Overview
The Patient Experience Manager will provide expert professional leadership, supporting the Lead for Patient Experience & Engagement in the implementation and evaluation of the Trust's Patient Experience Strategy. They will provide day-to-day management of the Complaints and PALS teams, ensuring statutory responsibilities are met and a comprehensive framework for complaints, concerns and compliments management.
The post holder will support the Trust in identifying learning from PALS and complaints feedback to continually improve services and respond to themes across complaints, PALS, patient safety and risk.
We are looking for an exceptional leader with experience, innovation and commitment to patient experience and engagement. This post supports the Patient Experience & Engagement Lead, Heads of Nursing, Midwifery & Allied Health Professionals and Clinical Service Line Teams. This post sits within the Bedfordshire Hospitals Corporate Nursing Team.
Main duties of the job
* Report to Lead for Patient Experience and Engagement updating on patient and carer experience objectives quarterly; updating on current performance for annual reports to Trust Board and other reports as required.
* Support the development and management of a Patient Experience Council (PEC); attend other committees/groups as required.
* Deliver patient and carer stories for sharing at Trust Board and other relevant forums to enable the organisation to understand patients experience.
* Development and leadership of specific projects/task groups to ensure the delivery of positive patient and carer experience and to be a proactive member of work streams and related activities to embed values.
* Develop initiatives that address the needs of those who are seldom heard, working closely with key colleagues and stakeholders.
* Actively develop patient experience networks to improve patient experience throughout the patient/family/carer journey, learning from best practice and share Trust success locally, regionally and nationally.
* Produce a patient experience communication plan as part of the strategy encompassing all levels of the organisation and including patients and their families, to ensure timely patient experience feedback is received, acted upon and shared, and performance against KPIs (e.g. CQC) is visible.
* Line management responsibility for the Complaints, PALS and Patient Experience teams to maximize potential and ensure staff feel valued.
* Ensure the Trust has an accessible and visible process for Complaints/PALS/Patient Experience that is efficient and effective in providing advice, support, information and signposting to patients, service users, carers, the public and Trust staff.
* Ensure all complainants receive a comprehensive, high-quality and timely response based on listening, responding and learning.
* Lead the development of the Trust's approach to patient, carer and public surveys and feedback including Friends and Family Test, National Patient Survey programme and near/real-time feedback.
* Provide education and training for all staff on patient experience, including Accessible Information Standard.
* Develop training programmes and interventions to improve patient experience, ensuring synergies with other trust training and service improvement programmes.
* Ensure patient and carer views are considered in decisions about service provision, service change, processes and policies.
* Collaborate with the communications team to ensure the Trust website provides accessible patient information.
* Work with quality governance to develop and improve InPhase (incident reporting platform) to better report PALS and Complaints interactions and identify themes and trends.
About us
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to around 700,000 people across Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, across two hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Sites offer A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high-performing Trust committed to staff health and wellbeing. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in the region, you will have access to high-quality training and development. The Trust is committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology.
Our Values
We recruit based on qualifications and experience and on behaviours aligned with our core values. We use values-based recruitment and are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, creating a culture that values differences.
Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient applications are received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period of 6 months. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Review all attached documents to familiarize with all requirements.
Details
Date posted: 05 September 2025
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8a
Salary: £55,690 to £62,682 a year
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 418-CORP9387-SJ-A
Job locations: Across hospital sites (Luton & Bedford), Bedfordshire Hospital, South Wing, Kempston Road, Bedford MK42 9DJ
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