Divisional Director, Operations & Performance, Live Well & Urgent Care in Wigan

Divisional Director, Operations & Performance, Live Well & Urgent Care

NHS AfC: Band 9

Main area Senior Leadership Grade NHS AfC: Band 9 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Participate in executive on call rota) Job ref 302-26-8222701L-FLOW

Site Royal Albert Edward Infirmary Town Wigan Salary £112,782 - £129,783 per annum plus EXOC allowance Salary period Yearly Closing 09/09/2026 23:59 Interview date 14/09/2026

People at the Heart. One Team. Your Career at WWL.

Job overview

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) is seeking an exceptional Divisional Director of Operations to lead our Live Well & Urgent Care Division.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced operational leader to work alongside senior clinical and nursing colleagues to deliver high-quality patient care, drive transformation, and improve operational, workforce, quality and financial performance.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, you will work closely with the Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Divisional Medical Director and Divisional Director of Nursing to deliver Trust objectives and national priorities. You will provide visible leadership, support service improvement, and maintain a strong focus on patient experience, quality and staff wellbeing.

We are looking for a credible leader with significant senior operational management experience, a proven track record of delivering performance improvements, strong financial and workforce management skills, and excellent stakeholder engagement abilities.

At WWL, our values of Compassion, Respect, Accountability and Excellence underpin everything we do.

Please note:

Interviews will take place in person at Trust HQ, WWL, on 14 September 2026. Due to panel availability, no alternative interview dates can be offered, and shortlisted candidates must be available to attend on this date.

Main duties of the job

The Divisional Director of Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for the Division. They are responsible for ensuring delivery of divisional performance standards, workforce and financial objectives, while supporting service transformation and the delivery of high-quality patient care. The Divisional Director works in partnership withtheDivisionalMedicalDirectorandDivisionalDirectorofNursingand is accountable to the Deputy Chief Operating Officer.

Working for our organisation

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that ‘happy staff, makes for happy patients’. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement, and living our values ‘the WWL Way’.

WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. With this in mind we are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

At WWL we value the benefits a rich and diverse workforce brings to our community and therefore welcome applications from all sections of society.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Divisional Leadership & Operational Management

· Provide visible leadership for all services within the Division, ensuring operational effectiveness and safe delivery of care.

· Work in partnership with medical and nursing leads to drive a culture of accountability, improvement, and collaboration.

· Ensure divisional teams are supported and empowered to achieve high standards of performance and patient care.

Performance

· Ensure divisional delivery of national and local standards including ED, RTT, diagnostics, and cancer performance targets as applicable to the Division.

· Lead divisional improvement programmes to address underperformance and ensure sustainable compliance with standards.

· Oversee divisional capacity planning and service demand management to maintain safe, effective, and timely access to care.

Governance and Risk

· Ensure divisional compliance with governance, risk management, and quality frameworks.

· Maintain divisional risk registers, ensuring risks are assessed, mitigated, and escalated as appropriate.

· Promote a culture of learning, safety, and continuous improvement across the Division.

Finance and Resources

· Ensure that divisional workforce is continually developed and competent to undertake required roles.

· Provide line management to the Directorate Management Team and ensure effective management of services.

· Develop integrated workforce plans (medical and non-medical) aligned with the Service and Financial Frameworks, addressing recruitment, retention, and supply challenges.

· Ensure all areas are safe and appropriately staffed, liaising with senior colleagues for professional leadership support where required.

· Oversee organisational change and working practice changes in partnership with HR, ensuring compliance with the Trust’s Job Security and Change Policy.

· Ensure full compliance with appraisal, mandatory training, and other HR performance indicators, incorporating these within divisional objectives. Agree consultant job plans and appraisals with the DMD, Clinical Directors and Directorate Managers, ensuring engagement of doctors and clinical professionals in planning and managing services.

· Ensure all staff in the Division have an up-to-date Personal Development Review and Plan reflecting both core training and CPD requirements.

· Manage HR policies within the Division, including disciplinary, capability, and grievance, ensuring issues are managed fairly and consistently.

· Ensure robust systems are in place to identify and address poor performance and conduct, and ensure grievances and whistleblowing are handled in line with Trust policy.

· Promote flexible working practices that comply with the Working Time Directive and balance individual staff preferences with service needs.

· Ensure effective use of financial resources, budget management, delivery of cost improvement programmes, and sustainability of divisional services.

Communications and Relationships

· Develop and maintain strong working relationships with divisional leaders, corporate colleagues, clinicians, and external partners.

· Represent the Division at Trust-wide forums and in external meetings with commissioners and partner organisations.

· Promote effective communication across divisional teams to ensure staff are engaged and informed about key priorities.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Degree of equivalent professional Qualification
• PRINCE 2 qualification or equivalent
• Evidence of recent and relevant professional CPD
• Evidence of further study in areas such as leadership, project management or related areas

Experience

• Significant, demonstrable experience of senior operational management including responsibility for service development
• Experience of developing joint and collaborative working with local partners including other NHS Trusts, voluntary organisations and the Local Authority
• Senior level involvement in major projects and experience of professional leadership of services
• Experience of working with multi-disciplinary teams and achieving key service improvement outcomes in a challenging environment
• Experience of staff development and performance management of multiple service areas with delivery of associated outcome improvements
• Experience of successfully producing business cases
• Experience of budgetary managment
• Experience of managing change within a health care environment
• Experience of Elective Care

Skills

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to lead discussion and negotiation with staff at all levels and across multiple disciplines and organisations
• Ability to interpret and communicate highly sensitive and complex issues from multiple sources both orally and in writing with authority and credibility to key stakeholders
• Ability to prioritise and meet pressing deadlines
• Ability to make difficult decisions and communicate these decisions to key stakeholders in a manner that ensures maximum ‘buy in’ to support key objective delivery
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to consider the wider picture
• Data manipulation and data analysis skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to motivate, influence and persuade staff and clinicians, including those for whom the post holder does not have direct line management responsibility
• Political awareness and an understanding of local and national agendas.
• Ability to hold professionals & peers to account
• Ability to present highly complex, emotive information clearly and openly with staff
• Ability to persuade Board and senior managers of the respective merits of different options, innovations and new opportunities

Knowledge

• Excellent insight and working knowledge of current health policy
• Extensive knowledge of specialist directorate areas acquired via formal training and professional experience
• Good IT skills with evidence of the ability to access and use complex health related data
• Proficient skills in the use of MS Office – Excel, Access, Word & PowerPoint
• Knowledge of data security and confidentiality issues

Additional

• Communicate with confidence and accuracy
• Ability to make calm, rational decisions in the face of adversity
• Ability to facilitate cross site working
• Ability to work flexibly
• Ability to effectively prioritise, delegate and elevate with clear rationale and purpose

We endeavour to inform all applicants of the outcome of their application by email or SMS text message.

Guidance on Completing Your Application

Applications are assessed against the person specification. We strongly encourage you to use the supporting information section to demonstrate how you meet the essential and desirable criteria, providing clear examples where possible.

On-Call

Please note that some roles may require participation in an on-call rota, particularly those that are operational in nature.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.