Chief Operating Officer

Job overview

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) is at a pivotal stage in its development and, following the appointment of our current Chief Operating Officer (COO) to a Chief Executive post, there is an opportunity to join us as our next COO and play a fundamental role in delivering outstanding services for our population, ensuring that safety, quality, efficiency, and responsiveness remain at the heart of everything we do. We have an ambitious strategy and, in joining us as COO, you will join an executive team in our exciting journey and bring experience gained at Board or sub-Board level in a complex healthcare setting to our Trust.

This is a crucial time for PAHT as we embark on the development of our new Clinical Strategy for our Trust and the wider West Essex system. We are committed to modernising our services, improving patient care, and fostering a thriving, resilient workforce has never been stronger. The COO will be instrumental in leading this transformation, ensuring that our operational delivery is aligned with our strategic ambitions and that we continue to deliver safe, effective, and innovative services.

Interviews will take place on Wednesday 18 June 2025.

Main duties of the job

As an anchor institution in West Essex, we play a vital role in shaping the health and wellbeing of our local population. Our new COO will drive this agenda, leading the operational delivery of services across the Trust, championing patient experience, quality improvement, and operational resilience, and ensuring that our services remain sustainable, integrated, and responsive to the needs of our diverse communities. The COO will also play a critical role in strengthening data quality, business intelligence, and performance management to inform decision making and transformation across the organisation.

This role will be instrumental in delivering national NHS priorities, including the Three Shifts, the NHS Long Term Plan, reducing health inequalities, and embedding a culture of continuous improvement, service innovation, and operational excellence. The successful candidate will ensure that our emergency planning, business continuity, and major incident preparedness frameworks are robust and fit for purpose, safeguarding service delivery through times of challenge.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We are looking for an exceptional operational leader with a passion for patient care, service transformation, and quality improvement. The successful candidate will bring significant experience at or close to board level in relevant healthcare setting, with a proven track record of delivering high quality, efficient services and meeting key performance targets. They will be a visible and inspiring leader, with the ability to build strong relationships internally and externally, influence system wide operational strategy, and drive innovation and excellence across our services.

This is a rare opportunity to make a lasting impact on the future of our people, our organisation, and the communities we serve. If you share our ambition and are passionate about shaping the future of workforce leadership in the NHS, we encourage you to speak with our partners at Alumni Global.