Visa sponsorshipHome Office sponsor register · Skilled Worker route
This role is listed by an employer that holds a live Home Office sponsor licence on the Skilled Worker route.
Salary for this role£100,000 – £200,000 a year
Health and Care route minimum£25,000 a year
Pay basisNational pay scales (NHS bands)
NHS roles fall under the Health and Care Worker route. Salaries set by national pay scales (NHS bands) at or above the relevant band rate typically meet the occupation's requirement.
Closest occupation match: SOC 1111, Chief executives and senior officials. Home Office going rate for this occupation: £88,100 a year.
Individual eligibility depends on personal circumstances. These figures are public reference information, not advice or a verdict on this job.
Role description
Job summary
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals serves some of the most deprived communities in England while also welcoming 22 million visitors each year. This creates a demanding environment but also a unique opportunity to develop health and care services that better meet local needs.
We are currently ranked 134th out of 134 trusts in the National Oversight Framework and are seeking a Chief Operating Officer who is motivated to lead one of the NHS's most significant turnaround opportunities.
This role is broader than many COO posts. You will lead hospital and community services across three clinical divisions and act as executive lead for relationships with partners at Place and System level, including developing our Place Partnership to deliver better Neighbourhood Health. A significant proportion of your time will be spent working beyond the Trust.
Our turnaround is already underway. We are focusing on fewer priorities and using our improvement system to make good practice the standard every day. Our staff are committed to the communities they serve and want to be proud of their Trust again. They need clear direction, consistent standards and compassionate accountability to achieve that ambition.
We welcome applicants from acute, community, mental health or commissioning backgrounds, whether you are an experienced COO or an outstanding deputy ready to step into a first executive role.
Main duties of the job
As Chief Operating Officer you will be a voting member of the Board, reporting to the Chief Executive. You will:
lead delivery of hospital and community clinical services against national standards, owning the operational plan to recover urgent and emergency care, elective, cancer and diagnostic performance.
lead three Divisional Managing Directors, each the accountable officer for their division, and the wider divisional and directorate leadership teams.
be the executive lead for relationships with partners at Place and System level, including the Place Partnership and the Lancashire & South Cumbria Provider Collaborative,
lead the development of clinical service strategy with clinical leaders, and drive service developments and reconfigurations that improve Neighbourhood Health.
lead capacity planning, operational resilience and emergency planning.
take part in the Executive on-call rota.
In your first year you will lead admission and attendance avoidance at scale, restore theatre and outpatient productivity, and transform how and where outpatient care is delivered.
About us
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to around 330,000 people on the Fylde Coast and to the almost 31 million people who visit each year. We provide community health services across Blackpool, Fylde, Wyre and North Lancashire, specialist regional services in cardiac care and haematology, and host the National Artificial Eye Service. In 2025/26 we saw 79,692 A&E attendances, 110,811 day cases and inpatients and 374,781 outpatient attendances.
Our purpose is to improve the life chances and health outcomes of our population. We serve some of the most deprived communities in England, and we know our future lies in those communities as much as in our hospitals.
We are open about the scale of the challenge. We are in NHS England's Recovery Support Programme, we work largely from a single acute site, and we have a great deal to do. We also have strong foundations: a new operating model of three clinical divisions, a newly approved Trust strategy, stable leadership and a clear set of priorities, and staff who want to be proud of their hospital again. Our values are Caring, Safe and Respectful. We are committed to equality of opportunity, and we know diversity is under-represented on our own Board. We particularly welcome applications from women, people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, LGBTQ+ people and people from all protected groups.
Details
Date posted
29 October 2026
Pay scheme
Very senior manager (VSM)
Salary
£100,000 to £200,000 a year
per annum
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Full-time
Reference number
382-COR53-26
Job locations
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Whinney Heys Raod
Blackpool
FY3 8NR
United Kingdom
Job description
Job responsibilities
The Chief Operating Officer is the executive lead for operational performance and for the Trust's relationships with strategic partners at Place and System level. The full job description and person specification are attached to this advert, along with a candidate information pack.
Strategic and corporate
Contribute significantly to the Trust's purpose: to improve the life chances and health outcomes of its population.
Work with Blackpool health and care partners and the Lancashire & South Cumbria Provider Collaborative to deliver more integrated, sustainable, local services.
Develop and maintain relationships with partners at Place and System level to deliver the Trust's strategy for population health and acute services, including the development of the Place Partnership(s).
Maintain effective relationships with regulators, particularly NHS England and the Care Quality Commission.
Lead the clinical activity section of the annual operational plan, and contribute to the Trust Strategy through the annual Single Improvement Plan.
Lead delivery against national standards, taking remedial action where performance varies and advising the Board on performance, risks and actions.
Promote the Trust's values, equality, diversity and inclusion, including executive leadership of an inclusion network.
Professional leadership
Develop the divisional and directorate leadership teams, including succession planning, with the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nurse and Chief People Officer.
Review the performance of the divisional management teams and ensure continued improvement.
Ensure the financial management of operational services through service leads.
Clinical service delivery and performance
Be accountable for day-to-day operational delivery across all inpatient, outpatient and community settings.
Establish performance planning and management frameworks, and lead capacity planning across hospital and community services.
Pursue service development within the Clinical Service Strategy and Place Partnership Strategy, across the Trust and the Provider Collaborative.
Support the Chief Financial Officer on in-year contract management.
Emergency planning and resilience
Ensure a comprehensive, up-to-date emergency plan is in place, lead the Emergency Planning Group and advise the Board on resilience.
Person Specification
Education and qualifications
Essential
Master's degree (or equivalent) with relevant postgraduate qualifications
Recognised leadership development (e.g. MBA, Aspirant Directors Programme, Nye Bevan, Ready Now)
Evidence of continuing professional and leadership development
Programme management (e.g. Agile PM, PRINCE2)
Desirable
Quality and service improvement (e.g. LEAN, Six Sigma, QSIR)
Programme management (e.g. Agile PM, PRINCE2)
Skills and abilities
Essential
A visible, inclusive and credible leadership style
Ability to build, lead, develop and motivate effective teams
Strategic thinker and organiser with the ability to articulate a clear vision
Communicates clearly, using a range of techniques to win support for change
Highly developed diplomacy, negotiating and interpersonal skills
Strong analytical and critical reasoning skills
Ability to identify key priorities and achieve effective, timely solutions
Proven influencing and negotiation skills, particularly across organisational boundaries
Strong commitment to addressing health and social inequality, and to equality, diversity and inclusion in services and employment
Desirable
Ability to lead transformation programmes using proven quality and service improvement methods
Experience and knowledge
Essential
Senior strategic and operational management at or near Board level in a large, complex healthcare organisation
Development and delivery of corporate and operational strategies that balance competing priorities
Effective partnership working with commissioners, patients and other health and social care providers
Successful delivery against performance and financial targets
Sound decision-making in complex, sensitive and political environments
Expert knowledge of NHS constitutional standards and national planning priorities
Detailed understanding of financial management, strategic and operational planning and workforce management
Good understanding of, and strong commitment to, inclusion and diversity
Desirable
Development and delivery of clinical service strategies, optimising the role of clinical teams and leaders
Supporting system-wide or place-based transformation programmes
Detailed knowledge of performance management methodology
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.
Interested? Apply while it's open.Closes 10 November · Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has 23 other sponsored roles if this one goes.