Chief Quality Officer – NHS
Job Summary
East London NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an outstanding and values‑driven Executive leader to join us as our new Chief Quality Officer. We want someone passionate about continuous quality improvement, meaningful co‑production, and reducing health inequalities, and who can provide visible, credible leadership across a diverse organisation. Our trust strategy 2021‑26 commits us to improving quality of life for all. This means improving the overall health of the communities we serve, alongside delivering the highest quality care, excellent staff experience, and good value for money. As the first Marmot Trust in the country, we actively look to work "beyond the hospital walls" to make our bit of the world a fairer place to live and work, and to support our populations to thrive. We are reliant on our organisational treasures – quality improvement, people participation, clinical and care professional leadership, our kind and caring staff, and our commitment to inclusivity.
While we are currently working to refresh our trust strategy for the next five years, our mission and our organisational treasures will remain at the heart of everything we do. The Chief Quality Officer will be front and centre in helping us to do so.
Main Duties
The Chief Quality Officer (CQO) role is central to our ability to meet these challenges and deliver on our vision. The portfolio spans a broad range of functions that shape how we design and deliver care and how we use data and insight to improve outcomes.
* Co‑leading strategy and planning
* Oversight of quality, safety and performance
* Leadership of data, analytics and intelligence
* Embedding a quality management system (QMS) that reduces unwarranted variation, supports intelligent use of data, applies consistent improvement methodologies and ensures quality is systematically designed into everything we do
This is a role for a leader who can build on strong foundations, sustain momentum, and take quality and improvement to the next level across services, places and systems.
About Us
ELFT provides a wide range of community and inpatient services for children, young people, adults of working age, older adults and forensic services across two Integrated Care Systems and six place‑based systems, serving diverse populations across the City of London and the London Boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, and Luton, Bedford and Central Bedfordshire. For some specialised services we commission and provide across north central and east London and beyond. We are proud to be a high‑performing, clinically led and service‑user driven Trust with a strong culture of continuous improvement and a deep commitment to delivering high quality, equitable care.
Job Details
Date posted: 27 December 2025
Pay scheme: Very senior manager (VSM)
Salary: Depending on experience per annum inc HCA
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full‑time
Reference number: 363‑CP7186284‑B
Job locations: Robert Dolan House, Alie Street, London, E1 8DE
Responsibilities
This is an opportunity to join a Trust that is passionate about making a real difference. If you share our values and are ready to lead with compassion, hope, honour and humility, we would love to hear from you.
Person Specification
Essential
* Experience in a senior clinical / care professional or operational role within healthcare, and ideally in an NHS Trust
* Degree Level Education
* Expertise in quality improvement techniques and their application in varied clinical settings, aligned to ELFT's method and approach (model for improvement)
* Improvement advisor, certified through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
* Experience of improving organisational performance through implementing a systematic approach to quality improvement
* Experience of design and delivery of large‑scale quality improvement programmes that have achieved demonstrable results in large, complex organisations/systems
* Extensive experience of teaching, designing educational and learning programmes, and coaching
* Experience in working with executive teams and Boards
* Knowledge of the NHS performance frameworks and approach. Experience of applying improvement methods to performance topics
* Experience of senior management in a clinical organisation
* Budget management
Desirable
* Research position / affiliation
* Masters degree or further academic qualifications in a related field
* Published research or quality work, of national or international significance; experience in peer‑review process
Additional Information
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and will require a Disclosure and Barring Service check. Certificate of Sponsorship – Applications from job seekers who require current skilled worker sponsorship are welcome. UK Registration – Applicants must have current UK professional registration.
Employer Details
Employer name: East London NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Robert Dolan House, Alie Street, London, E1 8DE
Employer's website: https://www.elft.nhs.uk/
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