Head of Operations

Practice Plus Group; South Ockendon; Remote; GBP 80,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Practice Plus Group is recruiting a Head of Operations for the Health in Justice service. The role is home based with travel to sites across the directorate, leading multiple Heads of Healthcare and ensuring safe, compliant, and financially sustainable services.

You will drive performance, governance, and continuous improvement, while aligning with NHS and ICB priorities. Salary £80,000–£90,000 per annum, 37.5 hours weekly.

Qualifications

• Significant senior operational leadership within healthcare.
• Experience leading large, multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience managing Heads of Healthcare or equivalent.
• Budget planning, control and financial accountability.
• Experience managing contracts, performance targets and service delivery.
• HR management and workforce performance experience.
• Ability to influence senior partners and external organisations.
• Delivery of challenging healthcare targets.
• Leading change and service improvement programmes.
• Strong understanding of governance, quality improvement, regulatory compliance, CQC.
• Knowledge of NHS structures and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage multiple Heads of Healthcare within your directorate.
• Drive high standards of patient care, performance, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure consistency and best practice across all healthcare services.
• Provide strategic and operational leadership with a high degree of autonomy.
• Ensure services are safe, effective, and compliant.
• Oversee clinical governance, risk management, quality assurance, and patient safety.
• Work with nursing and quality teams to implement governance frameworks and improvement plans.
• Prepare services for CQC and other regulatory inspections.
• Promote a culture of learning from incidents, audits, and best practice.
• Represent Practice Plus Group at contract reviews, commissioner meetings, and directorate forums.
• Help align services with local and national healthcare priorities.
• Hold overall responsibility for regional budgets and financial performance.
• Identify opportunities for service improvements and efficiencies.
• Develop action plans when standards or targets are not being achieved.
• Support innovation and service development.

Skills

Senior leadership

Multidisciplinary teams

Managing managers

Budget management

Contracts & performance

HR management

Stakeholder influence

Healthcare targets

Change management

Governance & quality

Regulatory compliance

NHS/ICB knowledge

Job description

+ MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO EVERY LIFE We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Operations to join the Health in Justice service at Practice Plus Group.

About The Role

UNLOCK YOUR BEST WORK LIFE

+ MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO EVERY LIFE

We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Operations to join the Health in Justice service at Practice Plus Group.

You will work across the Immigration Removal Centres that cover at Heathrow, Gatwick and Derwentside.

This role is home based, with travel to sites across the directorate as required.

This is a senior leadership role responsible for the operational management of a cluster of services within Health in Justice sector. You will work closely with the Operations Director and Head of Nursing & Quality to ensure services are safe, effective, compliant, financially sustainable, and patient-focused.

Salary & Hours

This position is full time working 37.5 hours per week.

You will receive an annual salary of £80,000 to £90,000per annum.

How will we support you?

• Bespoke induction, including our Introducing Health in Justice training course
• Competency framework
• Regional and national career development opportunities
• Our bespoke Learning Management System to address your learning needs
• Support from the wider team

Candidates are required to have a Legal right to work in the UK and due to the nature of the role, offers of employment will be subject to additional vetting and security checks

What you'll be doing

As the Head of Operations your responsibilities will vary. You will:

• Lead and manage multiple Heads of Healthcare within your directorate, across a set cluster.
• Drive high standards of patient care, performance, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure consistency and best practice across all healthcare services.
• Provide strategic and operational leadership with a high degree of autonomy.
• Ensure services are safe, effective, and compliant.
• Oversee clinical governance, risk management, quality assurance, and patient safety.
• Work with nursing and quality teams to implement governance frameworks and improvement plans.
• Prepare services for CQC and other regulatory inspections.
• Promote a culture of learning from incidents, audits, and best practice.
• Represent Practice Plus Group at contract reviews, commissioner meetings, and directorate forums.
• Help align services with local and national healthcare priorities.
• Hold overall responsibility for regional budgets and financial performance.
• Identify opportunities for service improvements and efficiencies.
• Develop action plans when standards or targets are not being achieved.
• Support innovation and service development.

What we’ll look for in you

The Health in Justice team at Practice Plus Group makes a real difference across over 60 prisons, young offenders and immigration removal centres. We’re the UK’s leading independent provider of NHS services to over 40,000 patients in secure environments, always putting their needs first, regardless of their background.

Practice Plus Group’s purpose is to Unlock your best work life and we stand by our core values:

• we treat patients and each other as we would like to be treated
• we act with integrity
• we embrace diversity
• we strive to do things better together

We are looking for caring, compassionate but also driven professionals who can help us drive our vision for a fair and inclusive healthcare access to all.

Qualifications, skills and experience required:

• Significant amounts of senior operational leadership within healthcare experience.
• Leading large, multidisciplinary teams.
• Managing managers (such as Heads of Healthcare).
• Budget planning, budget control, and financial accountability experience.
• Managing contracts, performance targets, and service delivery.
• HR management and workforce performance.
• Influencing and negotiating with senior partners and external organisations.
• Delivering challenging healthcare targets
• Leading change and service improvement programmes.
• Strong understanding of:
• Healthcare governance
• Quality improvement
• Regulatory compliance
• CQC requirements
• NHS structures and commissioning arrangements, particularly Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).