Associate Director of Patient Experience and Voice, Band 8c

Go back Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Associate Director of Patient Experience and Voice, Band 8c

The closing date is 13 October 2026

Reporting to the Director of Quality Governance, the Associate Director of Patient Experience and Voice will ensure that the voices and lived experiences of patients, carers and communities shape Trust strategy, decisions, services and improvement. The post holder will provide corporate leadership and accountability for complaints, PALS, patient surveys and insight, involvement and co-design, carers, Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care, equity and inclusion, accessible information, translation and interpreting, volunteers, ward clerk services, the Arts Programme and patient-experience improvement.

The post holder will lead delivery of the Patient Experience and Voice strategic aim within the Trust's five-year strategy and the experience and voice commitments of the national Quality Strategy for NHS-funded care in England. They will translate national and Trust strategy into measurable priorities, policy, standards and improvement programmes, creating systematic and inclusive routes for people to influence how care is planned, delivered and evaluated and ensuring that the Trust visibly responds to what it hears.

The post holder will operate with substantial autonomy within broad professional, organisational and national policies and delegated authority, interpreting these requirements and determining how agreed objectives are achieved.

Main duties of the job

- Provide strategic and corporate leadership for the Trust-wide Patient Experience and Voice portfolio, translating national and Trust priorities into clear policies, standards, improvement programmes and measurable outcomes.

- Ensure patient, carer and community voices influence strategy, governance, service design and evaluation through inclusive engagement, co-design, accessible routes for participation.

- Lead systems for capturing, analysing, acting on complaints, PALS contacts, surveys, patient stories, equality insight and community feedback to identify inequalities, risks and improvement priorities.

- Provide senior oversight of complex complaints and poor experiences, ensuring effective advocacy, restorative approaches, learning, corrective action and escalation of significant or unresolved risks.

- Hold corporate oversight of patient experience services, including complaints, PALS, surveys, involvement and co-design, carers, Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care, equality and inclusion, accessible information, translation and interpreting, volunteers, ward clerks and Arts Programme.

- Provide Executive and Board assurance, chair the Patient Experience and Voice Improvement Group and integrate patient experience with patient safety, clinical effectiveness and regulatory assurance.

- Lead and develop specialist and operational teams, setting workforce priorities and ensuring effective performance, capability, wellbeing, succession.

About us

Working for Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust means joining one of the largest NHS hospital trusts in England and becoming part of a diverse, skilled and supportive workforce committed to delivering Best Care for Everyone.

We put people at the heart of everything we do, value every contribution and foster an inclusive culture where colleagues are respected, supported and encouraged to learn, develop and improve. In return, you will have opportunities to build a rewarding career, make a meaningful difference to patients, families and local communities, and benefit from flexible working opportunities, generous annual leave, the NHS Pension Scheme, health and wellbeing support, staff discounts and recognition initiatives.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

• Master's degree or equivalent level of specialist knowledge and experience relevant to patient experience, engagement, quality, governance, leadership or service improvement
• Registered nurse or other registered professional; alternatively, demonstrable equivalent senior professional knowledge and experience relevant to patient experience, quality governance, complaints, engagement or service improvement.

Qualifications and Training

• Evidence of substantial continuing professional development at senior leadership level
• Formal qualification or demonstrable equivalent in improvement science, quality improvement or change leadership, with evidence of applying systematic improvement methods at organisational level.

Experience, Knowledge and Skills

• Substantial recent senior leadership experience within the NHS, with a strong understanding of NHS provider structures, governance, policy, regulation, commissioning and system working.
• Evidence of operating at significant corporate or Trust-wide level, leading a complex portfolio or major programme and influencing Executive-level decision-making, with delegated responsibility for strategy, assurance, improvement, people or resources.
• Highly developed knowledge of patient experience and voice, complaints, co-design, accessibility, equality, health inequalities, relevant legislation, regulation and NHS quality governance.
• Experience of setting organisation-wide strategy, policy and standards and leading complex improvement or transformation programmes with measurable and sustained outcomes.
• Advanced analytical and judgement skills, including interpretation of highly complex, sensitive or conflicting evidence and defensible decision-making where there may be no precedent.
• Highly developed leadership, communication, influencing, negotiation and conflict-resolution skills, with credibility to advise Executive Directors, Boards, regulators and system partners.
• Experience of leading Executive and Board assurance, chairing senior governance forums and integrating data, lived experience, risk and improvement evidence to support challenge, decisions, corrective action and external scrutiny.
• Experience of leading multiple specialist or operational services, including workforce performance, delegated budgets, business cases, procurement, contracts and benefits realisation.
• Experience of leading patient-experience intelligence and converting complaints, PALS, surveys, involvement and equality insight into prioritised improvement, measurable aims and evaluation of impact.
• Experience of setting strategic patient-experience information and reporting requirements and working with digital, information, technical and governance leads to secure accurate, accessible and timely insight.
• Experience of senior oversight of complex complaints and direct work with dissatisfied patients, carers, families, communities or people affected by harm, including advocacy, co-design or restorative approaches.
• Ability to work autonomously within broad policies and delegated authority, set priorities, require evidence and proportionate action, escalat risk and seek Director guidance appropriately.

Personal Attributes

• Visible, compassionate and inclusive leader who demonstrates integrity, professional credibility and commitment to patient, carer and community voice
• Politically astute and able to build trusted relationships, constructively challenge and influence people at all levels
• Committed to equality, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, co-design, continuous learning and improvement

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.

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

£79,504 to £91,609 a year(pa pro rata if part-time)

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