Coo jobs in United Kingdom

The closing date is 01 March 2026

The opportunity to make a significant difference to the delivery of Urgent and Emergency Care across Worcestershire is now available for an operational leader, with a values‑led compassionate leadership approach to support and enable our clinical divisions to deliver operational services across Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

With a track record of delivery at a senior level in a complex environment, this a great opportunity for an individual with the drive, determination and resilience to deliver real and sustainable change who is ready to be responsible for the operational delivery of the Trust’s unplanned care approach, on behalf of the COO. The immediate priority of the role is UEC reset, which needs clear and direct leadership and management skills, together with current senior acute operational delivery experience.

The Deputy COO will work with the Divisional Teams to support business planning, service development and delivery and identify and implement opportunities for improved productivity and efficiency as well as leading cross divisional and corporate unplanned care service developments and programmes of work. Increasingly, there may be opportunities to lead work across organisational boundaries in conjunction with system partners and the Foundation Group.

Visible and engaged leadership will be a key attribute of the successful candidate, who will be working closely with the operational and clinical teams and corporate team across the organisation to embed an intelligence‑led approach to balance the priorities of quality and performance with financial acumen to support the organisation to deliver its commitments to its local population in line with annual planning requirements. Above all else, a commitment to working through others and across organisational boundaries in order to affect the greatest and most impactful change for the populations we serve will be essential.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is a large acute and specialised hospital trust that provides a range of local acute services to the residents of Worcestershire and more specialised services to a larger population in Herefordshire and beyond.

The Trust operates hospital‑based services from three sites in Kidderminster, Redditch and Worcester.

Our workforce is more than 7,000 strong, and our caring staff are recognised as providing good and outstanding patient‑centred care. You could be one of them.

We are committed to recruiting the best people to work with us. Our values, which we ask all staff to demonstrate, underpin our everyday work and remain firmly at the heart of all we do.

• Being open and honest
• Ensuring people feel cared for
• Showing respect to everyone

We are committed to developing a culture of continuous improvement by embedding the principles of our Improvement System.

We are proud to have achieved Timewise accreditation – this means we are committed to embedding flexible working within our organisation as a flex positive employer.

DBS Checks and Costs

Any applicants who are offered posts requiring a DBS check as part of their employment check will have the cost of this check (at the current rate) deducted from their salary. Please see link in Supporting Information section for more details on DBS checks and costs.

JOB SUMMARY

The Deputy Chief Operating Officer (Unplanned Care) is a pivotal member of the Chief Operating Officer’s leadership team. The postholder will work with the executive team and board to develop a high‑performing culture across the Trust, supporting, developing and enabling the delivery of our operational and strategic plans to support the delivery of patient care.

The primary purpose of this role is to support the Chief Operating Officer (COO) to provide oversight of all strategic, quality and operational issues relating to the clinical operational running of the hospital, with a particular responsibility for Unplanned Care.

The Deputy COO will have specific responsibility for successful operational leadership and management across the Trust’s three main hospital sites in relation to Unplanned Care. The Deputy COO will work with the Divisional Teams to support business planning, service development and delivery and identify and implement opportunities for improved productivity and efficiency.

The Deputy COO is responsible alongside the other DCOO role for providing leadership and direction to ensure the successful delivery of the operational services within Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust. This will ensure the provision of effective, high‑quality, safe patient care which meets the needs of patients and can be met within the allocated budget.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

LEADERSHIP

• To work with the Divisional Directors (DD), Divisional Directors of Operations (DOP) and Divisional Directors of Nursing (DoN) in providing strong, clear visionary leadership through team working to ensure effective operational management and delivery of the service.
• To work with the division ensuring the delivery of the objectives of each of the Divisions and supporting Directorates in the delivery of their income and expenditure budgets and to manage activity within contract.
• The Deputy COO will be responsible for ensuring the COO receives appropriate assurance on the delivery of operational performance.
• To ensure that the Trust and Divisional aims and objectives are clearly communicated to all staff.
• To work with the COO and Divisional teams to set the strategic direction, by providing strong, visible and professional leadership.
• To provide expert advice across the full range of strategic development and operational performance against objectives, contracts, and targets, and deliver best practice solutions to meet the changing needs of the Divisions.
• Provide visible and credible leadership in the effective positioning of the organisation within a complex health economy, developing constructive and “value adding” relationships with our stakeholder organisations.
• To empower senior clinical and managerial leaders across the Divisions and Directorates to ensure achievement of all national and local performance standards.
• Deputise for the COO across the full range of their duties.

