Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Chief Operating Officer
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Chief Operating Officer
As Chief Operating Officer, you will lead the delivery of operational services across Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, ensuring patients receive timely, safe and effective care while maintaining a relentless focus on performance, productivity and service excellence. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive, you will be responsible for the day to day operational management of the Trust, driving delivery of national standards, improving patient flow and ensuring services remain efficient, sustainable and responsive to demand. This is an outstanding opportunity for an accomplished operational leader to influence the future direction of one of the region's largest healthcare organisations. You will lead ambitious programmes of transformation and service improvement, build a high performing culture founded on accountability and continuous improvement, and work in partnership with clinical, corporate and system colleagues to develop innovative models of care that improve outcomes and experience for the communities we serve.
Download the Recruitment Pack for further information.
The standard Trac process does not apply. Please send your CV and covering letter to: Iwona.Patterson@bedsft.nhs.uk. When submitting your application, please ensure that you include details of your current salary and notice period.
You will be contacted regarding next steps.
The interview process will take place week commencing 21st September 2026.
Key Functions And Responsibilities
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The Chief Operating Officer will provide executive leadership for operational performance across the Trust, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and patient-focused services while maintaining a strong focus on quality, productivity and financial sustainability. As a member of the Executive Team, you will contribute fully to the strategic leadership of the organisation, supporting the delivery of the Trust's objectives and providing leadership across a broad range of operational, transformational and corporate priorities.
A key responsibility is ensuring operational services achieve national and local performance standards, while developing a culture of accountability, continuous improvement and high performance. You will lead the development and delivery of operational plans, oversee patient flow and service delivery, support the achievement of financial and productivity targets, and ensure effective business intelligence and performance management systems are in place to support decision-making and operational excellence. You will lead major service transformation programmes, supporting the redesign of services and pathways to improve access, efficiency and patient experience.
About Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
With over 9,000 passionate and dedicated staff, Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides a full array of acute and some community services to the local communities of Bedfordshire. Serving a diverse population of over 620,000 people, we are proud to be rated “Good” by the CQC, having successfully merged Bedford and Luton & Dunstable hospitals to create our Trust six years ago.
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We have undertaken significant investment into our infrastructure and people in recent years, including the £168 million Acute Services Block build that opened in July 2026, and have created a shared set of values for our organisation, THRIVE, to unify the organisation and give a clear mission and pledge to those we serve. We have an annual turnover of £800 million, and as an anchor organisation and a very important employer within Bedfordshire, we are committed to combatting health inequalities and deprivation to support local education training and job opportunities.
We are a key partner within the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes which forms part of Central East ICB and we work closely with a range of health and social care partners to improve and better deliver outstanding care and reduce ill health through preventive measures. The health and wellbeing of our staff remains a fundamental priority within our strategic developments, and we recognise their commitment, passion and dedication to our patients and local population.
Contact Information
For further details / informal visits contact:
- Name: Iwona Patterson
- Job title: Head of Recruitment & Temporary Staffing
- Email address: Iwona.Patterson@bedsft.nhs.uk
- Telephone number: 07483428535
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