Job summary
- Main area
- Corporate Nursing
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8c
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 153-CO06958
- Employer
- University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Cross site
- Town
- Bournemouth, Christchurch and Dorset
- Salary
- £79,504 - £91,609 pa
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 04/11/2026 23:59
- Interview date
- 16/11/2026
Employer heading
Associate Director of Patient Engagement and Experience
NHS AfC: Band 8c
As University Hospitals Dorset we are a three site acute trust with ‘university hospital’ status through our partnership with Bournemouth University, working with an annual budget of £730m.
We offer highly regarded health services, employing some 10,000 staff. Our ambitious £500m transformation programme is well on the way to delivering state-of-the-art facilities over the next two years to meet the current and future healthcare needs of the populations we serve.
In an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with over seven miles of sandy beaches you’ll find inspirational opportunities to achieve your perfect work/life balance. With the New Forest and the Purbecks on our doorstep, we’re also less than three hours from London by road or train. The thriving towns of Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch give way to idyllic villages and unspoilt landscapes just minutes from our hospitals.
We believe that having a diverse workforce, and allowing people to be themselves, is essential in ensuring we offer an inclusive, welcoming and productive place to work.
We especially welcome applications from minority groups in the community who may be underrepresented in our workforce.
At UHD our active staff network groups are the Women's Network, Black Asian Minority Ethnic Group (BAME), Pride Network, European (EU), Pro Ability Staff Network, and the Armed Forces Support Group.
As a Trust we are proudly signed up to the Disability Confident and Armed Forces Covenant guaranteed interview schemes.
We are aware that some candidates may choose to use AI tools to support the preparation of their application. While this is not discouraged, we kindly remind applicants that submissions should remain an honest and accurate representation of your own experience and suitability. Personal integrity is an important part of the recruitment process.
Job overview
Reporting to the Chief Nurse the Associate Director of Patient Engagement and Experience will ensure that the voices and lived experiences of patients, carers and communities shape Trust strategy, decisions, services and improvement. The post holder will provide corporate leadership and accountability for complaints, PALS, patient surveys and insight, involvement and co-design, carers, Chaplaincy, translation and interpreting, volunteers, and patient-experience improvement.
The post holder will lead delivery of the Patient Experience strategy and the experience and voice commitments of the national Quality Strategy for NHS-funded care in England. They will translate national and Trust strategy into measurable priorities, policy, standards and improvement programmes, creating systematic and inclusive routes for people to influence how care is planned, delivered and evaluated and ensuring that the Trust visibly responds to what it hears.
The post holder will operate with substantial autonomy within broad professional, organisational and national policies and delegated authority, interpreting these requirements and determining how agreed objectives are achieved.
Interview date: 16th November 2026.
Main duties of the job
The post holder is the responsible strategic lead for the development and implementation of the Trust strategy for improving patient and carer experience and engagement for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust.
An influential senior leader working within the corporate nursing team to provide strategic nursing leadership and expert specialist advice concerning all areas of patient engagement and patient experience. The post holder will lead on and facilitate the successful delivery of the strategic objectives set out in the Patient Engagement and Experience Strategy and provide support to the wider patient experience team in relation to the core functions.
The role requires a senior manager with strong leadership skills, current specialist knowledge and experience in the field of patient experience, engagement and co-production.
The post holder will provide leadership and management of the Trust’s Patient Engagement & Experience Team, Volunteer Services, Chaplaincy, and for patient/community focussed activities. They will act as a source of professional advice and expertise, developing and acting upon specialist knowledge on current trends in NHS complaints and PALS, patient experience, service user involvement, quality improvement, volunteering, and health inequalities, keeping abreast of relevant legislation, policy changes and national/regional impact.
Working for our organisation
UHD are investing, developing and transforming Trust services in line with the New Hospital Programme. As part of this, some services may move site this year or next, either temporarily or permanently. Recruiting Managers will be happy to answer any service-specific questions at interview.
UHD has active networks including Women’s, BAME, Pride, EU, Pro Ability, and Armed Forces. We support Disability Confident and Armed Forces Covenant interview schemes.
AI tools may be used, but applications must honestly reflect your own skills and experience. Integrity is key to our recruitment process.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The postholder will take a significant role in the continued development of high-quality patient experience and care quality throughout the Trust providing support and guidance to Trust staff ensuring a patient focussed service.
The post holder will be the primary source of expert, strategic professional leadership, advice and guidance to the Trust Board and Care Groups in matters of patient engagement, patient experience including complaints and volunteering in order to deliver an outstanding patient experience for the Trust.
Provide strategic and corporate leadership for the Trust-wide Patient Experience and Voice portfolio, translating national and Trust priorities into clear policies, standards, improvement programmes and measurable outcomes.
- Ensure patient, carer and community voices influence strategy, governance, service design and evaluation through inclusive engagement, co-design, accessible routes for participation.
- Lead systems for capturing, analysing, acting on complaints, PALS contacts, surveys, patient stories, equality insight and community feedback to identify inequalities, risks and improvement priorities.
- Provide senior oversight of complex complaints and poor experiences, ensuring effective advocacy, restorative approaches, learning, corrective action and escalation of significant or unresolved risks.
- Hold corporate oversight of patient experience services, including complaints, PALS, surveys, involvement and co-design, carers, Chaplaincy, translation and interpreting, and volunteers.
- Provide Executive and Board assurance, chair the Patient Experience and Voice Improvement Group and integrate patient experience with patient safety, clinical effectiveness and regulatory assurance.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to Master’s level or equivalent experience.
- Management/leadership qualification or equivalent experience at post graduate level
- Evidence of continued professional development
- Registered nurse or other registered professional; alternatively, demonstrable equivalent senior professional knowledge and experience relevant to patient experience, quality governance, complaints, engagement or service improvement.
Desirable criteria
- Quality Improvement qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Extensive experience of working in a senior management/leadership role
- Significant experience of managing, leading and motivating teams/departments
- Specialist knowledge around legislation, service requirements in NHS complaints, PALS, and volunteering
- Leading service changes to improve performance
- Experience of working across boundaries to develop networks with key stakeholders with using highly developed persuasive, motivational and negotiating skills
- Experience of line managing a diverse team utilising the full spectrum of HR practices
Technical Skills
Essential criteria
- Good analytical and problem-solving skills – ability to analyse highly complex data/information and make judgements/draw conclusions – including ability to respond to unexpected demands.
- Ability to work independently and make autonomous decisions
- Ability to prepare and present written reports/papers to a high standard and to find, retrieve and disseminate information up to Board level
- Ability to embrace, lead and drive change
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Vivian Alividza
- Job title
- Deputy Chief Nurse
- Email address
- [email protected]
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