Overview

Our national priority programme director for Maternity, Children and Young People and Women’s Health provides senior, credible and visible leadership to the department and system on these topics—setting clear delivery priorities, breaking down silos, driving improvement out in the system and responsible for catalysing change across Maternity, Children and Young People and Women’s Health services. You will be responsible for setting the strategic direction for Maternity, Children and Young People and Women’s Health in line with Ministerial expectations and then working with leads from across the department and NHSE to ensure robust delivery plans are in place and delivering. You will act as the Secretary of State’s key advisor on this area, as the leading expert in this field and should expect regular engagement with the Secretary of State, wider ministerial teams and the rest of government – with particular emphasis on ensuring that our work on children and young people is aligned to and supported by the Department for Education’s Opportunity Mission and children’s agenda. You will develop the strong partnerships required to drive forward delivery of your programmes, across the system and externally, and may spend a substantial amount of time speaking to systems to understand risks and issues in their areas, support change in behaviours, galvanise partners, and use ‘soft’ levers to improve quality/performance. You will provide key expertise on maternity, children and young people and women’s health to relevant Directors and work with them to set plans and goals, design the parameters for regional & national performance, and the right improvement and support interventions, ensuring that these work effectively. You will report to the Permanent Secretary and the NHS Chief Executive, and crucially act as an advisor to Ministers.

Key Responsibilities

• Ensuring the effective delivery of national priorities – the most critical programmes for Ministers. You will be responsible for setting the strategic direction for these programmes in line with Ministerial expectations and then working with leads from across the department to ensure robust delivery plans are in place.
• As the most senior lead for this area in Government, you will be a visible leader nationally and for all local health and care systems.
• You will develop the strong partnerships required to drive forward delivery of the programmes, across the system and externally.
• You will be the key advisor to Ministers and the Centre of Government on the priority areas and should expect regular engagement with the Secretary of State and wider ministerial team.

Our work supports the NHS to deliver high quality services for patients and best value for taxpayers. Our staff bring expertise across hundreds of specialisms—including clinical, operational, commissioning, technology, data science, cyber security, software engineering, education, and commercial—enabling us to design and deliver high-quality NHS services.

We Lead The NHS In England By

• Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities
• Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential
• Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
• Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
• Delivering value for money

Earlier this year, the Government announced that NHS England will gradually merge with the Department of Health and Social Care, leading to full integration. The aim is to create a smaller, more strategic centre that reduces duplication and eliminates waste.

For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Lauren Hughes
Job title: Chief of Staff to Chair and CEO NHS England
Email address: laurenhughes@nhs.net