SERVICE PLANNING AND DELIVERY

• To maintain an overview of service delivery across the Trust and work with system colleagues to ensure that any barriers to effective patient flow are removed.
• Ensure the implementation of agreed targets/objectives in order to deliver the Trust Clinical Governance agenda.
• To ensure the Divisional and Directorate teams utilise available performance information to facilitate performance monitoring and the opportunities for improvements, agreeing plans to improve service efficiency and quality.
• Work with the Divisions and the Emergency Planning Officer to ensure the Trust has robust emergency planning, Business Continuity and escalation response arrangements in place.
• Ensure the performance framework is developed and delivers sustainable performance and the operational services continuously improve.
• To support the COO in ensuring service reconfiguration and service improvement projects are managed and delivered within agreed timeframes and financial parameters.
• To work with colleagues across the health and social system to improve pathways for Unplanned Care.
• To take a leadership role in weekend planning for the Trust.

PERFORMANCE

• To work with corporate colleagues for the delivery of performance reporting to the required standards within the performance framework, notably finance, activity and access and safety and quality.
• Identify any areas of over or under performance and take corrective action as appropriate for area of responsibility.
• To support the Divisional Directors to engage staff in reviewing clinical pathways, clinical outcomes and patient experience and in driving forward continuous improvement.
• To provide Senior Operational leadership and support to the day to day operational running of the site.
• Take a lead in day to day decision making with the onsite leadership team.
• Represent the site views in trust‑wide strategic and tactical discussions.
• Maintain a high level of visibility and presence on site as required.
• Work together with Finance Managers and Divisional Teams to develop Financial Recovery Plans (where necessary) and identify opportunities for improved productivity.
• To support Divisional teams with the development of business cases and option appraisals that provide appropriate solutions in order to benefit the Trust.
• To receive, interpret and utilise highly complex information to ensure the effective management of resources and that National and Local targets are met.
• Be the Senior Responsible Officer for appropriate productivity and improvement programmes as agreed with the COO.
• To benchmark and undertake necessary research to ensure that services are in line with other NHS and private sector organisations.
• To support and promote all governance activities within the directorates including priority attendance at compulsory meetings for all staff.
• The Deputy COO will support the COO in delivering the Division’s responsibility for patient safety, quality and clinical governance within the Trust.

HUMAN RESOURCES

• To support Divisional teams with the development of workforce plans to ensure that these meet the service needs and staffing requirements.
• Ensure all staff groups participate in the running of the Division, allowing devolved decision making where appropriate.
• With the Divisional Team take responsibility for the recruitment and selection of key staff within the Division.
• Line management of the Trust’s Clinical and Operational Site Delivery Team.

GENERAL DUTIES

• To deputise as required for the COO, including attended Trust Board sub‑committees and Trust Management Meetings as required.
• To be responsible for own decision making and to ensure that this is communicated widely across the Trust.
• To provide support to the Divisional Teams in regular meetings to ensure that all strategic matters across the Division are addressed providing feedback to the COO.
• Implement and deliver the requirements of local and national policy.
• To work with the COO and other Executive / Senior Managers to develop strong working relationship with commissioners and other external partners.
• The post holder will ensure that they maintain their personal development.
• Participate in the Trust Executive Director On‑Call rota.

• As part of the Trust's aim to improve diversity across the Trust, positive action is being taken and all applications for this post from BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ candidates can request to be considered under an expanded Guaranteed Interview Scheme, if they meet the minimum criteria as specified in the person specification for this role. Here you can declare if you wish to be considered under this expanded Guaranteed Interview Scheme and this response would be visible to the Shortlisting Panel. If you have any queries about this expanded Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please contact Rob Saunders (HR Manager – Recruitment) in confidence via email robert.saunders1@nhs.net

• Please provide a covering statement here, setting out how you meet the requirements of the role and the drivers for your application. The Person Specification for this role can be found attached to this advert in the "Supporting Documents" section.

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.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust