Programme Manager - Independent Maternity Review and BramberNHS

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279)

Worthing Hospital, BN11 2DH Fixed-Term £57,528 to £64,750

Posted 14 August 2026 Closing date 25 August 2026

East Worthing Rail Station (0.5 miles away) Sainsbury's West Hove (7.1 miles away)

Job summary

UHSussex is the subject of an important Independent Maternity Review (IMR), commissioned by the Department of Health on behalf of the Secretary of State. This is due to commencein October 2026 and is expected to last at least 3 years. The review will examine approximately 1,000 cases of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths, neonatal harm due to severe brain injury and severe maternal harm dating back to at least 2018. The purpose is to understand what happened, reach conclusions on the care provided, provide answers for families andidentifylearning for the organisation and wider NHS. The review is, by its' very nature, extremely sensitive and politically charged. The impact is expected to be significant for the families at the heart of the review, current and paststaffand the wider organisation. In parallel, the Trust is the subject of an active police investigation - Operation Bramber. The programme of workrequiredto ensure the Trust can meet the needs of families, the IMR team, Sussex Police,staffand other bodies is complex and diverse. It will span quality and corporate governance, information management, information governance, analytics, communications, wellbeing, recruitment, training,inclusionand professional standards. Working effectively with teams across Women and Children's services and critical corporate teams will be essential toidentify,manage and complete actions required for readiness and to run it smoothly day to day.

Main duties of the job

The programme manager will provide expert leadership in developing and overseeing the countdown to readiness plan and day to day management of the delivery plan once the review is live. They will ensure a single version of the truth is in in place capturing all theweek on weekactionsrequiredto enable the Trust to be ready on time,identifyingcritical interdependencies and ensuring the sequencing of tasks is effectively managed. They will proactivelyidentifyrisks, work to resolve those they can and escalate others to the Quality Director and Director of Regulatory Affairs. Once the IMR is live, their focus will move to programme management of the operational activitiesrequiredto service the review and any Police investigations, working across clinical and corporate services to embed attention to detail, robust audit trails,paceand proactive problem solving. They will also support core governance activities - routine reporting,riskand issue management for internal and external audiences. This is a real opportunity to be involved inatrulyconsequential piece of work.You will be part of anew team and a new programme,able to shape how we respond using your professionalexpertiseand experience.Applicants should bea qualified Programme managerwith experience of working on large, complex, time-critical programmesin the NHS.

Job description

This role is eligible for visa sponsorship under the UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker route however sponsorship can only be provided where applicants meet the specific requirements set by UKVI, including the relevant skill and salary thresholds (£25000), and any role-specific criteria.

Once the IMR is live,their focus will move toprogramme management of the operational activitiesrequiredto service the review and any Police investigations, working across clinical and corporate services to embed attention to detail,robust audittrails,paceand proactive problem solving.They will also supportcore governance activities routine reporting,riskand issue managementfor internal and external audiences.

As the IMR and investigations are evolvingentities, this will require flexibilityin when and how to respond. Given the nature of the work,high standardsof professionalism, discretion,sensitivityandcommitment to preserving confidentiality ofhighly sensitiveinformation are critical.

Key Working Relationships

Internal

Director of Regulatory Affairs, Quality Managers IMR Team, Administrative staff in the IMR team, Women and Childrens Clinical and Quality IMR Support Team,

Chief Nursing Officer and other Executive Directors, Women Children and Clinical Support Divisional Leadership Quad, WCCSS Divisional Quality and Safety Lead ; WCCSS Divisional Quality and Safety Director ; Heads of Midwiferyand Neonatal Nursing, Clinical Directors and Clinical Leads forPerinatal Services, Head of Legal, Head of Communications, Director of Integrated Governanceand team, Trust Secretary, Digital andIG leads,Business Intelligence Teams ; Divisional Leadership Team Surgical Division, CD and clinical leads..

External

IMRTeam;SussexPolice;NHSEngland ;Surrey and Sussex ICB, Maternity and NeonatalVoices Partnership.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership

Own the production,managementand maintenance of the countdown plan to readiness and the operational delivery plans, ensuring that these are fit for purpose and evolve to meet changing needs.
Take responsibility for ensuring that the clinical and corporate teamswithin the scope of the programmeactively inform the countdown and delivery plansandowndelivery oftheir contributions.
Own the risk and issues registers, ensuring that thesecomply withTrust standardsand have robust assurance measures as well mitigations describedand liaise with the Chief Corporate Affairs Officers team to ensure risks arelogged on Divisional or Corporate registers asappropriate.
Lead embeddingbestpracticeprogramme management techniquesto ensure rigorous management of all critical activitiesand regular gateway reviews.
Act as champion for evidence-based assuranceiechallenge colleagues to provide objective evidence that tasks have been completed and are having the necessary impact.

