Salary £60,000 – £63,000 per annum- subject to skills and experience
Hours of work 37.5 hours a week over five days
Base Hybrid working for the foreseeable future, with regular attendance to the office at least 2 days a week, at various locations in north London: Pears Building, Royal Free Hospital, Barnet Hospital or Chase Farm Hospital
Why Join Us?
This is an exciting opportunity to lead impactful charity services that directly benefit RFL, its patients and staff. As the head of patient support, you will have the chance to shape the future of these services and lead a passionate team working towards a shared goal. If you are a strategic thinker with a passion for improving the experiences of our key stakeholders and making a difference, we would love to hear from you.
The role
The head of patient support will report to the director of services and innovation.
As the head of patient support, you will be responsible for overseeing the delivery and development of all services provided by the charity directly to patients. You will ensure the charity’s services programmes and initiatives are aligned with its strategic objectives, deliver high-impact results, and meet the needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (RFL) across all its hospitals and satellite sites. You will play a vital role in driving continuous improvement across the services and creating valuable relationships with key stakeholders across RFL.
The role sits in the services team, which is structured as follows:
The department is led by the director of services and innovation and sits within a unique ‘double directorate’ which unites services with the engagement and communications department. The head of patient support reports to the director of services and innovation. The head of patient support line manages five members of staff: three volunteer managers, the support hub manager/lead and the complementary therapy service manager/lead who manage teams of varying sizes.
The team
The aim of the services department is to directly support the staff and patients of the Royal Free London Trust through providing direct services which enhance their experience. The department is responsible for providing complementary therapy for staff and patients, the support hub information and support centre, and a volunteering team supporting over 500 active volunteers.
Organisation
The Royal Free Charity stands at the threshold of its most important period of development.
Our vision is for everyone served by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (RFL) to have access to world-leading healthcare, delivered by a thriving workforce, and driven by medical research that has a global impact. We support the 17,000 staff of the RFL and their two million patients across Barnet, Chase Farm, North Mid and Royal Free hospitals and more than 30 NHS services.
Through the services we provide, and the programmes and equipment we fund, we make a profound and immediate difference to patients’ experiences of care.
The recruitment process
To apply for this post, send your:
- CV (please include your last employer and dates of employment)
- Cover letter addressing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description and person specification,
Please note that applications submitted without a cover letter may not be considered for this role.
Closing date for application: Friday 9 January 2026, 12 noon.
Interview date: Tuesday 20 January 2026
Please kindly note that we may close the job advert before the closing date if we receive a large volume of applications.
- You must be eligible to work in the UK
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may require during the recruitment process.
As an equal opportunities’ employer, the Royal Free Charity is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.
We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join the Royal Free Charity and act in line with our values of dedication, innovation, partnership, energy and respect.
We accelerate improvement and innovation beyond what the NHS can provide



The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
The Director is the senior leader of Firefly International, responsible for driving the charity’s mission to support war-affected children through the provision of education, mental health and peacebuilding programmes delivered in genuine partnership with our overseas partners. This is a hands-on leadership role within a small, donation-dependent charity, suited to an adaptable all-rounder who is motivated to lead growth and change rather than maintain the status quo. Firefly has a good track record and a good reputation and has both the will and the capacity to do more and do better, for the children it exists to serve. To do that, it needs to recruit the right Director.
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Essential:
- Experience in fundraising from individuals, charitable trusts and foundations, and companies: developing successful grant proposals, managing implementation of grants and reporting to funders
- Experience of working in a small charity
- Experience in organisational strategy development and implementation
- Experience of management, working with Trustee boards and of managing partnerships
- Excellent oral and written communication skills, including representing an organisation in public
Desirable Skills and Knowledge:
- Experience of international humanitarian relief and development
- Experience of safeguarding policies and practices
- Demonstrated ability in budget setting and in management of budgets and financial reporting
- Capacity to plan and prioritise and to manage multiple, sometimes competing demands efficiently
- Experience of event management
- Experience of using social media to build awareness and engagement and for fundraising
- Experience of developing and managing close working relationships with partners
- Understanding of the contexts in which our partners work, in Bosnia, Palestine/Cairo and in Syria, and of the contexts for fundraising in the UK for these areas
- Awareness and sensitivity to the needs of war-affected children and the concerns of the individuals and organisations who support them
JOB DESCRIPTION
The Director’s role is to lead Firefly International in its mission to safeguard, extend and develop the activities conducted by its overseas partners. Within that over-arching goal, to:
- Provide strategic leadership in collaboration with the Chair of the Trustee Board
- Secure sufficient funding to sustain long-term growth
- Manage existing partnerships in overseas project areas and build new ones, overseas and in the UK, in response to any new opportunities to meet the needs of war-affected children where we have relevant experience to offer.
- Lead and support the staff team and any volunteers
- Represent Firefly International as an ambassador for the organisation, its partners and more broadly for war-affected children
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategic Leadership & Growth
- Lead Firefly’s strategic direction in Scotland, ensuring alignment with the charity’s mission and values
- Build Firefly’s visibility, credibility, and influence with its key stakeholders.
Income Generation
- Strengthen existing funder relationships and develop new funding opportunities
- Develop a compelling case for support
Stakeholder Engagement
- Represent Firefly at events and within networks relevant to its mission and objectives
- Build our supporter base and opportunities for engagement
Communications
- Ensure production of a high quality Annual Review and newsletters
- Take prime responsibility for the website as an attractive, user-friendly communications tool and mechanism for giving
- Extend and develop our social media presence, ensuring high quality content.
Financial Management and Compliance
- Work with the Treasurer and Finance and Admin Officer to develop budgets and manage expenditure against them, providing accurate and timely information for the Board.
- Work with the independent examiner to facilitate a smooth process of examination of the annual accounts
- Ensure that Firefly remains fully compliant with all statutory authorities such as OSCR and that statutory reports and accounts are produced and filed to time.
OTHER DETAILS
- Our office is in central Edinburgh. If you live further afield, you may still apply. One of our team lives and works from home in south west England.
- The role requires travel within the UK and occasionally to project areas overseas.
- Reports to: Chair of the Board of Trustees
- Manages: staff team of three/four plus ad hoc volunteers
- Contract: Permanent, 35 hours pw.
- 25 days leave plus 8 public holidays
- Time Off In Lieu (TOIL)or extra hours worked
- Pension contribution.
- Open to discussing part time or flexible working arrangements
Thank you for taking the time to explore the role of Marketing and Communications Manager at the Family Holiday Charity. We're here to help families facing some of life's toughest challenges to experience the anticipation, joy and impact of a break from the day to day. Can you help us spread the word?
This role is an important one to help us build brand and awareness around our mission and goals - in simple terms, helping more families to get away and ensuring that every family has the chance to go on holiday.
At its heart, this role is about storytelling and our ability to tell stories that capture hearts and minds. Taking ownership of the full story capture and storytelling process, you'll use this output to help build our brand, fundraise and tell our advocacy story. What's new for us in this role is PR - it's just not something we've done before, so you'll build relationships, networks and opportunities with earned media. You'll work with talented fundraisers, partnership builders and operational delivery colleagues to ensure we're sharing a cohesive and coherent message that supports all our audience goals and targets. And you'll get to work with a talented Comms Officer who delivers on our social, email and web activities.
This role is key to helping us make sure we're doing our best for families and putting our best foot forward every time.
It's a varied and fast-paced role (Comms roles are, right!?) that means you'll be involved in planning, creating and managing activities, so you'll need to have some awesome planning skills and be good with interpersonal relationships.
We're a small but flexible team - just like our approach to work. This is a hybird role, and you'll need to come into the office periodically (but none of that performative days a week nonsense!).
It's vital that you're happy and confident in making your next career move, so let's take the time to chat if you'd like to!
Please provide a CV which outlines your skills and experience for the role and a cover letter which briefly explains why you're interested in the role.
Applications close at 23:59hours on Sunday 4th January 2026.
Initial interviews will take place on the 9th, 12th or 13th of January 2026 with Mags Rivett, Director, Income & Engagement, and one other peer colleague from within the team. A second interview will follow with Mags and Rob Parkinson, CEO. This will likely be a face to face interview at our offices in London and will be held on Tuesday 20th January 2026 (this date is subject to change).
We help families get time away together, often for the first time ever, helping to create confidence and hope for the future.


The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.