Head of Patient Flow

Northumbria Group.; North Tyneside, Hexham; Remote; GBP 80,000 - 92,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellbeing Hub access

Staff Network groups

Flexible working opportunities

Generous annual leave and pension

Lease car and home electronics scheme

Training programmes

Salary sacrifice savings scheme

Job summary

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in Northumberland and North Tyneside is seeking an experienced Head of Patient Flow to shape patient pathways, discharge and bed utilisation across the system.

This senior role offers strategic leadership across Trust-wide and system-scale initiatives, partnering with clinical and community services to improve patient experience, reduce delays and achieve national targets.

Qualifications

• Management degree or equivalent or able to demonstrate significant level of equivalent experience.
• Formal post graduate qualification ideally in management or equivalent senior level experience.
• Relevant management experience within the NHS with specialist training to masters level.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and operational oversight of patient flow, discharge and bed utilisation
• Lead end-to-end patient flow improvement across acute, community and partner services
• Drive delivery of national targets, including urgent and emergency care standards and ambulance handover times
• Use data and insight to identify risks, trends and opportunities for transformation
• Lead major change and service redesign programmes to improve flow and reduce delays
• Ensure effective escalation management and system resilience, including winter planning
• Develop high-performing teams, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration and accountability
• Build strong partnerships across the wider health and care system

Job description

Site Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital Town Cramlington Salary £79,504 - £91,609 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 15/10/2026 23:59

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022). Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn't, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!

What the Northumbria Way means for you:

• Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
• Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
• A range of flexible working opportunities
• Generous annual leave and pension scheme
• Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
• Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
• Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We work closely with Kids First Nurseries that are based within our trust grounds at Wansbeck, North Tyneside and Hexham hospitals to care for our Trust family's children, they offer care for children from 6 weeks old up to 4 years. There are a number of funding options run by the government to help working parents, including Early Years Funding and Tax Free Childcare.

Flexible working offers choice in where, when, and how we work, ensuring patients remain at the heart of all we do. It's open to everyone, and we aim to find solutions that work for both you and the organisation. All arrangements must be reasonable and balanced to maintain safe and effective patient care.

We are proud to be one of the country's top performing NHS trusts – rated 'outstanding' overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people's homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy.

If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.

Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes. If you use AI, and it poses a risk to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process.

Job overview

Are you an experienced, forward-thinking operational leader ready to shape the future of patient flow across Northumbria?

Medicine and Emergency Care Business Unit are seeking an exceptional Head of Patient Flow to provide strategic and operational leadership across Northumbria Healthcare, driving improvements in patient pathways, discharge and bed utilisation across the whole system.

Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the closing date once the required number of suitable applications have been received.

Main duties of the job

This is a pivotal senior leadership position with responsibility for ensuring patients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time. You will lead Trust-wide and system-level initiatives to optimise flow, reduce length of stay, minimise delays and maximise the use of capacity, ensuring delivery against national performance standards and improving patient outcomes.

Working across organisational boundaries, you will collaborate with clinical teams, operational leaders, community services and local authority partners to deliver integrated, sustainable solutions that improve patient experience and system resilience.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and operational oversight of patient flow, discharge and bed utilisation
• Leadend-to-end patient flow improvement across acute, community and partner services
• Drive delivery ofnational targets, including urgent and emergency care standards and ambulance handover times

Use data and insight to identify risks, trends and opportunities for transformation

Lead majorchange and service redesign programmes to improve flow and reduce delays

Ensure effective escalation management and system resilience, including winter planning

Develop high-performing teams, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration and accountability

Build strong partnerships across the wider health and care system

Qualifications

• Management degree or equivalent or able to demonstrate significant level of equivalent experience.
• Formal post graduate qualification ideally in management or equivalent senior level experience.
• Relevant management experience within the NHS with specialist training to masters level.

Experience and Knowledge

• Experience of working in both acute and community setting with strong background in patient flow/discharge.
• Experience of service redesign and development
• Experience of leading, coordinating and organising teams
• Experience of project management
• A proven success in implementation of strategic plans
• A proven success in managing operational change while maintaining high standards of care
• Presentation skills gained through experience
• Knowledge of or experience in coaching and mentoring practices and tools
• Knowledge of or experience in Quality improvement tools, techniques and methods

Applicants who are members of the Armed Forces, those who have a disability that requires support in the work place (two ticks pledge) and those who have been looked after by the care system as a child or young person (for example, in foster care, children's homes, kinship or local authority care) who meet the essential criteria will be interviewed under the Trust's interview guarantee scheme.

We recognise the positive value of diversity and inclusion and are committed to a workforce that is diverse, equal and inclusive. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME people are currently under-represented in our workforce as well as other under-represented groups such as LGBT+ and disabled candidates. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, we have a Gold award from the Defense Recognition Scheme, and we are delighted to support Apprenticeships, Age Posi+ive and are a mindful employer.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend interview please make the recruitment team aware as soon as possible by calling our HR Recruitment Team on 0191 203 1415 option 2.

Applicants who meet the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (FPPR) will require additional pre-employment checks in line with CQC and NHS England statutory guidance.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust proudly hold a sponsor licence. In order to provide sponsorship you and the role you are applying for must meet UKVI eligibility requirements. Please check your eligibility prior to submitting an application. Skilled Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please note that it is a requirement of this Trust that all successful applicants pay for their own DBS certification if a DBS check is required for the post. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first monthly pay.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.