Senior Improvement Advisor

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI); Dublin; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 100,000; Part time

Job summary

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) seeks a Senior Improvement Advisor to join the Transforming Theatre Group, delivering quality improvement and change initiatives across national hospital sites. You will mentor stakeholders, design programme delivery, and lead workshops to realise perioperative improvements.

The role requires substantial healthcare leadership experience, strong project management, and a track record of implementing measurable improvements across hospital regions.

Qualifications

• Minimum of five years satisfactory experience in a healthcare setting.
• Experience in change management and leadership.
• Experience leading, managing and/or influencing diverse teams.
• Experience mentoring staff through change.

Responsibilities

• Mentor and advise all stakeholders on programme design and requirements for implementation (on site across different Health Regions/hospitals and virtually).
• Play a key role in ongoing programme design refinement and delivery to ensure customer requirements are met in a timely manner.
• Provide training, mentorship, coaching and facilitation in the rollout of a custom-built operating theatre measurement model (TMM) to all participating hospitals and Health Regions.
• Support local teams in the interpretation and understanding of the suite of metrics generated from the TMM and provide troubleshooting support as required.
• Map existing processes and resources within perioperative pathways providing pivotal insights into existing capacity and flow for efficiency and effectiveness analysis.
• Work with local teams on the ground within the perioperative pathway to identify and record tangible opportunities for improvement within hospitals and between hospitals in a Health Region.
• Ability to identify and share quick (short term) wins/impact and medium to long term gains/impact while building a proposal for a future improved state using modelling techniques and a quality improvement mindset.
• Organise and facilitate workshops on various aspects and stages of implementation of the RCSI scope of work.
• Apply project management principles to the work at all stages and adhere to specific timelines.
• Work with local stakeholders in identifying potential constraints and generating solutions/problem solving in a timely manner.
• Deliver high level QI training to stakeholders of all levels within hospitals and Health Regions.
• Report writing involving both the RSCI core team and the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) locally at each site and Health Region.
• Give regular updates on progress of work at defined timely intervals to internal core team members and externally to HSE Working Groups and Steering Groups.

Skills

Project management

Change management

Leadership

Mentoring

Stakeholder management

Report writing

Training and development

Analytical skills

Education

Quality improvement / Lean / Six Sigma qualification

Tools

PM tools

Job description

Reporting To: Programme Manager & Technical Lead, Transforming Theatre Group, RCSI

Location: RCSI, 121 St Stephens Green, Dublin and in Hospital Groups and at Local Hospitals nationwide

Contract type/duration: Temporary - Minimum 24-month contract

Closing date for applications: 9:00am on Monday 30th of November

Interview date: Week of the 7th of December

About the post:

RCSI has been at the forefront of educating healthcare professionals since its foundation in 1784 as the national training and professional body for surgery. Today, it is Irelands only focused health sciences university, Ireland’s largest medical school and one of the leading health sciences institutions in the world.

Transforming Theatre represents a strategic initiative between RCSI Department of Surgical Affairs and the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) Office of the Chief Clinical Officer.

The Transforming Theatre Group in RCSI’s Department of Surgical Affairs has engaged as technical partners in several national quality improvement programmes in the past. A well established programme called the National Perioperative Patient Pathway Enhancement Programme (NPPPEP) is about to enter its 6th Phase. NPPPEP is a data-based governance structured approach to working with local hospital teams in examining operating theatre capacity, access and flow for its surgical patients. RCSI are recruiting for the position of Senior Improvement Advisor to join their core team in delivering this programme nationally across six hospital groups. The RCSI Transforming Theatre Group are the technical partners for this programme, which is funded by the HSE. The primary function of this role is to deliver the RCSI’s scope of work at each participating hospital and Health Region within defined timelines.

Job Responsibilities

• Mentor and advise all stakeholders on the programme design and requirements for implementation (on site across different Health Regions/hospitals and virtually).
• Play a key role in ongoing programme design refinement and delivery to ensure customer requirements are met in a timely manner.
• Provide training, mentorship, coaching and facilitation in the rollout of a custom-built operating theatre measurement model (TMM) to all participating hospitals and Health Regions.
• Support local teams in the interpretation and understanding of the suite of metrics generated from the TMM and provide troubleshooting support as required.
• Map existing processes and resources within perioperative pathways providing pivotal insights into existing capacity and flow for efficiency and effectiveness analysis.
• Work with local teams on the ground within the perioperative pathway to identify and record tangible opportunities for improvement within hospitals and between hospitals in a Health Region.
• Ability to identify and share quick (short term) wins/impact and medium to long term gains/impact while building a proposal for a future improved state using modelling techniques and a quality improvement mindset.
• Organise and facilitate workshops on various aspects and stages of implementation of the RCSI scope of work.
• Apply project management principles to the work at all stages and adhere to specific timelines.
• Work with local stakeholders in identifying potential constraints and generating solutions/problem solving in a timely manner.
• Deliver high level QI training to stakeholders of all levels within hospitals and Health Regions.
• Report writing involving both the RSCI core team and the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) locally at each site and Health Region.
• Give regular updates on progress of work at defined timely intervals to internal core team members and externally to HSE Working Groups and Steering Groups.

Knowledge & Experience – (Essential):

• Minimum of five years satisfactory experience in a healthcare setting.
• Project management experience with demonstrable (tangible) outcomes within given timelines in a healthcare setting.
• Experience of change management and leadership.
• Experience leading, managing and /or influencing diverse teams.
• Experience of mentoring and supporting staff in adjusting to their roles and in navigating change.
• Familiarity with and experience using a variety of change management and project management tools.
• Knowledge and understanding of the healthcare environment and in particular hospital systems and structures.
• Have significant and relevant senior nursing management experience at a minimum of Clinical Nurse Manager level in Endoscopy, Surgery, and/or Theatre Services OR significant and relevant senior Business and Operations Management experience within a Perioperative Directorate.
• Desirable to have a Quality Improvement, Lean, Six Sigma, Process Engineering, Operational Excellence or similar relevant qualification OR Postgraduate qualification with leadership/project management and/or process and quality improvement.
• Strong report-writing skills, including the ability to prepare clear, accurate, and informative documentation and summaries.
• Experience in training, coaching, mentoring, and facilitating learning and development activities.
• Well-developed influencing and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build relationships and gain buy-in across teams and levels of an organisation
• Excellent attention to detail, with a commitment to accuracy and quality in all aspects of work.
• Strong observational and analytical skills, with the ability to assess information, identify trends, and make evidence-based recommendations.