Deputy Chief Operating Officer; Unplanned Care

Deputy Chief Operating Officer (Unplanned Care)

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…