Associate Director of Improvement , Band 8d

Job overview

This is a full-time permanent role based across sites and an exciting opportunity to join our team.

The Associate Director of Improvement is a senior corporate leadership role responsible for setting the strategic direction for Trust-wide improvement and ensuring there is a clear line of sight from Board priorities to delivery across clinical, operational and corporate services, in direct support of the Trust’s four strategic aims.

Reporting to the Executive Director of Improvement and Delivery, the postholder holds corporate responsibility for the Trust-wide improvement strategy, operating model, governance framework and capability-building approach. They will establish and embed a coherent organisation-wide approach to continuous improvement, aligned with national priorities including NHS IMPACT, ensuring that improvement methods are applied consistently across the Trust to build capability, support delivery and provide Board assurance on improvement maturity and impact. The role translates strategic priorities into a coordinated portfolio of improvement and service redesign, determines how methods, resources, measures and governance are deployed across clinical, operational and corporate services, and secures measurable organisational benefit, productivity and value for money through the Gloucestershire Safety and Quality Improvement Academy (GSQIA) and wider improvement portfolio.

Main duties of the job

Key Responsibilities

Lead the Trust-wide improvement strategy, policy framework, governance arrangements and operating model, establishing a coherent organisation-wide approach aligned to NHS IMPACT and Board priorities.

Provide expert advice, assurance and recommendations to the Board, Board committees, Executive Team and Trust Leadership Team on improvement priorities, methodology, capability, risk, delivery, maturity and impact.

Lead a portfolio of major, complex and interdependent improvement and service redesign programmes, with clear objectives, measures, governance, assurance and benefits realisation.

Lead the Gloucestershire Safety and Quality Improvement Academy as the Trust’s principal capability-building mechanism for Patient Safety & Improvement, including its Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum pathway, Human Factors faculty model, Patient Safety Associate Programme and Gold coaching approach, ensuring the offer remains aligned to evidence, national policy and organisational need.

Act as budget holder for the improvement function, with accountability for significant programme spend and authority to prioritise and re-prioritise resources in line with organisational priorities.

Define the Trust’s improvement assurance, reporting and portfolio oversight requirements, including Board assurance on improvement maturity and impact.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Provide senior corporate leadership for human factors, matrix working across divisions and system partners, and the adoption of evidence-based and digitally enabled improvement approaches, including the provision of expert advice and the design, delivery, and evaluation of training programmes.

Deputise for the Executive Director of Improvement and Delivery on improvement matters and represent the Trust at local, regional and national forums.

Management and Leadership

This is a senior corporate leadership role responsible for translating strategy into coordinated improvement delivery across the Trust’s strategic aims and golden threads. The postholder determines how improvement methods, governance, capability and specialist resource are deployed, establishes a coherent organisation-wide approach aligned to NHS IMPACT, and works with a high degree of autonomy to shape major organisational and service redesign.

The postholder will define and embed the Trust’s improvement brilliant basics and work with senior leaders to translate priorities into structured programmes with clear aims, measures, coaching, governance and assurance.

Operational

Operationally, the role leads the Trust’s contribution to system-wide improvement across Gloucestershire and the wider Integrated Care System, representing the Trust in local, regional and national forums and influencing shared priorities, service redesign and delivery models. It maintains strong links with digital, data, research and innovation functions so that evidence, insight and technology inform organisational priorities and delivery.

The role holds corporate responsibility within the improvement function for evaluating and implementing evidence-based improvement methods across the Trust, ensuring that research, innovation, national policy and emerging best practice are translated into the Trust’s improvement strategy, governance, capability offer and delivery model. This includes piloting and adopting new approaches, including digitally enabled methods, and applying learning at scale to improve safety, quality, productivity and workforce capability.

The postholder is the Trust’s senior lead for human factors, setting the strategic direction, governance framework and delivery approach for its application across service design, safety improvement, investigation, education, risk management and learning systems, and providing expert advice to senior leaders and governance forums.

The role is budget holder for the improvement function, accountable for delegated budgets, programme spend and associated resources, with authority to prioritise and re-prioritise workforce, training, digital and programme resource and to contribute to business cases and investment decisions. It works within broad strategic objectives and exercises substantial independent judgement, escalating only matters with significant corporate, financial or reputational impact.

Quality Improvement and Project Management

The role determines and embeds appropriate improvement methods within Trust education, training and development, including human factors, systems thinking, complexity, just culture and safer system design, ensuring staff have access to proportionate education, practical application and expert support.

The role leads the strategic development, governance and deployment of the Gloucestershire Safety and Quality Improvement Academy. Although the core team is small, the postholder determines the faculty model, staged training pathway, curriculum, coaching approach and deployment arrangements so that improvement capability is delivered at organisational scale. This includes formal leadership of a faculty-based model in which senior leaders act as Gold improvement coaches.

For full details please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for more information.