A rare COO opportunity at the heart of NHS primary care, in one of the UK's most forward-thinking general practice organisations.
Willows Health is appointing its next Chief Operating Officer. We're 12 GP practices, 75,000+ patients, and one of the largest providers of NHS primary care in the East Midlands - with a digital-first patient access model, AI-enabled triage through SystmConnect, a growing Urgent Care Service, and our own training academy.
We're open to exceptional operators from all backgrounds - but a working knowledge of the NHS and primary care settings is a requirement, not a preference. We deliver NHS care, at scale, every day, and we need a leader who already understands the world we operate in.
This isn't a caretaker role. It's a builder's role.
Why this role is unusual:
- A 12-month handover with our outgoing COO before they retire - a genuine induction, not a sink-or-swim
- Direct seat on the Executive Board, reporting to the Chair
- Full operational accountability across all 12 sites
- The chance to shape how NHS primary care is delivered for 75,000+ patients
- A digitally fluent executive team that thinks in dashboards, AI tools, and operating models
- "Good" CQC rating, growing organisation, strong board support
What you'll own:
- End-to-end operational leadership across 12 NHS practice sites
- CQC compliance and integrated operational governance
- Senior management and site leadership team development
- Digital transformation programmes - telephony, patient access, AI-enabled triage (SystmConnect), patient communication
- Workforce planning, including ARRS and multi-disciplinary teams
- Board-level reporting, risk management, and operational assurance
- Stakeholder relationships with the ICB, PCNs, NHSE, and CQC
What we're looking for:
You'll bring substantial senior operational leadership experience from a complex, regulated, multi-site environment. That might be primary care, an NHS provider, regulated public services, or a comparably complex service organisation - we value fresh thinking.
What's non-negotiable is a working knowledge of the NHS and primary care: how general practice operates, the relationships that make the system move (ICBs, PCNs, NHSE, CQC), and the operational rhythm of delivering patient care at scale.
You'll be:
- Confident in the operational realities of NHS primary care
- Digitally fluent across modern primary care platforms, BI dashboards, and AI-supported productivity tools
- Forward-thinking and energised by transformation, not just maintenance
- Decisive and accountable, able to operate with high autonomy
- Collaborative and enabling - leading through others, not around them
- Genuinely values-aligned - patient-first, evidence-led, kind, and people-centred
The package:
- Very competitive executive salary, dependent on experience
- Full-time, permanent
- Multi-site Leicestershire base (regular travel between sites)
- EAP, Pension
Work Location: In person
