Winter Resilience Director

Job description

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

Barts Health supports the Pregnancy Loss Pledge and commits to supporting their staff through the distress of miscarriage.

We are dedicated to being an outstanding place to work and will work with you to get the best experience. We know flexible working is not a one size fits all and will mean something different to everyone. We are inclusive, so if you are interested in flexible working, please speak to the recruiting manager.

Job overview

Whipps Cross Hospital is seeking an experienced, compassionate and highly motivated Winter Resilience Director to lead our operational response throughout the forthcoming winter period.

This is a unique opportunity for an accomplished senior leader with a strong track record of operational delivery, system working and leading teams through complex and challenging environments. Reporting to the Director of Operations, the successful candidate will provide visible leadership across the organisation, driving performance, supporting frontline teams and ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality care for our patients throughout winter.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for a leader who leads with compassion, inspires confidence and empowers teams to find solutions. The role requires someone who can engage colleagues at every level, harness innovation from the frontline and foster a culture of collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement.

The successful candidate will share our values and place them at the heart of everything they do, demonstrating a genuine commitment to our patients, staff and local communities.

The role is a secondment opportunity for 6 months starting from November 2026

Interviews will take place w/c 26th October, final date to be confirmed.

Working for our organisation

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

Person specification

Qualification/ Professional development

Essential criteria

• Masters level education in health care management or equivalent experience
• Evidence of continued learning/development

Knowledge & Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant senior management experience in an NHS Acute Trust
• Hospital Flow and discharge experience
• Highly developed knowledge across quality, operational management and finance domains
• Board level exposure (either Hospital or Trust) with experience of presenting to boards
• Demonstrable track record of sound financial and operational management in a position
• Experience of leading service and / or transformational change
• Experience of management of complex projects
• Experience of effective partnership working with internal and external stakeholders

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience as a senior manager in acute sector operations
• Experience of chairing board sub committees (Hospital or Trust

Skills

Essential criteria

• Able to influence, negotiate and persuade regarding complex or sensitive issues
• Ability to operate effectively in clinical academic operational environment with multiple stakeholders
• Ability to motivate and lead staff to deliver operational objectives and standards
• Highly developed communication and interpersonal skills both verbal, written and presentation and excellent listening skills, including facilitation
• Ability to encourage multi-professional team working and problem solving
• Ability to think and plan strategically, tactically and creatively

Visa Sponsorship Information

This role is subject to UK immigration requirements. Where sponsorship is required, applicants must meet the eligibility criteria for a Skilled Worker visa in accordance with current UK Visas and Immigration rules, including any salary, qualification, and role-specific requirements applicable at the time of appointment. Candidates who require sponsorship will only be considered where the post is eligible and where all sponsorship criteria can be met. Evidence of the right to work in the UK will be required before appointment. Please note that for roles employed under Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions, the High-Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) is not included when calculating the basic salary for the purposes of sponsorship.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment where staff treat one another with dignity and respect. We aim to create an equitable working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential.

As an Equal Opportunities Employer we actively support applications from individuals' who apply under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme and will process your application as appropriate.

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications has been received and we regret that we are unable to provide notification if your application is unsuccessful.

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to Barts Health NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Barts Health is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and to child protection. The Trust aims to ensure as far as is possible that anyone, paid or unpaid, who seeks to work in our organisation and who gains access to children, is safe to do so. As such, you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Check as part of the recruitment process if appointed to a post with direct access to children or vulnerable adults.

Barts Health promotes active travel as part of its goal to reach Net Zero. Each site is accessible by public transport and the Trust has a cycle to work scheme and some sites have Brompton Hire Pods.

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