Overview
The Senior Improvement Manager will work directly alongside the Financial Improvement Director to drive the operational delivery of this programme. This is a hands‑on improvement role: the postholder will be embedded in services, working with care group and clinical leaders to identify efficiency opportunities, build practical plans, and see them through to delivery.
Main duties of the job
- Operational Improvement Delivery
- Workforce and Pay Efficiency
- Elective Productivity and Outpatient Efficiency
- Drugs Expenditure
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Reporting and Progress
About us
Diversity makes us interesting… Inclusion is what will make us outstanding.
Inequality exists and the journey to eliminate it is not easy. Every step we take will be a purposeful step forward to deliver a truly inclusive culture where all our people are enabled to deliver outstanding care, where background is no barrier, and where everyone can be their authentic self and we truly represent our patient community.
We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics. Reasonable adjustments will be made for disabled applicants where possible. All applicants who have a disability and meet the minimum criteria for the post can opt for a guaranteed interview.
If you need additional help with your application please get in touch by calling the recruitment team on 0118 322 6997 or 0118 322 5342.
Our primary method of communication will be via email. However, if you would prefer to be contacted through a different method, please inform the recruitment team.
Job responsibilities
Operational Improvement Delivery
The core of the role is working directly in services to identify and deliver operational improvements. The postholder will:
- Take direct ownership of a defined portfolio of improvement areas primarily workforce efficiency, elective productivity and operational flow
- Embed within care groups to understand what is driving cost pressures and inefficiency not just from data, but from direct engagement with the people running services
- Build credible, practical improvement plans with named owners and realistic timelines grounded in what the service can actually deliver, not just theoretical benchmarks
- Apply NHS benchmarking tools (GIRFT, Model Health System) to identify where performance lags peers and make the case for change with clinical and operational leaders
- Challenge variation across care groups why one area performs significantly differently from another, and what needs to change
- Track improvement through to confirmed financial delivery not just activity completed, but benefit landing in the position
Workforce and Pay Efficiency
Workforce costs are the Trust’s largest area of expenditure and the primary lever for financial improvement. The postholder will:
- Work with care group directors to understand the root causes of pay overspend, agency dependency, establishment overshoot, rostering inefficiency, vacancy management
- Drive practical improvements in e‑rostering compliance: understanding why roster publication is late, why internal fill rates are low in certain areas, and working with ward and divisional management to address this
- Support development of the Trust’s internal bank as an alternative to agency working on the supply and process barriers that make bank less accessible than it should be
- Work with the Chief People Officer on annual leave management preventing the late‑year surge that forces expensive agency cover
- Support the medical job plan review working with the Medical Director to identify where clinical time allocation does not reflect current service needs
Elective Productivity and Outpatient Efficiency
Improving how the Trust manages elective and outpatient activity is central to both financial improvement and waiting list recovery. The postholder will:
- Work with the COO and care group directors to improve theatre utilisation addressing late starts, under‑booked sessions, cancelled lists and inefficient session scheduling
- Lead improvement work on length of stay in priority specialties using benchmarking data to identify outliers and working with clinical teams to implement discharge improvement
- Support outpatient redesign including patient‑initiated follow‑up, advice and guidance, and new‑to‑follow‑up ratio reduction working with clinical leads to redesign pathways practically
- Work on same‑day emergency care pathway improvement helping services meet national standards and reduce unnecessary overnight admissions
- Identify and address the causes of high DNA rates in priority specialties working with operational teams on reminder processes, overbooking protocols and scheduling practices
Drugs Expenditure
The Trust has a significant drugs overspend, particularly in Networked Care specialties. The postholder will:
- Support the Chief Pharmacist in understanding what is driving drugs expenditure the split between demand‑driven cost and controllable prescribing practice
- Facilitate engagement between pharmacy, clinical leads and operational teams to translate agreed changes into confirmed savings
- Help maintain momentum on formulary compliance and therapeutic substitution ensuring that clinical agreements translate into sustained changes in practice
Stakeholder Engagement
Improvement at this scale cannot be driven from the centre. The postholder will:
- Build effective working relationships with care group directors, general managers, clinical leads and consultants earning credibility through practical knowledge and genuine helpfulness
- Be visible in clinical and operational areas not a presence only in meetings and on email
- Communicate clearly and honestly with senior leaders able to have a difficult conversation about underperformance constructively and without avoiding the point
- Help clinical teams see improvement as a quality issue as well as a financial one avoidable bed days, preventable complications and inefficient pathways matter to patients as well as to the bottom line
Reporting and Progress
The postholder will support the Financial Improvement Director in maintaining a clear, honest picture of progress across the programme:
- Maintain a practical view of delivery status across their portfolio knowing where things are on track and where they are not, before it appears in a formal report
- Surface problems and risks early with a proposed mitigation, not just an update
- Contribute operational insight to programme reporting providing the context behind the numbers
- Work with finance colleagues to ensure that operational improvements are landing in the financial position, not just in activity data
Person Specification
Experience
- Senior operational or general management experience in an NHS acute trust
- Hands‑on experience leading service improvement or efficiency work in a clinical environment
- Experience of NHS benchmarking tools — GIRFT, Model Health System or NHS Benchmarking
- A track record of working effectively with clinical and operational teams to deliver change
- Practical experience of workforce management — agency, bank, rostering and establishment controls
- Ability to communicate performance data clearly to senior stakeholders
- Experience of elective recovery or productivity improvement — RTT management, theatre optimisation, outpatient redesign
- Familiarity with SAFER bundle, same‑day emergency care, patient‑initiated follow‑up or discharge‑to‑assess pathways
Skills and Behaviour
- Operational credibility
- Delivery focus
- Honest, direct communication influencing without authority
- Influencing without authority
- Pace and resilience
- Analytical confidence
- Knowledge of e‑rostering systems and the compliance levers available to operational managers
- Experience working in a Trust under financial pressure or in recovery — understanding the pace and urgency required
- Exposure to drugs expenditure management or pharmacy‑led efficiency work
- Experience working alongside finance colleagues on savings identification and benefits confirmation
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
£94,356 to £108,814 a year per annum pro rata
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