Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Chief Operating Officer
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Role Summary
We are looking for an exceptional, values-driven Chief Operating Officer (COO) to join our Executive Team, where you will sit at the heart of delivering excellent care today while redesigning how our services work for the future.
The challenge is substantial—and so is the opportunity to make a lasting difference. We face significant operational and financial constraints shared across the NHS, alongside the realities of delivering safe, responsive care across acute, community and specialist services over a wide geography. We are not looking for someone simply to manage those pressures. We need a leader who will bring grip, pace and clarity; make difficult choices; unlock the capability of our people; and turn ambition into measurable improvements for patients.
We are responding with ambition and pace for our patients and staff — strengthening how we work, making the changes we need to make, and embracing the NHS 10-year plan to deliver sustainable, high‑quality, patient‑focused care for our communities.
This is a compelling opportunity for an experienced COO or Deputy COO with the ambition, resilience and expertise to lead at scale, the courage to challenge established ways of working and the credibility to unite clinical, operational and corporate teams behind a clear plan. You will work across organisational boundaries, build strong system partnerships and create the conditions for sustained improvement—not short-term fixes. In return, the Royal Devon offers a highly rewarding executive role alongside an exceptional quality of life in one of the UK’s most desirable locations.
More detail about the role
As a Board-level Executive Director, you will work alongside our highly experienced Chief Executive, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer as part of the Trust’s senior clinical and operational triumvirate. Your influence will reach every part of the Royal Devon: setting expectations, aligning priorities and translating strategy into disciplined delivery at ward, service, site and system level.
You will lead a demanding operational portfolio with patient outcomes at its centre and delivering performance against NHS constitutional standards, regulatory requirements and local priorities. This includes improving access and flow, accelerating elective recovery, strengthening urgent and emergency care, increasing productivity and ensuring resilience through periods of pressure and escalation. Success will mean more patients receiving the right care, in the right place, at the right time—and staff being better supported to deliver it.
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Your defining task will be to build and embed a single, high-performing operating model across the Royal Devon. In partnership with Care Group triumvirates, you will strengthen accountability, governance and execution while devolving meaningful ownership to clinical and operational leaders. You will use continuous improvement approaches, including GIRFT and our 3Rs methodology—to remove unwarranted variation, redesign pathways and deliver demonstrable gains in quality, productivity and patient experience.
As the Trust’s Accountable Officer for Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR), you will lead the Trust’s response to major incidents and escalation, providing calm and decisive leadership in complex and high‑risk environments. You will also participate fully in the Executive Director on‑call rota.
This role offers a rare opportunity to shape a unified operating model across a large and complex Trust, influence system‑wide transformation, and lead with visibility, integrity and compassion in line with our values.
Why join the Royal Devon at a pivotal point in our journey?
You will join at a point when the need—and the mandate—for change are clear. Major national investment gives us tangible opportunities to modernise care, expand capacity and redesign pathways, including:
- A new Surgical Hub at Heavitree, opening in early 2027
- Expansion of the Devon Nightingale Community Diagnostic Centre
- A new Community Diagnostic Centre at Bideford, opening in summer 2027
- New staff accommodation at North Devon District Hospital as part of the Future Hospital Programme, completing in autumn 2027
- An NIHR-funded Clinical Research Centre at North Devon District Hospital, opening in 2027 to expand research capacity and improve patient outcomes
We also have a track record of turning innovation into frontline change. Our digital foundations and appetite to do things differently give the next COO a powerful platform from which to transform services:
- The first Trust nationally to deploy Epic in the community
- Supporting system partners to roll out Epic, making Devon the first county in the UK to have a single shared electronic patient record
- Piloting Ambient Voice Technology to improve efficiency and release clinical time
- Leading nationally in Acute Hospital at Home, with our Virtual Wards service collecting more remote data than any other Epic‑enabled hospital in Europe.
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We are a research‑active organisation, hosting, in partnership with the University of Exeter three NIHR research centres, alongside our own commercial research centre, to improve patient outcomes at the Royal Devon, in the UK and globally.
About you
To succeed in this role, you will already have experience as a substantive COO or Deputy COO from a large, multi‑site acute NHS trust, with experience of leading change in a turnaround or recovery context.
You will be able to show that you have moved beyond plans and programmes to deliver sustained, measurable improvements in performance, productivity, quality and patient experience. You will combine strategic range with operational grip.
You will be visible and decisive under pressure, curious enough to challenge convention and inclusive enough to bring people with you. You will build trust with clinicians, staff, partners and regulators; create clarity where there is complexity; and hold yourself and others to account with fairness, integrity and compassion.
Build your career, and your life, in Devon
Located in the South West of England, the Royal Devon sits between the landscapes of Exmoor and Dartmoor, with some of the UK’s most stunning coastlines on our doorstep. With excellent schools, low crime, vibrant communities and a Russell Group university in Exeter, Devon offers an outstanding quality of life.
https://rdehospital.pagetiger.com/new-recruitment-pack-coo/tbc https://rdehospital.pagetiger.com/new-recruitment-pack-coo/October26
If you are looking for a comfortable role, this may not be it. If you want to take on big challenges, lead significant change and transform services for patients—while working within the realities of today’s NHS—we would like to hear from you.
Working Pattern: 37.5 hours, Monday - Friday
Interview Date: Week commencing 14 December
For further information please contact: Emily Simpson, Executive and Specialist Recruitment Lead on 07958931414 emily.simpson21@nhs.net
As an inclusive employer, the Royal Devon values diversity and is committed to creating a culture of inclusivity where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential. We believe in fostering a sense of belonging and actively encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, cultures, and abilities. We recognise the advantages of having a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve.
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