Job overview
Are you a compassionate and experienced healthcare leader who is passionate about delivering outstanding community services? We are looking for a dynamic Deputy Operational Head of Service to join our Community Nursing Portfolio, supporting a diverse range of services including Adult Community Nursing, Practice Development Nurses, Tissue Viability, Lymphoedema, Care Home Matrons, IV Therapy and Phlebotomy.
This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference to patients, staff and communities across Sussex. Working alongside a team of Deputy Heads of Service and reporting to the Operational Head of Service, you will play a key role in ensuring our services are safe, effective, high-performing and responsive to the changing needs of our population. You will provide visible and supportive leadership across multiple sites, building strong relationships with clinical teams and helping to shape the future of community healthcare.
We are looking for an authentic leader who is equally comfortable supporting frontline teams, leading service improvement and using data to drive performance. If you are passionate about community services, enjoy working collaboratively and have the ambition to help lead transformational change whilst maintaining exceptional patient care, we would love to hear from you.
Main duties of the job
As Deputy Operational Head of Service, you will work as part of the senior leadership team within the Community Nursing Portfolio, supporting the delivery of high-quality community services across Sussex.
You will have responsibility for designated services within the portfolio while working collaboratively with fellow Deputy Heads of Service to provide collective leadership and operational support across all services. This includes providing cross-cover during periods of leave or absence and contributing to portfolio-wide initiatives and priorities.
A key aspect of the role is maintaining a visible presence within clinical teams. You will regularly travel between community bases and clinical sites, supporting staff, understanding operational challenges and ensuring teams feel connected to senior leadership.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading and supporting community nursing services to deliver safe, effective and patient-centred care.
- Providing visible, compassionate and inclusive leadership to multidisciplinary teams.
- Supporting Team Leads and Clinical Leads to achieve performance, quality and workforce objectives.
- Monitoring operational performance, waiting times, activity and workforce metrics, taking action where required.
- Driving service improvement, transformation and innovation across the portfolio.
- Supporting recruitment, retention, staff wellbeing and workforce development.
- Ensuring robust governance arrangements are in place, including risk management, complaints, incidents and safeguarding.
- Working collaboratively with internal and external partners to improve patient pathways and outcomes.
- Deputising for colleagues and contributing to wider portfolio leadership responsibilities as required.
We are particularly looking for someone who:
- Is an experienced operational leader within community, primary care or broader healthcare services.
- Has a passion for community healthcare and supporting frontline teams.
- Is highly visible, approachable and able to build credibility with staff at all levels.
- Can confidently analyse performance information and translate this into meaningful improvement plans.
- Has experience of leading change and service transformation.
- Demonstrates excellent communication, relationship-building and influencing skills.
- Is resilient, adaptable and able to manage multiple priorities across a complex portfolio.
- Promotes a culture of compassion, inclusion, continuous improvement and accountability.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Operational Leadership
The Deputy Operational Head of Service will provide senior operational leadership across the Community Nursing Portfolio, supporting services including Adult Community Nursing, Practice Development Nursing, Tissue Viability, Lymphoedema, Care Home Matrons, IV Therapy and Phlebotomy.
The post holder will be responsible for designated services within the portfolio while contributing to collective leadership across all services. They will work closely with fellow Deputy Heads of Service to ensure consistent operational management, resilience and cross-cover arrangements.
The post holder will:
- Support the Operational Head of Service in the delivery of strategic and operational objectives.
- Provide visible leadership across community sites.
- Develop strong working relationships with Team Leads, Clinical Leads and frontline staff.
- Ensure services consistently deliver safe, high-quality care and achieve agreed standards.
- Support service resilience, escalation management and operational decision-making.
- Actively contribute to portfolio-wide planning and development.
Service Improvement and Transformation
- Lead and support quality improvement initiatives across services.
- Identify opportunities to improve patient pathways, productivity and patient experience.
- Support implementation of new models of care and service transformation programmes.
- Use operational and workforce data to identify trends and improvement opportunities.
- Contribute to business planning, business case development and service reviews.
Workforce Leadership
- Provide leadership and support to Team Leads and operational teams.
- Promote a culture of compassion, inclusion and continuous learning.
- Support recruitment, retention and workforce planning activities.
- Oversee attendance management, performance management and staff development processes.
- Champion staff wellbeing and engagement across the portfolio.
- Support leadership development and succession planning.
Quality, Safety and Governance
- Ensure robust systems are in place to monitor service quality, safety and patient experience.
- Support investigation of complaints, incidents and concerns, ensuring learning is embedded.
- Monitor risks and ensure effective mitigation plans are developed and maintained.
