Head of Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response

University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust

The closing date is 04 October 2026

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to offer a fantastic opportunity to work with us.

Job Title:

Head of Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response

Contract Type:
Permanent

Please be advised that this vacancy may close earlier than stated if we receive a large number of applications.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our team as Head of Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, providing Trust-wide leadership to protect patients, sustain essential care and strengthen organisational resilience.

You will shape how UHS prepares for, responds to and recovers from significant incidents, ensuring resilience informs strategic decisions, service development and everyday operations. This senior role combines professional leadership and executive advice with the judgement to support effective decisions during disruption.

Reporting to the Associate Director of Operations, you will lead and develop the EPRR team and programme of work, and act as the principal specialist adviser to the Accountable Emergency Officer, Executive Team and senior clinical and operational leaders. You will build the relationships and confidence needed to influence decisions, challenge constructively and establish shared responsibility for preparedness across the Trust.

Your remit will encompass incident response and command, business continuity, evacuation and shelter, and preparedness for other significant threats. Working with senior colleagues across clinical services, operations, estates, digital and security, you will ensure these arrangements are coherent, proportionate and capable of supporting safe care under pressure.

You will strengthen leadership capability through training and exercising, ensure learning leads to sustained organisational improvement, and provide authoritative advice during incidents and recovery. Through robust EPRR assurance, you will give senior leaders a clear understanding of the Trust's readiness, material risks and priorities requiring their attention.

Representing UHS with NHS partners, emergency services, local authorities and wider resilience networks, you will influence joint preparedness and ensure the Trust's responsibilities, capabilities and dependencies are understood within the wider system.

As one of the largest acute teaching Trusts in England, we offer learning and development opportunities to help you achieve the career you aspire to. UHS is rated 'Good' by the CQC and in the latest national NHS Staff Survey, we were in the top 10 acute trusts for staff engagement and for staff recommending the hospital as a place to work or receive care.

We support flexible working and will consider requests taking into account the needs of the service. UHS employees are able to access a range of NHS discounts, are entitled to a minimum of 35 days paid holiday (pro rata), and we offer a generous pension scheme.

Southampton is an attractive place to live and work situated on the south coast, with an international airport and direct trains to London. The New Forest National Park and beaches of the Jurassic coast are also right on our doorstep. The city offers living costs 30% lower than London and 17 schools rated outstanding by Ofsted.

We believe that using technology wisely shows strong time management and commitment to innovation. However, personalising your recruitment application to highlight your unique skills and experiences is crucial. Relying too heavily on generic, AI-generated content instead of drawing from your own strengths and accomplishments may lead to your application being rejected if multiple candidates present identical or similar information.

In this role, your key responsibilities will include:

Setting the strategic direction for EPRR across UHS, assessing emerging threats and critical service dependencies, and establishing a prioritised programme that supports patient safety, organisational resilience and the Trusts strategic objectives.

Establishing clear expectations for preparedness across divisions and corporate services, constructively challenging gaps in capability and providing executive and Board assurance processes with a clear assessment of readiness, outstanding risks and decisions required.

Advising executive and…