Associate Director of Improvement

Working as a partnership, both Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this. 

The single corporate service is delivered across both organisation.  You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.

This vacancy is open exclusively to internal applicants currently employed by Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

NHS Band 8D Salary:  £94,356 - £108,814 per annum

Hours:  Full time 37.5 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Location Base: Queen Alexandra Hospital, Southwick Hill Road, Cosham, Portsmouth, PO6 3LY or St Mary's Hospital,  Parkhurst Road, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5TG

The Associate Director of Improvement is a senior leadership role within the Group Corporate Services Division, supporting delivery of high‑quality, safe and sustainable care across Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

The post holder will work closely with the Director of Improvement to design, embed and sustain the Group’s quality management system, Delivering Excellence, ensuring improvement is how the Group operates every day. The role provides expert leadership, coaching and coordination to align strategy, delivery and improvement at executive, divisional, care group and frontline level.

Specific Core Functions

• Deployment and sustainability of Delivering Excellence
• Improvement leadership, coaching and facilitation
• Improvement capability and capacity building
• Coordination of Group improvement priorities
• Programme oversight, assurance and benefits realisation

For full job details, please refer to enclosed job description.

Essential

• Degree or equivalent experience.
• Formal training in improvement science.
• Evidence of continual professional development.

Desirable

• Postgraduate qualification in leadership.
• Coaching qualification.

Experience

Essential

• Senior leadership experience in a complex healthcare or public sector environment.
• Leading large‑scale improvement programmes.
• Coaching senior leaders and multidisciplinary teams.
• Building organisational improvement capability.

Desirable

• Experience working across multiple organisations.
• System / ICS‑level improvement experience.
• Building organisational improvement capability.

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Expert knowledge of improvement science and quality management systems.
• Understanding of NHS operational delivery and performance.
• Understanding of values‑led leadership and culture change.

Desirable

• Knowledge of NHS performance and governance frameworks.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs. 

For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026