Cancer Services Improvement Lead Internal Only

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Cancer Services Improvement Lead Internal Only

The closing date is 28 April 2026

INTERNAL ONLY TO NORTH CUMBRIA INTEGRATED CARE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (NCIC) EMPLOYEES ONLY

Are you passionate about improving care, experience and outcomes for patients and staff? Do you enjoy motivating and enabling teams to drive improvements in their own work areas? Do you want to work in a friendly, supportive and dynamic team? If the answer to this is yes, then we have a fantastic opportunity to join the Cancer Services at North Cumbria Integrated Care as Cancer Service Improvement Lead.

NCIC is making significant progress in recovering its waiting times and improving the delivery of Cancer Services, having commenced on a programme of work as part of the national agenda to transform the way that we deliver cancer, and ultimately improve cancer performance, we believe that this is a fantastic opportunity to join the team to support drive forward sustainable change to improve patient experience in North Cumbria.

Main duties of the job

We are looking to appoint a manager who is not only enthusiastic but shares our vision of providing world class cancer services to the population of North Cumbria, with the skills required to support the continued improvement in our cancer performance.

As the Cancer Service Improvement Lead, you will support the development and transformation of Cancer services within NCIC. Taking ownership of specific improvement work streams, to drive delivery of Faster Diagnosis Standards and implementation of Best Practice Timed Pathways, working with tumour groups and wider stakeholders to drive and implement sustainable improvements.

You will work closely with clinical and operational teams to deliver service improvement, driving improvement and supporting organisational change and initiatives to achieve excellence, contributing to the development and implementation of the Trusts Cancer improvement program.

As Cancer Service Improvement Lead the post holder will have experience of delivering improvement and change management methodologies working in a complex healthcare environment. The post holder should be passionate about service improvement; a knowledge of cancer services would be advantageous.

About us

At NCIC, we have an ambition to deliver outstanding healthcare services to the population of North Cumbria. The Trust is committed to creating a centre of excellence in providing rural and remote healthcare and provides a wide range of community and acute services throughout our county.

Our 5 key principles demonstrate our belief in the delivery of 'safe, high quality care every time':

• Being a clinically led organisation
• Quality and safety at the heart of our Trust
• A positive patient experience every time
• A great place to work
• Managing our money well

As an organisation we are serious about supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our local community and are very much focused on being an inclusive and compassionate place to work.

Across the North East and North Cumbria we are working together to deliver our ambition to be the greenest region in England by 2030. All staff are expected to support sustainability.

Job responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification for further information regarding the role and the essential and desirable criteria required to be met by applicants.

CERTIFICATE OF SPONSORSHIP

Please note, due to changes implemented by the Government to the UK immigration policy, individuals who require a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa may no longer be eligible for sponsorship where the UKVI salary threshold is not met or if the occupation is not included in the updated Immigration Salary List (ISL). Applicants must check their eligibility to be employed in any role they are interested in applying for, prior to completing an application for employment. Any applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be progressed.

If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme or Armed Forces Covenant and you meet all the essential criteria for a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants moving to the region for certain posts. Please see our Policy for eligible vacancies.

Disclosure and Barring Service:

This post is 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.

The cost of the DBS must be met by the successful candidate(s) through salary deduction. DBS charges are as follows if applicable to the post:

Standard Check: £21.50 + Administration cost of £6.50 = £28.00 Deducted from salary over a 4 month period or a one-off payment.

Enhanced Check: £49.50 + administration cost of £6.50 = £56.00 Deducted from salary over a 4 month period or a one-off payment.

Benefits

NCIC can offer successful future employees the following benefits:

• 27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years
• NHS Discounts
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
• Vivup is a free, confidential counselling and information service to assist with personal or work-related problems

Subject to eligibility

Please ensure that you document evidence of meeting all the essential criteria in the supporting information.

If sufficient response is received this post could be closed earlier than the specified closing date, please apply as soon as possible to ensure that your application is considered.

Candidates who have been successfully shortlisted for interview will be asked via an email notification to log on to their Trac account to select an interview time. This will usually be within 2 weeks of the closing date.

Person Specification Experience

• Considerable experience and knowledge of improvement methodology
• Leadership skills gained through previous experience and/or in house training
• Experience as a senior manager including multi-disciplinary team management
• Training in Change management
• Experience of delivering significant change within a clinical environment.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of change management and strategies and experience of implementing change
• Highly developed operational management knowledge acquired through a combination of in-depth experience and post graduate study
• Knowledge of NHS agenda and impact on service

Skills

• Experience of leading, coordinating and organising teams
• Experience and achievement in meeting performance targets
• Judgement and analytical skills required to deal with clinical and non-clinical services
• Coaching and mentoring skills

Qualifications

• Professional qualification to Masters level or equivalent professional education in a relevant field
• Training in leadership and management skills in an NHS setting

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust