About this role
Job summary
This post is a fixed term contract for maternity leave cover until 31st December 2026.
University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group comprises Kettering General Hospital and Northampton General Hospital. With a budget of over £800 million and with over 11,000 staff, we operate two hospitals, several community services, and serve a population of 900,000 people across Northamptonshire.
It is an exciting time to join us as we set out to focus on our three priorities to improve UHN as a place to receive care, to improve UHN as a place to work and to meet our financial targets.
Within the Continuous Improvement Directorate, the Programme Management Office (PMO) is responsible for providing the support and expertise required to ensure the successful delivery of all programmes associated with our strategy, including ensuring that there is robust governance and management of the efficiency and cost improvement programme.
The Head of the Programme Management Office will lead the PMO Team to ensure the delivery of the portfolio of work across UHN, including the delivery of the strategic priorities. The post holder will report to the Director of Continuous Improvement and will be responsible for providing leadership to the Programme Management Office function and team, provide advice and subject matter expertise in project and programme management best practice, tools and techniques.
Main duties of the job
Key functions of the PMO will be to:
Manage the strategic priority and transformation portfolio including key decision-making timelines, ongoing prioritisation and resource allocation; Support, coach and challenge sponsors and workstream leads to deliver their strategic priority programmes and transformation initiatives against objectives rapidly; Manage and run the ongoing benefits realisation process on behalf of the Trusts; Quality assure strategic and transformation initiatives and act as a supportive yet challenging independent reviewer of programmes; Set up and run an effective monitoring and reporting process to provide a single source of truth for the Integrated Leadership Team on the progress of strategic priorities and associated strategic deliverables and transformation programmes; Develop and maintain programme-level plans construct critical paths spanning the portfolio and work with our Health Intelligence team to report against key performance indicators, developing processes to gather, analyse and interpret data and information for programme management purposes; Manage the PMO for the UHN / UHL Collaboration Programme; Develop and implement a process to ensure risks, dependencies and interdependencies are managed, reviewed and mitigated appropriately; and Drive the use of appropriate best practice, improvement methodologies and project management tools to improve likelihood of programme delivery.
About us
Please submit your application as soon as possible, as we reserve the right to close adverts once sufficient applications have been received.We recognise that AI tools can support application writing; however, candidates are asked to keep their use to a minimum. Responses should reflect your own experience, skills and knowledge, as over-reliance on AI-generated content may result in generic answers that do not accurately represent your abilities.University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) brings together Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust. As a group, we are committed to improving services for our communities through collaboration, modernising care delivery and striving for excellence. Working together enables us to share expertise, strengthen services and create greater opportunities, and there may be a requirement to work across sites depending on service needs.Our Excellence Values are Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Integrity and Courage. UHN welcomes applications from all backgrounds and is committed to an inclusive working environment. We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and hold the Gold Award under the Employer Recognition Scheme. Candidates who identify as members of the Armed Forces community and meet the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview.
Job description Job responsibilities
For the detailed job description and main responsibilities, please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification.
For more details on the post, please contact:
Becky Taylor - Director of Continuous Improvement
or
Cindy Odendaal - EA to Director of Continuous Improvement
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Masters level qualification in general or healthcare management, or relevant equivalent experience. Evidence of continuous professional development. Further specialist training relevant to the role, e.g. project management qualification such as MSP Practitioner
Experience Essential
Significant experience in managing large portfolios, programmes and projects within the NHS or a comparable large organisation, preferably in a service related environment. Demonstrable significant experience in providing a PMO support service within the NHS or a comparable large organisation, preferably in a service related environment. Experience and understanding of a project or programme management methodology including setting project objectives; determining project scope and deliverables; developing a robust project plan; risks and issues management and monitoring and reporting arrangements. Experience supporting teams through a process of change, sensitively managing complex issues and managing where performance has not been met, including where that is unwelcome news Proven collaborative relationship engagement skills with both internal and external stakeholders at a senior level, including managing relationships and encouraging collaborative working between cross-functional teams, and with third parties. Experience of analysing areas of highly complex and multifaceted activity in relation to current performance to drive opportunities for future efficiencies. Demonstrable specialist knowledge and practical application of programme development and delivery which has resulted in measurable benefit. Understand what comprises a robust, quality programme plan, be able to critically assess a complex plan and communicate constructive feedback.
Desirable
Ability to lead and manage project teams and hold to account (for the purposes of project delivery) staff across a number of clinical or corporate departments.
Skills Essential
Demonstrate effective analytical and problem solving skills. Ability to analyse complex facts and situations and develop a range of options, coupled with the ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands. Able to empathise and build rapport with clinicians, front-line staff, managers and others, to influence, motivate and engage them into adopting new ways of working. Strength of character to constructively challenge programme leads and executive SROs where areas are not delivering against project plans, key milestones and project deadlines. Able to receive, process, summarise, interpret and communicate highly complex, sensitive and contentious information where there are barriers to acceptance and resistance to change. Must be able to work under pressure; prioritise a number of tasks, taking into account internal and external deadlines, escalating issues in a timely manner. Effective and adaptable interpersonal and influencing strategies including the ability to persuade others with personal conviction and facts. Communicate effectively to a range of groups and individuals in both verbal and written form. Excellent facilitation and presentation skills, with ability to manage varying levels of understanding. Accurate and advanced IT/keyboard skills including producing high level reports and presentations, with significant VDU use Ability to work across our two Hospital sites: Kettering General Hospital and Northampton General Hospital. Proven ability to support the delivery of a programme of sustainable cost improvements.
Desirable
Knowledge and clear understanding of the background to, and aims of current healthcare policy in the NHS, with experience of interpreting and applying national guidance across the local health economy.
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.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Employer details Employer name Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Address Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals
Kettering and Northampton
NN16 8UZ
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.kgh.nhs.uk/working-for-us (Opens in a new tab)