Director of Patient and Carer Experience
Band 9
Main area Nursing and Midwifery Registered Grade Band 9 Contract Permanent Hours Full time – 37.5 hours per week Job ref 246-COR8365571
Site County Hall Town Norwich Salary £112,782 – £129,783 Dependant on Experience Salary period Yearly Closing 08/11/2026 23:59
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people’s and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.
Please note due to the nature of our roles and patient demographic, you will be required to undertake physical intervention training and remain trained, as required by your role.
Job overview
We are seeking an experienced and compassionate Director of Patient and Carer Experience to provide strategic leadership and ensure their voices genuinely influence decisions at every level of our organisation. You will be the Trust’s senior professional clinical lead for service user and carer experience, providing leadership across experience, involvement, participation and co-production.
A central focus of this role will be strengthening the way we listen to, involve and work alongside carers and families. You will champion meaningful co-production, ensure carers and families have opportunities to influence service improvement and strategic decision-making, and help create a culture where their knowledge, experiences and contribution are recognised and valued.
You will lead the Trust wide Service User and Carer Experience Strategy and ensure learning from complaints, concerns, compliments, surveys, engagement and feedback leads to demonstrable improvements in quality and care.
We are looking for a registered healthcare professional with significant senior healthcare leadership experience and expertise in patient and carer experience, quality improvement, clinical governance, engagement and co-production. You will bring compassionate and inclusive leadership, excellent influencing skills and the ability to create trusted relationships with service users, carers, families, communities and partners.
Main duties of the job
The Director of Patient and Carer Experience is the Trust’s senior professional clinical lead for service user and carer experience. Working as part of the Patient Experience Directorate and reporting to the Chief Patient Experience Officer, the postholder provides strategic leadership, professional advice and expert guidance to ensure that the voices, experiences and outcomes of service users, carers and families are integral to the delivery, improvement and redesign of services.
The postholder will ensure that service user and carer experience is considered alongside safety, clinical effectiveness, equity and outcomes within the Trust’s quality governance framework.
As a registered health care professional, the postholder is professionally accountable for ensuring that service user and carer experience is embedded as a core component of quality, alongside patient safety and clinical effectiveness, and that learning from feedback, complaints, concerns, incidents, compliments and engagement activity results in demonstrable service improvement.
Working for our organisation
At Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, inclusion is at the heart of how we work. We are committed to creating a fair, transparent and accessible recruitment process where every candidate has the opportunity to succeed.
We actively encourage applications from people from all backgrounds, particularly those currently underrepresented in our workforce, including those from the global majority. We recognise that not everyone has equal access to opportunities and are working to address this.
We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and ensuring all candidates receive a positive and equitable experience.
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.
Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.
Person specification
Qualifications
- Registered healthcare professional with current registration with the NMC, HCPC, GPhC or equivalent recognised professional regulator.
- Evidence of continuing professional development and maintenance of professional registration.
- Academic publication or research activity within healthcare quality, patient safety or service user and carer experience.
Experience
- Significant experience at senior leadership level within healthcare.
- Experience leading patient experience, involvement, engagement, complaints or quality portfolios.
- Experience of working across different organisations within the health and social care economy
Skills
- Advanced clinical leadership skills
- Ability to present complex and emotive information to public forums and handling high profile risk incidents
- Ability to communicate issues clearly and openly with staff at all levels, from the senior leadership team to frontline staff.
Knowledge
- Comprehensive understanding of patient safety and clinical governance frameworks.
- Knowledge of health inequalities, equality legislation and inclusion frameworks.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.
As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job vacancy (outlined in the Person Specification).. We encourage you to indicate your eligibility through TRAC jobs when applying.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post may be 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.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
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