Job summary
- Main area
- Management
- Grade
- 8d
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 470-7848998-CJW
- Employer
- Isle of Wight NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- St Mary's Hospital
- Town
- Newport, Isle of Wight
- Salary
- £91,342 - £105,337 pro rata, per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 23/03/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Deputy Director of Operations
8d
Job overview
This vacancy is open to employees of Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust only
At the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, Urgent and Emergency Care is central to the resilience of our organisation and our island health system. As the sole acute provider on the Island, performance in UEC and patient flow has a direct and visible impact on our community.
We are seeking an experienced and resilient operational leader to join us as the Deputy Director of Operations for UEC & Flow. This is a senior, high-profile role with responsibility for leading operational delivery across Emergency Department performance, site operations, internal patient flow and discharge coordination. If you thrive in fast‑paced environments where your vision, drive, and ability to bring people with you can make a tangible difference to patients every single day, we’d love to hear from you.
Main duties of the job
The Deputy Director of Operations, in conjunction with the Care Group senior management team, is expected to support the division to deliver effective integrated clinical, operational and financial performance for the division.
This role is responsible for supporting the care group in delivering national and local access targets, along with ensuring all aspects of people, performance and financial objectives are delivered. The Deputy Director of Operations will provide strong operational leadership, ensuring that there are appropriate systems and processes in place to deliver objectives and drive forward the care groups within the division.
To enable them to execute this responsibility the post holder is expected to provide proactive and visible leadership. Leadership will span five key areas; supporting service transformation and development within the care groups, divisional leadership, people and personal leadership, quality leadership and collaborative leadership.
As part of the Care Group senior team the post holder is expected to work as part of a cohesive team and to take lead responsibility for corporate issues that directly relate to and impact on the division in order to achieve the corporate objectives of the Trust.
Working for our organisation
We serve a population of approximately 150,000 residents, making the services we offer variable and personalised with a flexible approach to our service users.
Working for our Trust brings a variety of benefits, including an onsite day nursery, cycle-to-work scheme, discounts at local businesses and gyms, and the opportunity to hire Trust’s beach hut in Ryde. We offer many flexible working opportunities, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement for you and if it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
The Isle of Wight is a unique and stunning gem located off the South Coast of England, a short ferry journey from Portsmouth and Southampton, with journey times taking from as little as 10 minutes. London can be reached in 90 minutes by rail from Southampton or Portsmouth. The island offers an amazing coastline with beautiful countryside, year-round events, festivals and award-winning attractions.
Our 2020-2025 strategy sets out to ensure that we continue to be a provider of excellent and compassionate care. As part of this strategy, we are proactively taking steps to ensure that we recruit and retain the highest quality of talent to provide CARE and we would welcome applications from under-represented groups to ensure our Trust is an inclusive and diverse employer.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
About the Role
Working closely with the leadership triumvirate, clinical leaders, and system partners, you will champion improvement, strengthen patient flow, and embed a culture of collaboration and accountability across pathways. You will drive performance, enable clinical excellence, and shape the future model of emergency care.
What You’ll Bring
You will have a compelling vision for emergency care. You can articulate and deliver a clear, ambitious and patient‑centred strategy for emergency and urgent care—balancing operational realities with innovation, transformation, and long-term sustainability.
Outstanding engagement and leadership
You are an inclusive, visible leader who builds strong relationships, connects teams around shared purpose, and brings energy into every room. You’ll inspire colleagues at all levels, creating an environment where people feel valued, empowered, and motivated to deliver great care.
A passion for improvement
You are curious, data‑informed, and improvement‑driven. You understand the operational levers that enable flow, reduce delays, and enhance quality—and you use them with precision. You are confident holding teams to account while fostering a supportive and collaborative culture.
Resilience and System Perspective
You thrive in complex settings and are comfortable working across organisational boundaries. You understand that sustainable improvement in UEC depends on whole-system collaboration and you are able to influence effectively with partners across health and care. You navigate complexity with confidence, make sound decisions, and maintain focus on what matters most—safe, timely care for patients.
Attached you will find the person specification document which provides more detail about the essential and desirable skills and experience needed for this role. We highly recommend you review this document and use it when completing your application as these criteria are used by hiring managers as guidance during shortlisting.
For an overview of the main duties of the role please see the 'Job Description and Main Responsibilities' section below. To understand the day-to-day responsibilities in more detail please read the full job description document attached.
Please note, this vacancy may close early should we be in receipt of a high number of applications.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Post graduate management qualification or equivalent demonstrable management experience
- Project Management or significant experience managing complex projects and programmes
- Master’s Degree in management or similar level of qualification in relevant field
- Experience of working in a variety of settings across the health economy, with recent experience of working at a senior level within a Community healthcare environment
- Track record of leading change or taking a key role in service improvements within a clinical setting, leading to demonstrable improvements in experience for patients.
- Working knowledge of clinical and corporate governance and information governance.
- Evidence of successfully delivering service improvement in a multi-agency and multi-disciplinary environment
- Proven track record in improving patient experience and gaining patient/public views.
- Experience of managing and setting a budget for a range of services, ensuring value for money.
- Excellent IT skills; utilising Microsoft Office packages to manipulate data and associated reporting, develop presentations and create business case, paying attention to detail and accuracy
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Victoria Lauchlan
- Job title
- Chief Operating Officer
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01983 822099
- Additional information
ext 5498
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