Overview
At Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, our vision is Outstanding Care for One+All. We’re building a learning organisation where improvement is part of everyday work—so colleagues feel empowered to make changes that matter, and patients experience safer, higher-quality care closer to home.
This is a high-profile leadership role for an experienced improvement practitioner who can inspire, coach and challenge. You’ll lead the development and delivery of our Trust-wide Quality Improvement (QI) culture programme, supporting teams across the organisation to build capability, remove barriers and deliver measurable change.
Responsibilities
* Lead a team of Improvement Practitioners to deliver tailored training, coaching and support across clinical and corporate services.
* Co-create a shared purpose and vision for improvement with Trust Board, senior leaders and front-line teams—so everyone feels able to improve where they work.
* Develop and deliver the Trust’s Improvement Strategy, embedding improvement into how services are managed and delivered now and in the future.
* Build a robust improvement governance and reporting approach, providing clear insight and assurance through high-quality reporting (including to Trust Board).
* Strengthen collaboration across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (CIOS) and the wider peninsula—developing shared approaches and networks for improvement.
Qualifications
* You’ll bring deep expertise in improvement science and a track record of leading culture change in large, complex organisations. You’ll be comfortable working with senior leaders and engaging large groups of clinical staff—turning ambition into practical, sustainable improvement.
* A passion for Quality Improvement, with extensive experience designing and delivering QI culture programmes and capability-building at scale.
* Strong leadership experience and experience of working across organisations to develop an Improvement culture.
* Master’s degree (or equivalent experience) and recognised QI methodology qualification (e.g., Model for Improvement, Lean, QSIR, Six Sigma) or significant practical experience.
Why join us?
* Make a visible difference to quality and safety for patients across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
* Lead a Trust-wide programme with senior sponsorship and real scope to shape culture and capability.
* Join an organisation committed to supporting and valuing our people, ensuring QI is at the core of who we are
Ready to lead improvement at scale?
If you’re excited by the challenge of embedding continuous improvement across a busy acute Trust—and you can bring people with you—we’d love to hear from you.
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) is the main provider of acute and specialist care services in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. It serves a population of around 470,000 people, a figure that can increase significantly with visitors during the busiest times of the year. We employ approximately 6,700 staff and have a budget of approximately £740 million.
RCHT is responsible for the provision of services at three main sites with approximately 780 inpatient beds:
* Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro
* St Michael’s Hospital in Hayle
* West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance
We are a teaching hospital in partnership with the University of Exeter Medical School, University of Plymouth School of Nursing and Midwifery, and Peninsula Dental School. Keeping at the forefront of medical advances, we are continually developing our clinical services as well as our facilities, and are committed to maximising the range of specialist care that can be offered locally. Allied to this is a growing reputation for research and innovation.
The Knowledge Spa on the Royal Cornwall Hospital site is the base for medical and nursing as well as ongoing education for health professions in clinical and non-clinical roles. This plays a vital part in attracting and retaining highly skilled teams of doctors, nurses and other health professionals who support the care of well over half a million people each year.
PLEASE NOTE: To view the full Job Description and Person Specification, please click the supporting document on the right-hand side.
To be an employee of the NHS you need to successfully complete the following:
* Identity Checks
* Professional registration and qualification checks
* Employment history and reference checks
* Occupational Health clearance
* Satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service check
* Right to work in the UK
For further information please visit:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/topics-networks/employment-standards-and-regulation
We reserve the right to close this advert early.
We may be able to offer flexible working. Please discuss at interview.
This advert closes on Sunday 10 May 2026
#J-18808-Ljbffr