Chief Operating Officer: Sponsorship Available

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Job summary

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals serves some of the most deprived communities in England while also welcoming 22 million visitors each year. This creates a demanding environment but also a unique opportunity to develop health and care services that better meet local needs.

We are currently ranked 134th out of 134 trusts in the National Oversight Framework and are seeking a Chief Operating Officer who is motivated to lead one of the NHS’s most significant turnaround opportunities.

This role is broader than many COO posts. You will lead hospital and community services across three clinical divisions and act as executive lead for relationships with partners at Place and System level, including developing our Place Partnership to deliver better Neighbourhood Health. A significant proportion of your time will be spent working beyond the Trust.

Our turnaround is already underway. We are focusing on fewer priorities and using our improvement system to make good practice the standard every day. Our staff are committed to the communities they serve and want to be proud of their Trust again. They need clear direction, consistent standards and compassionate accountability to achieve that ambition.

We welcome applicants from acute, community, mental health or commissioning backgrounds, whether you are an experienced COO or an outstanding deputy ready to step into a first executive role.

Main duties of the job

As Chief Operating Officer you will be a voting member of the Board, reporting to the Chief Executive. You will:

  • lead delivery of hospital and community clinical services against national standards, owning the operational plan to recover urgent and emergency care, elective, cancer and diagnostic performance.

  • lead three Divisional Managing Directors, each the accountable officer for their division, and the wider divisional and directorate leadership teams.

  • be the executive lead for relationships with partners at Place and System level, including the Place Partnership and the Lancashire & South Cumbria Provider Collaborative,

  • lead the development of clinical service strategy with clinical leaders, and drive service developments and reconfigurations that improve Neighbourhood Health.

  • lead capacity planning, operational resilience and emergency planning.

  • take part in the Executive on-call rota.

In your first year you will lead admission and attendance avoidance at scale, restore theatre and outpatient productivity, and transform how and where outpatient care is delivered.

Person Specification

Education and qualifications

Essential

  • Master’s degree (or equivalent) with relevant postgraduate qualifications
  • Recognised leadership development (e.g. MBA, Aspirant Directors Programme, Nye Bevan, Ready Now)
  • Evidence of continuing professional and leadership development
  • Programme management (e.g. Agile PM, PRINCE2)

Desirable

  • Quality and service improvement (e.g. LEAN, Six Sigma, QSIR)
  • Programme management (e.g. Agile PM, PRINCE2)

Skills and abilities

Essential

  • A visible, inclusive and credible leadership style
  • Ability to build, lead, develop and motivate effective teams
  • Strategic thinker and organiser with the ability to articulate a clear vision
  • Communicates clearly, using a range of techniques to win support for change
  • Highly developed diplomacy, negotiating and interpersonal skills
  • Strong analytical and critical reasoning skills
  • Ability to identify key priorities and achieve effective, timely solutions
  • Proven influencing and negotiation skills, particularly across organisational boundaries
  • Strong commitment to addressing health and social inequality, and to equality, diversity and inclusion in services and employment

Desirable

  • Ability to lead transformation programmes using proven quality and service improvement methods

Experience and knowledge

Essential

  • Senior strategic and operational management at or near Board level in a large, complex healthcare organisation
  • Development and delivery of corporate and operational strategies that balance competing priorities
  • Effective partnership working with commissioners, patients and other health and social care providers
  • Successful delivery against performance and financial targets
  • Sound decision-making in complex, sensitive and political environments
  • Expert knowledge of NHS constitutional standards and national planning priorities
  • Detailed understanding of financial management, strategic and operational planning and workforce management
  • Good understanding of, and strong commitment to, inclusion and diversity

Desirable

  • Development and delivery of clinical service strategies, optimising the role of clinical teams and leaders
  • Supporting system-wide or place-based transformation programmes
  • Detailed knowledge of performance management methodology

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Closing Date: 30 November 2026

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.