Perioperative Improvement Manager

Working for Our Organisation

Bristol NHS Foundation Trust brings together more than 28,000 staff to deliver over 160 clinical services across thirteen hospital locations, operating from three main sites at Southmead, Bristol city centre and Weston.

With an annual turnover of £2.3 billion, we are now one of the largest NHS trusts in the United Kingdom. Our hospitals are spread across Bristol and Weston, join us and you can enjoy the very best of both worlds; city living within a stone’s throw of the countryside or beside the seaside, both with easy access to all that the South West has to offer. Bristol NHS Foundation Trust values all people as individuals.

As an equal opportunities employer actively working towards a diverse workforce we aim to recruit and retain a workforce which represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels and are committed to designing our services around the needs of individual patients and those around them. Anonymous information will be used from your application in order to ensure we’re meeting our pledge.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

The Perioperative Improvement Manager will be responsible for leading a defined portfolio of improvement activity across Theatres, Anaesthetics and Pre-operative Assessment, working within agreed service priorities and reporting to the General Manager.

The Postholder Will:

• Lead improvement programmes from identification of the problem through to implementation, evaluation, benefits realisation and transition into business as usual.
• Lead the Theatre Efficiency Group (TEG) improvement programme, chair Specialty TEG meetings and ensure robust action, escalation and follow-through.
• Own the governance and performance cycle for the Productivity TEG, bringing together data, actions and improvement priorities to support effective decision-making.
• Lead improvement within Pre-operative Assessment, including demand and capacity, patient readiness for surgery, pathway efficiency and reduction of avoidable delays and cancellations.
• Analyse complex operational, activity, workforce and productivity information to identify variation, root causes and opportunities for improvement.
• Translate complex data into clear and compelling information which enables clinical and operational teams to understand performance and take action.
• Work collaboratively with surgeons, anaesthetists, theatre teams, specialty managers and other stakeholders to improve theatre utilisation, list performance, scheduling, turnaround and cancellation performance.
• Identify and support delivery of productivity, efficiency and financial improvement opportunities across the perioperative pathway.
• Use appropriate improvement techniques and approaches including GIRFT, process mapping, root-cause analysis, PDSA and Lean approaches to design, test and embed sustainable change.
• Establish strong and credible working relationships across professional and organisational boundaries, using influence and constructive challenge to deliver improvement where there is no direct managerial authority.
• Support the development of continuous improvement capability within clinical and operational teams, helping teams to understand and own their performance.
• Line manage a small administrative resource supporting improvement and governance activity.
• Deputise for the General Manager for agreed meetings and operational matters within delegated authority.

The role requires a high degree of analytical ability, organisational skill and professional credibility. The successful candidate will need to be comfortable working in a complex and fast-moving surgical environment, balancing planned improvement work with emerging operational priorities.

Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification for the full responsibilities and requirements of the role.

Person Specification

Education/Training/Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience
• Evidence of continuing professional development relevant to healthcare leadership, management, improvement or analytics (A)

Desirable criteria

• Formal qualification in improvement methodology, project/change management or leadership/management (e.g. Lean Six Sigma), or equivalent structured training (A)

Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant experience working within an NHS surgical specialty or perioperative service, with a strong understanding of the operational realities of elective care
• Demonstrable experience of leading or delivering service improvement/change which produced measurable benefits for patients, staff, productivity, quality or use of resources
• Experience of working effectively with consultants, surgeons & anaesthetists, senior nurses/AHPs and operational managers across multidisciplinary and organisational boundaries
• Experience of using performance data to identify problems, develop recommendations, present findings and track delivery of agreed actions
• Experience of chairing meetings, coordinating governance/action cycles and holding stakeholders to agreed actions
• Experience of line management, supervision or formal responsibility for the performance and development of staff

Desirable criteria

• Direct experience within theatres, anaesthetics or pre-operative assessment, and/or experience of theatre productivity programmes

Work Experience

Essential criteria

• Strong understanding of acute NHS surgical services and the perioperative pathway, including theatres, anaesthetics and pre-operative assessment interfaces (A/I)
• Advanced analytical and numeracy skills, with the ability to interrogate complex datasets and convert them into clear, compelling insight and presentations that influence action (A/I)
• Knowledge of service improvement, change and project management approaches and ability to apply structured methods to real operational problems (A/I)
• Ability to plan and prioritise multiple workstreams, work autonomously and use sound judgement in a fast-moving operational environment

Desirable criteria

• Direct experience within theatres (or a surgical specialty), anaesthetics or pre-operative assessment, and/or experience of theatre productivity programmes (A/I)

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Credible and relationship-focused; able to establish trust quickly with clinical and operational colleagues while remaining confident in constructive challenge (I)
• Driven, resilient and tenacious, with a strong personal commitment to delivery, follow-through and continuous improvement (I)
• Curious, analytical and pragmatic; able to move from data and diagnosis to practical action without losing sight of patient care, staff experience or operational realities (I)

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Values and respects others, treats everyone as an individual, is non-judgmental
• Cooperative and values working in a team
• Pro-active and takes responsibility
• Willingness to learn
• A passion for improving healthcare services for patients and their families and improving our colleagues’ experience of coming to work