Programme Managers

The South West Academic Health Science Network (South West AHSN) is one of 15 AHSNs across the country set up by NHS England to spread innovation at pace and scale across the country. We are uniquely placed to connect NHS and academic organisations, local authorities, the third sector and industry, using our position to drive the adoption and spread of innovative ideas and technologies across large populations. Our remit covers Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, taking in urban areas and tackling the challenges associated with pockets of deep, long-standing and increasing deprivation, an aging population, children living in poverty, and a dispersed and sometimes isolated population. A major focus for us over the next five years is improving health equity through innovation.

We are growing our Programmes function to deliver the aims and ambitions of our new five-year strategy. This is an exciting period of growth and to support this we are seeking to expand our Programmes business function with several new Programme Manager roles. As a Programme Manager, you will manage the development and delivery of one of our key programmes, using quality improvement methodology. Some examples of programmes you could lead include:

• Transforming pathways to reduce the incidence of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD).
• Reducing health inequalities by ensuring a consistent, national approach to lipid management.
• Trialling and testing interventions that could help improve services, processes and procedures in order to reduce adverse medicine administration events.
• Designing a programme to tackle mental health inequalities for children and young people through innovation.

Reporting to a Programme Director, your key responsibilities will include:

• Building strong external relationships with key stakeholders involved in our programmes.

• Developing our methodologies to spread innovative practice.

• Working with our communications and engagement function to engage partners in our programmes, communicate the impact of our work and raise our profile at a regional and national level.

• Working with our evaluation and learning function to define and measure the impact of our programmes.

• Working with our partnerships function to identify and develop new partnership opportunities to grow our work.

• Managing external contractors, associates and clinical advisors to deliver programme aims as required.

• Building strong relationships with other AHSNs and contribute to the success of the national AHSN Network.

You could come from a wide range of different backgrounds, and we would look to match your skills with the opportunities we have. Some examples of the type of experience we are looking for include:

• Pharma
• NHS
• Private sector
• Digital health
• Local authority
• Education

Our team is diverse and we celebrate those differences and the variety of skills all our team members bring. As part of a peer group of Programme Managers, you will manage a range of projects and lead small direct and matrix teams of other programme managers and project managers. You will be at the heart of our work to spread innovative practice, all with the aim of improving health equity across the South West region.

To succeed, you’ll need experience of leading improvement projects and programmes, ideally within a healthcare setting. You’ll have good knowledge of change methodologies such as Quality Improvement (QI) frameworks, Lean or Six Sigma, and project and programme management frameworks such as PRINCE2 or Agile. We are looking for people with a strong focus on impact who are passionate, determined and goal focused with commitment to delivering excellence. You’ll be a strategic thinker, able to effectively manage a complex range of competing priorities. You’ll also need to be a strong communicator with the ability to communicate convincingly to wide range of audiences.

In return, we offer a highly stimulating, challenging and rewarding environment with variety and professional development. If you are passionate about improving health services, there can be few opportunities that offer a platform for you to have such a tangible impact at a population level.

For a recruitment pack with further information about the role and how to apply, please contact James Stephens at Morgan Law by emailing exec@morgan-law.com or telephone 0207 747 4931. The Closing Date for applications will be 11pm on Thursday 23^rd December.

Location: Your official base will be our offices in Exeter and there will be some travel to partner sites within the South West. We would like you to spend one team day a week in our Exeter office but we can offer flexible and remote working outside that.

Hours: We have a number of roles and can consider applications from individuals seeking full-time or part-time working hours.

We are happy to consider candidates on secondment from their current employers.