Director of Strategy and Innovation

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (ESHT) provides NHS hospital and community services throughout East Sussex.  Serving a population of approximately 525,000, and employing over 6,000 dedicated staff, the Trust is one of the largest organisations in the county and is committed to providing the best quality care to the people we serve.

We have been on a journey of significant improvement and we are proud of the progress we have made.  During their last inspection in 2018, CQC recognised the dedication and commitment of our talented and professional workforce.  Rated Outstanding for Caring and Good for Well Led, staff were recognised for “going the extra mile” and treating patients with compassion, dignity and respect; and there was praise for the unanimous commitment to maintaining and improving the quality and safety of patient care.  Furthermore, our commitment to tackling financial challenges was demonstrated earlier this year as the Trust was removed from Financial Special Measures.  We have little doubt that our financial progress is a direct result of the improvements we have made to the efficiency and effectiveness of the care we provide and the work we do in all parts of the organisation.

Moving forward we know we have much still to do - our commitment to our patients and passion for improvement is unwavering.  We recognise that it is only by continuing to focus on improvement through innovation, transformation and collaboration that we will achieve our ambitious vision for the future of our Trust and our patients.  We are seeking a Director of Strategy and Innovation who will take on a significant leadership role within the organisation with a focus on strategy, business planning, digital thinking, improvement and innovation.  The appointed individual will not only lead the development of a shared vision and strategy for the organisation; but will also drive forward our external contributions by ensuring that ESHT contributes as an equal partner in the development of plans for the local health economy and the wider health and care partnership as we move towards truly integrated primary, secondary, community and specialist services and drive the transformations necessary to meet future health needs of our populations.

We are seeking an individual able to demonstrate experience of leading and managing complex change through to delivery, gained within organisations of comparable scale and complexity.  A skilled communicator, able to inspire innovation, creativity and continuous improvement in our people and across organisational boundaries, the successful candidate will be adept at setting and achieving ambitious targets and implementing innovative solutions designed to improve services against a context of tight financial constraints and intense regulatory and public scrutiny.