Team Management

Contribute to recruitment andinduction ofnew members of staff to the team,includingensuring staff understand how to usesystems used to record, track and log evidence of completion of tasks.
Train the IMR and Bramber Business Manager tomaintainand manage the countdown and delivery plans, risks and issues register to ensure resilience during times of sickness or annual leave.
Prioritiseownworkloadflexibly and using sound judgement, to ensure that risks to delivery are minimised
Work with the Quality Director toensure there is adrum beatofdaily,weeklyand monthly tasks, withallocatedresponsible individualswhichare followed through and closed offand hold people to account for theircontribution
Work with the Director of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Director to develop the network of contacts in theIMR team,Divisions and Corporate functions needed tobuild and iterate thereadiness anddeliveryplansand deliver the actionswithin agreedtimeframes.

ProgrammeManagement

Build a suite of programme documents for the IMR with input from subject

matter experts a countdown plan, a delivery plan for when the review is live, interdependencies maps, stakeholder and engagement plan, risks and issues log and benefits mapping using recognised programme management techniques.

Work with the IMR and key corporate team to ensure there is a robust set of policies and SOPs used to run theIMR and police investigationsand respond to the diverse range of enquiries and requests. These mustensure compliance with Trust policies, information governance& Caldicott principles. Ensurerobust processes are in place to review and update these before they are beyond their due date.
Work with the business managerto ensure thatrobust document management systems are in place to record all contacts with the IMR team,communications, supportingdocumentsand evidence of completion, using Nottingham University Hospitals systems as a basis for
Ensure there is a clear forward look available for the programme of actions due in the next week,monthand quarter to inform team meetings, huddles, the expert panel and reporting internally and to DHSC-NHSE. Work with teams toanticipateand mitigate risks and issues.
Track completion of tasks in the programme planrobustlyand provide check and challengeon the evidence used todeemsomething complete and effective,to ensure the programmeoperatesrobust assurance.
Flex to providesupport to other members of the team during periods of pressure, including the programme team in perinatal services.
Participate in learning and reflection activities toevaluate and improve the teams response to the IMRand Operation Bramber, includingfacilitatingformal gateway reviews.
Participate in joint learning with members of the team from Leeds Teaching Hospitals and sharing of good practice.
Work with members of the Team and the Perinatal Services to ensure there is an audit trail of evidence actions have been closed and benefits have been realised.

Reportingand Resource Management

Develop the mechanisms to extract compliance against Key Performance Indicators agreed with the Police and IMR teams and carry out analysis to understand anycauses of non-compliance to feed into continuous improvement of the Teams processes.
Capture the data and soft intelligence sources necessary todemonstratewhether the benefitsand mitigations set out for theprogrammeare being realized.
Produce the routine reports for the Operational Oversight Group, ExecutiveManagement Committee, Board and DHSC-NHSE Learning and Improvement Group.
Report against budget,identifyingareas of variance and working with team leaders to takeappropriate action.
Support development ofrobust business cases for any increase in budget, in line with Standing Financial Instructions and Trust policies.

About us

UHSussex is the subject of an important Independent Maternity Review (IMR), commissioned by the Department of Health on behalf of the Secretary of State. This is due tocommencein October 2026 and is expected to last at least 3 years. The review will examine approximately 1,000 cases of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths, neonatal harm due to severe brain injury and severe maternal harm dating back to at least 2018. The purpose isto understand what happened, reach conclusions on the care provided, provide answers for families andidentifylearning for the organisation and wider NHS. The review is, by its' very nature, extremely sensitive and politically charged. The impact is expected to be significant for the families at the heart of the review, current and paststaffand the wider organisation. In parallel, the Trust is the subject of an active police investigation - Operation Bramber. The programme of workrequiredto ensure the Trust can meet the needs of families, the IMR team, Sussex Police,staffand other bodies is complex and diverse. It willspan quality and corporate governance, information management, information governance, analytics, communications, wellbeing,recruitment, training,inclusionand professional standards. Working effectively with teams across Women and Children's services and critical corporate teams toidentify,manageand complete all the actions required for readiness and to run it smoothly day to day.

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