- Support compliance with governance, safeguarding, infection prevention and regulatory requirements.
- Promote a culture of openness, learning and continuous improvement.
Performance Management
- Monitor and manage operational performance against agreed quality, activity and access targets.
- Analyse complex performance information and develop action plans where required.
- Support demand and capacity planning initiatives.
- Produce reports and provide assurance to senior leaders regarding service performance.
- Promote evidence-based and data-driven decision-making throughout services.
Financial and Resource Management
- Manage delegated budgets and ensure resources are used effectively.
- Monitor expenditure and support delivery of financial plans.
- Identify efficiency opportunities and support cost improvement initiatives.
- Ensure compliance with financial governance and procurement procedures.
Partnership Working
- Develop effective relationships with clinical, operational and corporate colleagues.
- Work collaboratively with primary care, acute, social care and voluntary sector partners.
- Support integrated care approaches that improve patient outcomes and experience.
- Represent services at internal and external meetings as required.
Key Relationships
The post holder will work closely with:
- Operational Head of Service.
- Deputy Operational Heads of Service across the portfolio.
- Community Team Leads and Clinical Leads.
- Divisional Leadership Team.
- HR, Finance, Performance and Quality Teams.
Additional Requirements
As a visible and accessible leader, the post holder will be expected to travel regularly across community bases, clinics, care homes and other service locations throughout Sussex. Access to suitable transport and the ability to travel independently across the geographical area is therefore essential for this role.
Applicant requirements
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.
Person specification
Experience
Essential
- Experience in a leadership role including contributing to operational management of services.
- Experience in management of health services
- Experience of monitoring, analysing and assessing clinical operational performance.
- Experience of managing budgets.
- Experience in drafting service level business plans, local standard operating procedures and policies.
- Experience of staff management, including recruitment and retention of staff, performance management, and managing sickness absence, and misconduct.
- Experience of managing staff including appraisal and personal development planning.
- Experience of partnership working with a wide range of statutory and non-statutory service providers.
- Experience of assessing risks within a clinical service and developing risk management plans.
Qualifications
Essential
- Bachelor’s degree in a health, social care or related area of study or relevant experience.
- Postgraduate qualification in management or equivalent level of knowledge acquired through experience
- Evidence of continuous professional/leadership/management development.
skills and knowledge
Essential
- Knowledge of NHS Human Resource Policies and Procedures.
- Knowledge of clinical and operational governance and its application to services.
- Knowledge of multidisciplinary team working and an understanding of differing professional roles boundaries.
- Knowledge of budget management, target setting, and action planning and performance management.
- Ability to monitor and maintain standards of care within clinical services.
- Ability to identify, assess and manage clinical and operational risks
- Able to translate complex information make it meaningful to staff at all levels and across all professions both verbally and in writing.
- Ability to occasionally manage distressing and emotional circumstances with staff, patients and their carers.
- Ability to deal with competing demands, priorities and deadlines whilst managing operational imperatives and frequent interruptions.
- Ability to engage stakeholders through discussion, presentation and direct liaison.
- Well-developed presentation skills.
- Word-processing and keyboard skills and ability to use Microsoft Office packages including Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
- A natural curiosity backed by excellent critical analytical skills.
- Able to effectively challenge poor conduct and behaviours.
- Strong patient focus.
- Excellent time management, prioritisation and organisational skills and ability to manage and deliver to agreed deadlines.
- Skilled in writing clear and coherent operational business cases, reports, and service plans.
- Demonstrate understanding of the unique qualities and needs of a team and ability to provide a caring, safe environment to enable everyone to do their jobs effectively
- Use and interpret varied information to generate new ideas and make effective plans for improvement or change
- Demonstrate understanding of how health and social care services fit together and how different people, teams or organisations interconnect and interact
- Able to communicate a compelling and credible vision of the future in a way that makes it feel achievable and exciting
- Ability to involve individuals and demonstrate that their contributions and ideas are valued and important for delivering outcomes and improvements
- Able to agree clear performance goals and quality indicators for services, supporting individuals and teams to take responsibility for results and providing balanced feedback
- Able to build capability within the workforce to enable people to meet future challenges. Using a range of experiences as a vehicle for individual and organisational learning
- Able to use interpersonal and organisational understanding to persuade and build collaboration
- Able to work as part of a team, using own and others skills and adopting a coaching style to drive individual and organisational performance
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Deputy Head of Service with Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust in Brighton, England. It is listed as a Band 8 role. The advertised salary is £57,528 - £64,750 per annum. The contract type is Secondment: 6 months. The application deadline is 06 Aug 2026.
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