strategic deliverables and identify organisational development needs.

Leadership

Act as a visible, credible senior leader with Trust teams, commissioners, and NHS England.

Build and maintain strong working relationships across Trusts, ICB, and external stakeholders.

Ensure staff contributions are valued and incorporated into decision-making.

Oversee engagement with external stakeholders, consultants, and multidisciplinary teams.

Deliver presentations and training on programme progress and changes to practice.

Communication & Stakeholder Engagement

Lead the communications and stakeholder strategy in collaboration with ICB and Trust communications teams.

Organise and facilitate programme meetings, ensuring information is effectively disseminated.

Raise the profile of the Startwell Programme internally and externally.

Employ diplomacy and negotiation skills to align projects with strategic objectives.

Information Management

Produce accurate information for boards, committees, and forums.

Develop and implement information-sharing systems to ensure effective decision-making and analysis.

Financial & Capital Management

Ensure projects are delivered within approved budgets.

Escalate and manage financial risks in collaboration with finance leads.

Ensure procurement is value-for-money and compliant with Trust policies.

Other Responsibilities

Promote cross-organisational learning and sector-wide initiatives.

Act as an ambassador for Trust and programme vision and values.

Undertake other duties commensurate with the role as directed.

Key Relationships:

Internal:

Whittington Health CEO, Chief Medical Officer, Executive Directors

Divisional Clinical Directors, operational managers, strategy and finance teams

Startwell Programme team (project staff, secondees, consultants)

External:

Senior leaders across NCL Trusts (UCLH, Royal Free London)

NCL Integrated Care Board (ICB) leaders and NHS England representatives

Place-based partnerships and other external stakeholders

Person specification

Knowledge & Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Masters Degree or equivalent experience
• High standard of written and spoken English
• Project management qualification or relevant project experience
• Knowledge and understanding of a range of issues across the NHS and NHS patient agenda

Work Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working at a management level within the NHS or similar environment.
• Demonstrable NHS/ public sector experience and knowledge
• Experience of managing complex projects that cross multiple teams and stakeholders
• Experience of service redesign and development
• A proven record in successful leadership of complex operational change while also developing and maintaining high standards of quality

Desirable criteria

• Demonstrable experience of effective budgetary management and control, including achieving targets on a regular basis.
• A proven success in business planning and in the development and effective implementation of complex strategic plans
• Experience of leadership of clinical services.

Skills and Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Demonstrate a strong understanding of multidisciplinary issues and commitment to multidisciplinary working
• Highly developed communication skills ranging from informal 1:1 discussions, formal presentations covering both oral and written skills.
• Ability to work with and through others
• Commitment to self-development with ability to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of current thinking and policy affecting the health and public sector.
• Demonstrable record of successful line management of staff and proven team leadership and motivational skills
• Evidence of political awareness and sensitivity to the high profile of the Directorate and the Trust

Desirable criteria

• A clear understanding of the components of Clinical Governance and how these contribute to an integrated and quality driven service

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.

Documents to download

• Job description (PDF, 512.3KB)
• Programme Director (PDF, 512.3KB)
• Whittington Probationary Policy (PDF, 298.0KB)
• Whittington Employment Promise (PDF, 22.4KB)