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Job Description

Job Title: Patient Experience Manager

Location: Horatio’s Garden Glasgow, National Spinal Injuries Centre, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow

Salary: £38,000 FTE 

Contract: Permanent, 4/5 days a week, including at least one weekend day

Date: October 2026. Application closing date on Monday 16th November at midnight.

Purpose

Horatio’s Garden is a nationwide charity improving the lives of people with spinal injuries by creating and expertly staffing beautiful gardens.

The Patient Experience Manager will play a key role in helping patients and their families use and enjoy the garden. You will represent Horatio’s Garden in Scotland alongside the Head Gardener ensuring the garden runs smoothly as a thriving, welcoming space. Developing and nurturing relationships with numerous stakeholders is key to the success of this role.

You will join a national team representing seven other gardens across the charity’s existing projects. In the Glasgow garden you will have joint leadership with the Head Gardener.  This will require you to have excellent communication and people management skills as you work within the framework of the Charity’s ethos and values. You will have joint line management responsibility for the part-time Garden Coordinator, and you will manage a team of volunteers to nurture the beautiful space for people with spinal injuries and their visitors.

As part of leading the team you will develop and maintain relationships with senior staff, clinical and non-clinical NHS staff, corporate sponsors, funders and colleagues in the Fundraising and Communications teams.  You will work closely and collaboratively with the other garden teams and the National Patient Experience Manager to ensure our strategic goals are achieved and best practice shared. You will be managed by the Patient Experience Director.

The gardens have been beautifully designed and maintained, and the role of the garden needs to reflect an appropriate environment for patients and their families at all stages of their stay.  From the initial welcome, right throughout their time in the unit and after they have left. Your role will ensure all internal spaces within the garden also reflect a beautifully curated, nurtured and comfortable environment, in line with the charity’s look and feel.

You will be responsible for developing and delivering activities, supported by the National Patient Experience Manager to ensure our high standards are kept, and in collaboration with the wider Spinal Injuries team in Glasgow. The activities need to be patient led, varied and suitable for all needs. They will mainly be held at the weekend or in the afternoons as these are critical times in the garden when most patients are available and often have friends and family to visit. The Patient Experience programme should include seasonal celebrations, social and art and craft activities. External facilitators also deliver workshops and live music performances.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a confident, proactive individual who has outstanding communication and relationship building skills and is efficient and well organised. You will need to be adaptable, friendly and confident working with a wide range of people including people with spinal injuries and their families, NHS staff, volunteers and many different teams within the charity.
 

Main Duties and Responsibilities

People with spinal injuries

• Develop relationships with patients and families to ensure the best experience for them in the garden at every stage of their stay.
• Organise and maintain a consistent seasonal, patient experience programme reflecting the current patient group, their needs and their wishes. Liaising with all appropriate stakeholders and managing the volunteers to support accordingly.
• Monthly reporting of activities and patient engagement, recording garden usage and gathering data for our annual impact report. This should all inform best practice in the garden.
• Ensure the garden is managed to allow the correct balance is in place to benefit both patients and external parties (major donors, trusts, corporate groups and other visitors) as well as being managed to ensure it’s a safe, inclusive place for all patients and visitors.

NHS staff

• Develop and maintain productive and collaborative relationships with NHS clinical teams and voluntary services.

Volunteers

• Recruit and train new volunteers to support this role.
• Manage the team of volunteers to ensure the smooth running of the garden with patient experience at its core.  Working closely with the Garden Coordinator to ensure all processes are adhered to.

Fundraising and Communications

• Work with fundraising managers, Head Gardener and volunteers to develop opportunities to generate income in the garden through friends, corporate friends and third-party fundraising.
• Support corporate sponsor events and fundraising opportunities.
• Represent the garden and charity at key events.
• Promote the local social media accounts and provide regular updates for content in line with our communication guidelines.
• Interviews with press/media as required.

Administrative

• Ensure all administrative tasks associated with the role are monitored, completed and maintained.
• Manage the local Patient Experience budget.
• Ensure the garden rooms are kept clean, tidy and welcoming at all times.
• Collate data showing usage in the garden. This data should also inform you of the movement and flow of patients and visitors to improve your practice.
• Gathering impact data on an annual basis and on discharge.

Safeguarding

• Comply with all safeguarding policies and report any concerns to the Safeguarding Lead immediately.
• This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Assist the Patient Experience Director with any other tasks as required. It should be noted that the list above is intended to give an overall view of the position and should be taken as guidance only.

 

As a Charity we are committed to creating and promoting a culture that protects and preserves the welfare of the vulnerable people in our care. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining and evaluating information from and about candidates including criminal record checks, to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work for our Charity. 

APPLICATION 

Please writea one page covering letter, explaining why you would be suited to this roleand send this along with your CV to Nathalie Griffiths.

We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all sectors of society. 

NOTE: DBS, medical and reference checks will be conducted as part of the recruitment process. First round of interviews will take place online on Tuesday 24th November.