About this role
Job summary
Reporting directly at board level, the COO will own the organisational management agenda, lead and support development of the senior management team and site leads, and delegate effectively enabling the Board and clinical directors to maintain strategic oversight without routine operational involvement. The COO is the primary operational voice to the Board, providing clear, timely, and data-driven assurance. The successful candidate will be confidently digitally enabled fluent across modern primary care platforms, business intelligence dashboards, and AI-supported productivity tools and able to harness data and technology to drive efficiency, decision-making, and live operational assurance.
Main duties of the job
Hold full, visible accountability for operational performance across all 12 Willows Health practice sites, with authority to act on behalf of the organisation in day-to-day matters.
Lead daily operational delivery, managing capacity, demand, and patient access effectively across all sites.
Strengthen and standardise operational processes and standards across reception, administrative, digital, and clinical support functions.
Ensure operational alignment with Willows Healths clinical leadership, digital strategy, and wider organisational priorities.
Build and maintain a structured knowledge management and operational continuity framework ensuring institutional knowledge is systematically captured, maintained, and distributed across the senior team.
Establish clear, documented delegation frameworks enabling site and functional leads to operate with confidence and accountability.
About us
Willows Health is the largest provider of NHS primary care services in the East Midlands, delivering high-quality, patient-centred care across 12 sites to over 65,000 patients. As an organisation at the forefront of innovation in general practice with a digital-first patient access model, a growing Urgent Care Service, and the Willows Health Academy, we are seeking an experienced Chief Operating Officer to provide decisive, accountable operational and strategic leadership across the whole organisation.
Job description Job responsibilities
Hold full, visible accountability for operational performance across all 12 Willows Health practice sites, with authority to act on behalf of the organisation in day-to-day matters.
Lead daily operational delivery, managing capacity, demand, and patient access effectively across all sites.
Strengthen and standardise operational processes and standards across reception, administrative, digital, and clinical support functions.
Ensure operational alignment with Willows Healths clinical leadership, digital strategy, and wider organisational priorities.
Build and maintain a structured knowledge management and operational continuity framework ensuring institutional knowledge is systematically captured, maintained, and distributed across the senior team.
Establish clear, documented delegation frameworks enabling site and functional leads to operate with confidence and accountability.
Translate Board-level strategic priorities into clear, measurable operational plans with defined milestones, owners, and accountability.
Lead digital transformation programmes including telephony improvement, digital patient access, AI-enabled triage (SystmConnect), and patient communication pathways.
Be personally digitally enabled confident working across SystmOne, Microsoft 365, Power BI / operational dashboards, AI-assisted productivity tools, and emerging primary care technologies and use these tools fluently to drive efficiency, evidence-based decision-making, and real-time operational assurance.
Support service growth, site expansion, and integration of new services maintaining operational stability throughout periods of change.
Maintain operational oversight, ensuring that planned and existing activities are coordinated and reviewed to avoid unplanned implications for site capacity, patient access, or operational delivery.
Support the drive for continuous innovation in service delivery to ensure Willows Health remains at the forefront of sustainable, modern primary care.
Serve as the primary operational reporting lead to the Board and clinical directors providing structured, data-driven updates on performance, risk, and workforce at each board cycle.
Oversee performance against all contractual KPIs, including QOF, local enhanced services, and patient experience indicators.
Act as the designated executive owner for CQC compliance and operational governance across all 12 Willows Health sites personally accountable to the Board for sustaining and building on the organisations Good rating, and directing the operational and compliance leads responsible for the Provider Information Return (PIR), the evidence library, and all inspection readiness activity.
Ensure a live, site-by-site CQC self-assessment framework is in place across the organisation, mapped against the five Key Questions (Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, Well-led) and the underpinning Quality Statements directing the governance and site leads responsible for evidence capture, gap analysis, mock inspections, and remediation, and holding them to account for delivery.
Line-manage and develop our senior management and site leadership team establishing clear accountability structures with robust performance oversight.
Lead workforce planning, recruitment, retention, and professional development for all our non-clinical staff groups alongside our HR lead.
Support effective multi-disciplinary team deployment, including ARRS and clinical support roles, in collaboration with clinical leads.
Model and embed Willows Health values across all aspects of leadership, building a high-performing, inclusive, and psychologically safe organisational culture.
Champion staff wellbeing and professional development as enablers of sustainable performance and excellent patient care.
Work with our Finance Lead and Board to manage operational budgets and contracts.
Support income optimisation through high-quality delivery of all national and local service contracts.
Work with our Estates Lead to ensure facilities, procurement, and resource allocation across all sites.
Represent Willows Health in relationships with the ICB, PCNs, local authority, third-sector partners, community providers, NHSE, and CQC acting as a credible, trusted ambassador for the organisation.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Degree-level education or equivalent professional experience demonstrating the intellectual capability required for executive leadership.
Desirable
Postgraduate leadership qualification, NHS leadership programme, or equivalent senior leadership training.
Experience Essential
Substantial senior operational leadership in primary care, community health, NHS, or a comparably complex public services organisation with personal accountability at executive or near-executive level. Proven track record of leading multi-site or geographically distributed services at significant scale (5+ sites or equivalent operational complexity). Experience operating as the most senior operational leader, or very close to it, within an organisation demonstrating high autonomy and self-direction without frequent managerial guidance. Experience building and leading a senior management or site leadership team, with clear delegation, accountability structures, and performance management.
Desirable
Track record of taking on roles where significant institutional knowledge was held by a predecessor and systematically building and distributing that knowledge for organisational resilience. Experience presenting and reporting to a board of directors, trustees, or equivalent including preparing written board papers and managing board-level governance. Experience in a large GP super-practice, PCN, or primary care at-scale environment. Senior CQC compliance experience, including preparation for and management of inspection processes.
Knowledge Essential
Knowledge of primary care contracts (GMS/APMS), performance frameworks (QOF), and regulatory requirements (CQC). Understanding of workforce frameworks for primary care, including ARRS roles, multi-disciplinary teams, and non-clinical staffing structures. Familiarity with digital platforms used in primary care: clinical systems (SystmOne), telephony, digital access tools, and patient communication platforms.
Desirable
Working knowledge of NHS financial governance, budget management, and cost improvement planning. Understanding of integrated care system architecture, ICB relationships, and system-level primary care development.
Personal Attributes Essential
High degree of personal accountability and decisiveness takes clear ownership, delivers on commitments, and makes sound judgements under pressure without requiring frequent upward direction. Resilient, adaptable, and composed in a fast-moving, high-growth environment maintains performance standards through ambiguity and change. Collaborative and enabling as a leader leads through others rather than around them; builds empowered teams rather than centralising decision-making. Patient-first orientation every operational decision tested against its impact on patient access, safety, and experience. Inclusive and culturally aware builds high-trust, psychologically safe cultures that attract, retain, and develop diverse talent. Proactive and forward-thinking anticipates challenges, identifies solutions, and progresses work without waiting for direction.
Skills Essential
Exceptional written and verbal communication including the ability to prepare and present confidently at board and to clinical directors, non-executive members, and external stakeholders. Proven ability to lead transformational and digital change programmes in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. Demonstrated skill in building, motivating, and holding accountable large, diverse teams through periods of growth and change. Risk management capability able to identify, assess, and escalate operational and strategic risks in a timely and appropriately framed manner.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details Employer name Willows Medical Centre
Address 184 Coleman Road
Leicester
LE5 4LJ
Employer's website https://www.willowshealthcare.org/ (Opens in a new tab)