Associate Director of Patient Engagement and Experience

Job overview

Reporting to the Chief Nurse the Associate Director of Patient Engagement and Experience will ensure that the voices and lived experiences of patients, carers and communities shape Trust strategy, decisions, services and improvement. The post holder will provide corporate leadership and accountability for complaints, PALS, patient surveys and insight, involvement and co-design, carers, Chaplaincy, translation and interpreting, volunteers, and patient-experience improvement.

The post holder will lead delivery of the Patient Experience strategy and the experience and voice commitments of the national Quality Strategy for NHS-funded care in England. They will translate national and Trust strategy into measurable priorities, policy, standards and improvement programmes, creating systematic and inclusive routes for people to influence how care is planned, delivered and evaluated and ensuring that the Trust visibly responds to what it hears.

The post holder will operate with substantial autonomy within broad professional, organisational and national policies and delegated authority, interpreting these requirements and determining how agreed objectives are achieved.

Interview date: 16th November 2026.

Main duties of the job

The post holder is the responsible strategic lead for the development and implementation of the Trust strategy for improving patient and carer experience and engagement for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust.

An influential senior leader working within the corporate nursing team to provide strategic nursing leadership and expert specialist advice concerning all areas of patient engagement and patient experience. The post holder will lead on and facilitate the successful delivery of the strategic objectives set out in the Patient Engagement and Experience Strategy and provide support to the wider patient experience team in relation to the core functions.

The role requires a senior manager with strong leadership skills, current specialist knowledge and experience in the field of patient experience, engagement and co-production.

The post holder will provide leadership and management of the Trust’s Patient Engagement & Experience Team, Volunteer Services, Chaplaincy, and for patient/community focussed activities. They will act as a source of professional advice and expertise, developing and acting upon specialist knowledge on current trends in NHS complaints and PALS, patient experience, service user involvement, quality improvement, volunteering, and health inequalities, keeping abreast of relevant legislation, policy changes and national/regional impact.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The postholder will take a significant role in the continued development of high-quality patient experience and care quality throughout the Trust providing support and guidance to Trust staff ensuring a patient focussed service. The post holder will be the primary source of expert, strategic professional leadership, advice and guidance to the Trust Board and Care Groups in matters of patient engagement, patient experience including complaints and volunteering in order to deliver an outstanding patient experience for the Trust.

Provide strategic and corporate leadership for the Trust-wide Patient Experience and Voice portfolio, translating national and Trust priorities into clear policies, standards, improvement programmes and measurable outcomes. - Ensure patient, carer and community voices influence strategy, governance, service design and evaluation through inclusive engagement, co-design, accessible routes for participation. - Lead systems for capturing, analysing, acting on complaints, PALS contacts, surveys, patient stories, equality insight and community feedback to identify inequalities, risks and improvement priorities. - Provide senior oversight of complex complaints and poor experiences, ensuring effective advocacy, restorative approaches, learning, corrective action and escalation of significant or unresolved risks. - Hold corporate oversight of patient experience services, including complaints, PALS, surveys, involvement and co-design, carers, Chaplaincy, translation and interpreting, and volunteers. - Provide Executive and Board assurance, chair the Patient Experience and Voice Improvement Group and integrate patient experience with patient safety, clinical effectiveness and regulatory assurance.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.