Programme Director - Efficiency at Scale

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Programme Director - Efficiency at Scale NHS AfC: Band 9

Main area Administrative and Clerical Grade NHS AfC: Band 9 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 409-S-A

Site No.1 Lakeside Town Warrington Salary £112,782 - £129,783 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 29/09/:59 Interview date 16/10/2026

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Job overview

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced and accomplished NHS leader with a strong track record of delivering large-scale transformation, productivity improvement and financial sustainability across complex healthcare systems.

As Programme Director for the Efficiency at Scale Programme within CMPC, you will play a leading role in shaping and delivering one of the most significant collaborative improvement programmes across the region.

Reporting directly to the Managing Director, you will work with Chief Executives, Chief Finance Officers and Executive leaders from across CMPC to identify and deliver opportunities that improve productivity, maximise value for money and support the long-term sustainability of high-quality patient services.

This is a unique opportunity to join CMPC at a pivotal stage in its development. Bringing together provider organisations from across the region, CMPC is committed to harnessing the benefits of working at scale to improve outcomes, reduce unwarranted variation and ensure the best possible use of NHS resources.

The successful candidate will provide strategic leadership for the development and delivery of a complex portfolio of efficiency and transformation initiatives. You will lead programmes spanning productivity improvement, procurement, commercial strategy, contract optimisation and benefits realisation, ensuring that opportunities are translated into measurable and sustainable outcomes across multiple organisations.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for an individual with significant expertise in financial management, procurement, commercial strategy or related disciplines, supported by a relevant professional qualification such as CIMA, ACCA, MCIPS or equivalent. You will bring credibility, resilience and a collaborative leadership style, with a clear commitment to partnership working and continuous improvement.

A strong track record of leading large-scale transformation and delivering significant financial improvement within the NHS will be essential. You will need to demonstrate the ability to operate confidently at Board level, influencing senior leaders across organisational boundaries and building consensus around ambitious programmes of change. Experience of working within complex and politically sensitive environments, together with the ability to balance strategic thinking with delivery focus, will be critical to success in the role.

You will provide visible and inclusive leadership, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability and shared learning across the system. Strong communication and stakeholder management skills will be essential, alongside a genuine passion for improving value and productivity in ways that support high-quality patient care and better outcomes for the populations we serve.

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

Our services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Cheshire and Merseyside Provider Collaborative (CMPC)

Please note that this role is hosted by Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust on behalf of Cheshire and Merseyside Provider Collaborative.

About CMPC

Cheshire and Merseyside Provider Collaborative (CMPC) formed on 1 May 2025, when Cheshire and Merseyside Acute and Specialist Trust Provider Collaborative and the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Community Provider Collaborative merged.

Working alongside Cheshire and Merseyside's Integrated Care Board, together, CMPC's provider trusts address the challenges facing them, which cannot be solved by any one organisation alone.

CMPC consists of all NHS provider trusts across Cheshire and Merseyside, working together for better patient care. Key to this is ensuring that our services are sustainable and able to respond to the healthcare needs of our communities, now and into the future.

Our member organisations provide a range of health and care services, encompassing acute, community and mental health, with several specialist areas including paediatrics, neurology, cancer, cardio thoracic and women's.

Supported by a highly experienced CMPC programme team, our work aligns with the Government's Medium Term and 10 Year Health Plans:

• Creating a stronger connection between in hospital and out of hospital services
• Moving healthcare closer to home and into the community
• Reducing waiting lists and strengthening services
• Ensuring equal, high quality healthcare for all
• Easing NHS workforce pressures and using NHS resources better
• Using new technologies to work more efficiently

Fair and equal collaboration is integral to our success. Our vision is to work collectively for a single healthcare system, to provide high quality, timely, efficient, productive and sustainable services to everyone in Cheshire and Merseyside.

About CMPC's Efficiency at Scale Programme

The Efficiency at Scale Programme is a system wide initiative, with CMPC trusts coming together to address their shared challenges and deliver improvements that cannot be achieved in isolation.

• Through it, we use scale, standardisation and collaboration to:
• Reduce unwarranted variation across the NHS in Cheshire and Merseyside
• Deliver measurable efficiencies, improving use of resource
• Improve resilience and productivity, making services stronger
• Strengthen quality across corporate services, procurement, digital optimisation and medicines optimisation

Improving patient care is at the heart of what we do. Collectively, improvements brought by the programme reduce health inequalities and support the levelling up of services across Cheshire and Merseyside, as well as strengthening the system's long term financial sustainability.

Person specification Qualifications

• Qualifications Degree in Management held or qualified by equivalent experience