Chief Operating Officer

Client of Davidson consulting

In this role, the COO will lead the commissioning, activation, and operational readiness of a 100-bed hospital. The role requires deep expertise in hospital start-ups, commissioning, and operational readiness, with the ability to operate effectively in a highly regulated healthcare environment.

You will lead the end-to-end commissioning and activation of the hospital from pre-opening through go-live and post-launch stabilisation. Develop and execute the Operational Readiness & Activation Plan (ORAT), including timelines, milestones, dependencies, and go/no-go criteria. Establish governance structures, steering committees, risk registers, and escalation mechanisms. Drive facility licensing readiness in alignment with Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DoH) requirements. Coordinate inspections, documentation, compliance evidence, and corrective actions to achieve permanent hospital licensure. Ensure all operational systems, policies, and clinical workflows meet regulatory and patient safety standards. Define the hospital operating model, service mix, and phased service-line activation plan. Lead capacity planning, bed utilisation modelling, patient flow design, and throughput optimisation. Ensure readiness of critical departments including Emergency, Inpatient Units, Operating Theatres, ICU, Diagnostics, and Support Services. Lead workforce planning, recruitment phasing, onboarding, and operational training in collaboration with HR and Medical Affairs. Ensure duty rosters, escalation models, on-call structures, and staffing ratios are operationally sound for go-live. Oversee mandatory training, emergency preparedness drills, and competency validation. Oversee development and implementation of hospital-wide SOPs, policies, and operational playbooks. Ensure integration of patient safety, infection prevention, medication management, and quality governance frameworks. Lead go-live simulations, tabletop exercises, and scenario testing. Ensure operational readiness of building systems (HVAC, medical gases, fire safety, lifts, utilities). Lead commissioning of medical equipment, acceptance testing, user training, and maintenance readiness. Oversee readiness of hospital IT systems including HIS/EMR, RIS/PACS, Laboratory, Pharmacy, and revenue cycle systems. Establish and manage contracts for non-clinical services including facilities management, catering, laundry, security, waste management, and biomedical services. Ensure availability of consumables, pharmaceuticals, implants, and critical supplies for safe opening. Work with Finance to establish cost controls, procurement workflows, delegated authorities, and reporting structures. Support revenue cycle readiness, payer workflows, and operational cost optimisation. Define and track KPIs for operational performance during commissioning and stabilisation. Lead the hospital go-live command centre, issue resolution, and escalation during opening phase. Drive post-launch stabilisation (30/60/90 days), performance optimisation, and transition to steady-state operations.