Programme Director (Central East Hospice Collaborative)

Hosted by Willen Hospice, Milton Keynes, this freelance opportunity working circa 22.5 hours per week offers a mix of flexible working and face-to-face requirements. Across Bedfordshire, Luton & Milton Keynes, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough and Hertfordshire, thousands of people are living with advanced illness — and the people who matter to them are living with it too. Nine hospices serve those communities. Together, as the Central East Hospice Collaborative, we believe we can do this better than we can apart.

This role has been created because better collaboration means better outcomes. It means fewer gaps in care, less unwarranted variation, more people reached, and hospice care recognised and funded as the essential part of the system it is. That’s what we’re working towards — and we need the right person to lead.

The Role

Two priorities sit at the heart of this role, both ultimately in service of one thing: the best possible outcomes for people with palliative and end-of-life care needs across our region.

• Strategic clarity: At the start of our collective relationship with our new ICB, a key part of your role will be assisting us align our individual hospice strategic approaches with the ICB strategy, demonstrating where we add value and could add more. This will need to be based on strategic analysis of data and outcomes.
• Operational effectiveness: You will identify where shared services, shared procurement or reduced duplication will make us more efficient — freeing up resource to go where it matters most: patient and family care.

Both strands require someone who keeps outcomes for people front and centre, and who is comfortable working with ICB commissioners, hospice leaders and colleagues and other key partners.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Mapping the current landscape — services, populations, funding, data and commissioning relationships — across all nine member hospices, with a clear eye on where we must improve provision for our communities.
• Developing and maintaining a clear, evidenced programme of work that advances our shared ambitions and can demonstrate impact for patients and families.
• Representing the Collaborative as a single, credible voice at ICB and wider system forums — making the case for hospice care as core provision.
• Identifying and progressing shared services and procurement opportunities to maximise the resource available for care.
• Building trusted relationships across the system, navigating differing priorities with diplomacy and pace.

What We’re Looking For

• Senior leadership experience in complex health and care systems, with strong knowledge of palliative and end-of-life care and the hospice sector.
• A genuine commitment to improving outcomes and equity of access for people with advanced illness and those important to them.
• The ability to build consensus across multiple organisations without formal authority.
• Strong analytical capability — designing meaningful data capture, interpreting insight, and presenting persuasive findings that make the case for change.
• Confidence influencing at system level, including on sensitive or contentious issues.

Why This Matters

This is a rare opportunity to shape how hospices work together — and how they are recognised and resourced within Integrated Care Systems — at a pivotal moment. The decisions made in the next 18 months will affect what care looks like for people across our region for years to come.

Location, Structure and Practicalities

The role is hosted by Willen Hospice (Milton Keynes), which acts as the contracting organisation — issuing the contract, providing an administrative home, and offering a base to work from. The Programme Director’s accountability for the work sits with Helen Glenister, Chair of the Collaborative, on behalf of all nine member hospices. Flexible working is available, including home working and the option to be based at member hospices. Some face-to-face working and regional travel will be required.

How to Apply

Please send a CV and a brief covering note demonstrating how you meet the brief to Closing date: 17 June 2026. For an informal conversation about the assignment, please contact Helen Glenister, Chair of the Collaborative. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a conversation with members of the Collaborative in the week commencing 13 July 2026.