Head of Patient Experience & Public Engagement | Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Dorchester; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS Trust in Dorchester seeks a senior leader for Patient Experience and Public Engagement. You will oversee services, ensuring compliance with national strategies and developing mechanisms for feedback. Strong leadership and communication skills are essential, along with experience in patient engagement. The Trust values diversity and welcomes applications from under-represented groups. This role offers sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route.

Qualifications

• Extensive leadership experience in healthcare focused on patient engagement.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to engage with diverse audiences.
• Experience in developing and implementing strategic initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Patient Experience and Public Engagement Team.
• Oversee services related to complaints, volunteers, and patient experience.
• Ensure compliance with national patient experience strategies.
• Develop reporting mechanisms to monitor feedback activity.

Skills

Leadership

Patient Experience Strategy

Public Engagement

Communication

Training and Development

Job description

Overview

The post holder will be required to lead and develop a robust Patient Experience and Public Engagement Strategy with the Director of Nursing, Deputy Director of Nursing and Divisional Heads of Nursing and Quality. In collaboration with the Director of Nursing and Chief Medical Officer, provide visible senior leadership to ensure that there are effective patient experience strategies across the Trust, with processes, systems, training and enabling tools for staff to implement these strategies locally. This will ensure safe and effective care for patients, staff and visitors.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the Patient Experience and Public Engagement Team, overseeing the Complaints, PALS, Volunteer, Carers and patient experience and public engagement services in support of the Trust to meet the requirement of the National Patient Experience Strategy.
• Keep abreast of national initiatives and developments, identifying and communicating changes to ensure that best practice initiatives are implemented as part of continuous improvement within Patient Experience, Volunteering and Patient and Public Engagement. Ensure that teams have up‑to‑date policies and procedures in place that are relevant, understood and complied with, and provide training and development of staff as appropriate.
• Lead the Patient Experience and Public Engagement Team at DCHFT.
• Provide leadership to volunteer services and comply with national processes and reporting regarding volunteers in the NHS Act as a catalyst for organisational change, feeding back patient and carer experiences and views and recommending action to resolve problems.
• Have extensive contact with patients and the public through meeting and engagement opportunities seeking opinion and feedback.
• Maintain statutory requirements for reporting feedback responses and analyse trends or themes to ensure learning is embedded.
• Maintain reporting mechanisms to monitor and record feedback activity and outcomes within the Trust to identify trends and themes.
• Develop and maintain service evaluation mechanisms as required ensuring National Patient experience standards are met.
• Assist with development and maintenance of up‑to‑date relevant PALS and Complaints procedural policies and protocols.

Other Information

Our mission is to work in partnership to provide high quality, compassionate services and to nurture an environment where people can be at their best. Our vision is healthier lives, empowered citizens, thriving communities. We are a Trust that celebrates diversity and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We welcome applications from people in all under‑represented groups.

We understand that some applicants may choose to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in preparing their application materials. While this is not discouraged, we kindly remind candidates that all submissions must be truthful and accurately reflect your own experiences and suitability for this role. Personal integrity and authenticity are central to our recruitment process. We value honesty and appreciate applications that are genuine and representative of the individual behind them.

UKVI Sponsorship: This role is eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). Applicants who require sponsorship to work in the UK will be offered subject to meeting UKVI eligibility criteria.

Please contact us at [e-mail] if you are unable to view or download the attachment.

This advert closes on Monday 29 Dec 2025.