Associate Director of Informatics

Job description

Job responsibilities

KEY DUTIES

Strategic Leadership

• Plan, develop and lead a customer focussed digital service delivering improved organisational efficiencies and improved outcomes for staff and patients.
• Provide professional and managerial advice to the Director of Informatics and Associate Director of MMDA.
• Provide Professional Advice to the organisation on a range of digital solutions/technology areas as required.
• Provide and deliver a high-quality digital service across the organisation being responsive to the needs of the organisation and individual services.
• Ensure arrangements are in place to support collaborative working with Informatics and non-Informatics colleagues.
• Lead the Clinical Digital Service to ensure the translation of the strategies and policies into plans for development and implementation clarifying outcomes, key milestones, directorate objectives and a service wide monitoring framework.
• Be instrumental in ensuring the success of the Clinical Digital Service through setting and achieving operational and strategic objectives, setting, and communicating the aims, values, and culture of the service.
• Minimise and actively manage the risks associated with the accountabilities of the role to ensure patient safety is at the core of all services provided.
• Work with key stakeholders and in particular with the Associate Director MMDA in the interpretation of emerging national digital strategies to assist the organisation with the development and planning of healthcare services using technology.
• Working closely with ICB and Partner Organisations at a senior level on a range of strategic and digital solution developments.

Business Development and Relationship Management

• Work collaboratively with MMDA to ensure both services can jointly discharge their accountabilities effectively and transparently.
• Manage capital and revenue budget allocations within agreed allocations and ensuring value for money in delivering the Informatics service supported through robust benchmarking evidence.
• Negotiate Service Level Agreements with MMDA on behalf of the hospital.
• Negotiate Operational Level Agreements with MMDA to ensure both teams work seamlessly together in the provision of the Informatics Service for the hospital.
• Negotiate and manage contracts with suppliers in line with the Trusts Standing Financial Instructions and Best Practice Procurement Procedures.
• Manage contributions to an effective Corporate Risk Management framework including Board Assurance Framework and through that risk management.

Performance Management

• To drive and maintain a performance-based culture by setting professional standards in conjunction with the Associate Director MMDA for:
• Staff professional development
• Data quality and compliance with NHS-wide standards
• Interfacing and integration standards that ensure that systems can share data
• Skills standards within the Digital clinical service
• Standards in business analysis
• Standards in solutions development
• Standards in testing
• Standards in documentation development
• Project and change management (PRINCE2) and (MSP)
• Lean Six Sigma approach to service improvement
• Ensure all tasks and procedures are fully documented and accessible by others, that business continuity plans are in place to ensure services can still be delivered even when the unexpected occurs.
• Ensure that effective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are developed and agreed, and that reporting mechanisms are established and maintained.

People and Culture

• Promoting a caring organisational culture that is centred on the wellbeing of the population and person-centred care, and which is characterised by compassion, respect, openness, transparency, and candour and ensuring that this culture is reflected and modelled in their own behaviour and decision-making, and that of their senior team members.
• Creating a positive, safe, and engaging work environment which supports and enables all staff to flourish and delivers good outcomes for patients and service users.
• Creating a supportive environment which ensures that all staff have an effective voice and feel confident, encouraged, and empowered to appropriately raise issues of concern and, when they do, those concerns are swiftly and appropriately acted upon.
• Valuing and promoting diversity and inclusion in the workforce and demonstrating equality of opportunity in the treatment of staff, patients, service users and carers in all aspects of the Trusts business.
• Ensuring that the health, wellbeing, and development of all staff, both within their immediate team(s) and across the organisation as a whole, is an important consideration in all aspects of the Trusts activities; and
• Ensuring the interests of all patients, service users and the wider population are at the heart of all strategic and operational decision making.
• Work with the ICS and MMDA to help develop a future proofed professional workforce across the system.

Partnership Working

To actively provide and sustain effective partnership working by:

• Engage and maintain effective communication and relationships with key stakeholders, external organisations, MMDA colleagues and wider stakeholders. This will include highly complex, sensitive, or contentious information and necessitate ensuring clear and open communication channels exist to enable full engagement.
• Proactively managing relationships with MMDA. Maintain positive relationships and actively manage issues that may arise.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships across the service and between the service and key stakeholders.
• Develop a process to ensure that benefits are shared in a fair and transparent manner.

Planning and Service Delivery

To establish and maintain an effective business planning framework to direct the delivery of services by:

• Seeking out digital solution innovations, working with the Services to support business development and business continuity planning.
• Ensuring there is a clear understanding within the ICB of the Organisations digital strategy.
• Maintaining and enhancing a Programme Management approach to delivering IT initiatives using the PRINCE2 and LEAN Six Sigma methodologies, ensuring adequate and appropriate allocation of resources to agreed programmes of
• Support the operational and clinical services in implementing business change as a result of Digital initiatives and ensure solution optimisation.
• Provide direct management and leadership to the clinical digital leadership team, providing expertise to work through complex, sensitive or contentious service issues.
• Present complex service delivery issues to both senior internal and external stakeholder groups and provide advice and guidance to resolve.
• Act as main point of contact and escalation point for Informatics at the hospital.
• Lead and oversee a robust and effective programme governance framework including ownership of all business continuity related delivery aspects.

Governance

• Perform role and responsibilities with due regard to all Trust Procedural and Policy documentation.
• Ensure all aspects of risk are managed effectively with particular reference to current Health & Safety legislation.
• Ensure the Trusts Financial Instructions are understood and discharged competently, both personally and by responsible staff.
• Perform role and responsibilities with due regard to all Trust Procedural and Policy documentation.
• Ensure all aspects of risk are managed effectively with particular reference to current Health & Safety legislation.
• Ensure processes and people are in place to report on the adherence to service levels set out in the Service Level Agreements and agree actions required to address any shortfalls in service.
• Ensure the service is delivered within an agreed committee framework ensuring governance to decisions made in respect of strategy, policy, and procedure.
• All services will be subject to regular audits by external agencies.
• Deliver work within agreed time frames.

Financial

• Develop and maintain effective financial management for the Digital Clinical Service.
• Develop and maintain effective financial management for delivery of the Trusts digital Capital Plan for Digital Clinical solutions.
• Programme and project funding.
• Budget management responsibility for Digital Clinical Services.
• