Chief Operating Officer

VSM

Main area

Operations

Grade

VSM

Contract

Permanent

Hours

Full time - 37.5 hours per week

Job ref

396-8218065-VSM-OA

Site

Kingston Hospital

Town

Kingston upon Thames

Closing

31/08/2026 23:59

Home, community, hospital

Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust offers a range of fantastic opportunities to grow your career across both hospital and community settings in south London. Whether you're looking to build new skills or take your experience to the next level, we are uniquely placed to provide the right environment to support your professional development. With colleagues working in people’s homes, in community clinics, and in our two hospitals, we have an outstanding breadth of knowledge and experience to draw from.

Our commitment to exceptional care is reflected in being the first trust of our kind in London to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ rating from the CQC for both overall quality and leadership. We exist to provide the best possible care for our patients and we do that by giving our colleagues what they need to be their best at work. We have won numerous awards from the HSJ and Nursing Times for the way we support our colleagues across all our services.

We are proud to be recognised for our outstanding cancer care, children's services, pioneering surgical teams, and exceptional rehabilitation services. Our maternity services have been rated the "Best in London" by women surveyed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), with parents travelling to Kingston to take advantage of our considerable experience and expertise.

Our Trust values

These words are important reminders, but it’s our behaviours that tell people who we are. We expect all colleagues to bring our values to life in their work.

• Compassionate: We provide care with kindness, understanding, and empathy for all.
• Inclusive: We embrace diversity and respect the unique contributions of every individual.
• Collaborative: We foster teamwork across all levels, working together and with our partners to deliver the best outcomes.
• Inspiring: We are committed to continuous improvement and excellence in patient care, staff development, and innovation.

Job overview

There is a lot happening across Kingston and Richmond: greater integration, more care closer to home and a growing focus on how hospital and community services work together.

As our Chief Operating Officer (COO), you will lead the operational delivery of clinical services across our acute and community settings. In line with our strategy and the ambitions of the NHS 10 Year Plan, we want to strengthen the connections between hospital, community and wider health and care services, delivering more care closer to home, improving population health outcomes, tackle health inequalities and make the best use of the resources available to us.

In addition, as a member of the Executive team and our unitary Board, you’ll play a central role in delivering the Trust’s strategy, maintaining high standards of performance and improving the way care is delivered across Kingston and Richmond, giving us a real opportunity to improve how care is joined up around local people.

Our next COO will help drive this work forward, bringing together operational delivery, service improvement and partnership working across the wider system.

We are looking for a compassionate, inclusive and credible senior leader with significant Director-level experience, preferably within health or social care, and a strong track record of improving and sustaining improved operational performance, and leading complex organisational change.

Main duties of the job

As COO, you will lead the operational delivery of services across our acute and community settings, ensuring high quality, safe and effective care for the populations we serve. You will be responsible for driving operational excellence, improving patient flow and access, delivering performance standards, and ensuring our services are responsive, resilient and sustainable.

Working closely with clinical, operational and corporate leaders, you will play a key role in shaping and delivering our strategic objectives, embedding a culture of continuous improvement and innovation across the organisation. The successful candidate will be an inspiring and visible leader, capable of building strong relationships with staff, partners and stakeholders across the health and care system.

Working for our organisation

At Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust, you will join a collaborative leadership team at an important point in our development.

We value compassion, development and learning, with a Board committed to supporting both organisational and personal growth.

We are seeking an inclusive and ambitious leader with a track record of delivering transformational change in complex healthcare environments. You will bring significant operational leadership experience, strong commercial and financial acumen, and the ability to work collaboratively across organisational boundaries to develop new models of care and improve outcomes for local people.

Diversity, equality and inclusion are important to us, and we particularly welcome applications from individuals across the full spectrum of diversity.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please download the Recruitment Pack for further information about the role and our organisation.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Professional / academic qualification at Masters level or equivalent

Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant experience as a Director, preferably gained within a health or social care setting, with the ability to develop strategic vision and direction
• Evidence of excellent management and leadership, with ability to think and work strategically across a range of activities
• Evidence of successful joint working with partnership organisations and stakeholders
• Successful track record in leading and delivering complex organisational change
• Experience of dealing with a range of complex issues within a political or demanding stakeholder environment
• A track record of encouraging innovation and an entrepreneurial approach to service delivery

Your application: Please ensure your supporting statement aligns with the job description and person specification, as your application will be assessed against these criteria.

Artificial Intelligence: We kindly ask that you refrain from using AI tools to draft your application, as we value authentic, individual responses that reflect your own communication style.

References: Please provide 3 years of employment/educational history with professional email addresses (not personal ones like Hotmail or Gmail). If you cannot supply these, inform the interviewers to avoid delays in pre-employment checks.

Closing date: To keep our recruitment process efficient, some vacancies may be capped and closed early once we receive a sufficient number of applications.

Shortlisting: You will only be contacted by email or SMS from the SWL Recruitment Hub if you are successfully shortlisted. Please check your registered Trac email regularly.

DBS: We are committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults at risk of harm. For roles involving direct access to these groups, an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be required. All employees, however, hold a responsibility to safeguard children and vulnerable adults as part of their duties and to understand the specific safeguarding responsibilities associated with their role.

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Disability Advice Line: SWL Recruitment Hub is committed to promoting equity and equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities. We believe that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even more positive impact on the people we serve. For support with job opportunities and reasonable adjustments contact our Confidential Disability Advice Line at:

Telephone: 02082963786

Text: 07501066267

Email: [email protected].

Our confidential answering service is available after 5pm.

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Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Further details / informal visits contact

Name

Claire Santelli

Job title

Business Manager to Jo Farrar (Chief Executive)

Email address

[email protected]

Telephone number

020 8934 2814