Associate Director of Operations

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust; Preston; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an Associate Director of Operations for the Central Lancashire Community Physical Health Service within the Central and West Lancashire Locality network. The role requires broad leadership, financial acumen and a deep understanding of NHS systems.

You will work with senior leaders to drive performance, service improvement, and strategic planning across multiple sites, balancing clinical needs with organisational priorities in a dynamic

Qualifications

• Educated to Masters degree level or equivalent
• Participation in continuing professional development to improve and update specialist knowledge

Responsibilities

• The successful candidate will work closely with the Director of Operations, the Medical Director and Director of Nursing & Quality for the Locality Network.
• Demonstrate strong leadership and strategic NHS knowledge while managing change and performance.
• Lead operational management and contribute to financial understanding within the Locality Network.

Skills

Analytical skills

Leadership

IT literacy

Project management

Decision making

Education

Masters degree or equivalent

Job description

Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism, community, and physical health services for the populations we serve.

As an integrated Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) delivers a comprehensive range of services, including:

• Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults, including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, and forensic services with low and medium secure care.
• Specialist mental health inpatient care for individuals with learning disabilities, alongside specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
• Extensive community physical health and well-being services for children and adults, covering prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term condition management.

The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,500 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health, general nurses, children's nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers, as well as those specialising in learning disabilities and community physical health services.

It is an exciting time to join Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust as we continue our transformational and Improvement program to ensure Central Lancashire community Physical health services are in the best position to meet the needs of our communities. With strong support from the trusts executive and network triumvirate leaders and the wider Lancashire and South Cumbria system leaders and partners, there is not a better time to join us and be a part of the growing collaborative delivery of community services.

LSCFT can offer a substantive post for the role of an Associate Director of Operations for the Central Lancashire Community Physical Health Service within the Central and West Lancashire Locality network.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will work closely with the Director of Operations, the Medical Director and Director of Nursing & Quality for the Locality Network.
You will need to have a broad range of experience including collaborating with others across the organisation and externally. You need to be dynamic, organised, work independently and represent the Central and West locality in key meetings. You need to have good leadership and management skills, understanding of finances, the wider health system, and demonstrate excellent strategic NHS knowledge

Working for our organisation

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you'd like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Educated to Masters degree level or equivalent
• Participation in continuing professional development to improve and update specialist knowledge

Knowledge

• Detailed understanding and Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge and experience of the operation of healthcare services and performance targets

Experience

• Extensive Experience of operational management
• Experience of successful project management.
• Experience of policy development
• Experience of leading and managing change

Skills

• Well-developed analytical & problem solving skills with the ability to make decisions by determining key points from complex data and multiple information strands.
• IT literate with well-developed skills for the use and application of information technology systems including file management, safe and effective internet use, Outlook, Word processing, PowerPoint, Access and Excel.
• Proven ability to achieve targets and objectives within a demanding and pressured environment against challenging deadlines.
• Well-developed leadership and motivational skills to facilitate working with multi-disciplinary teams.

For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.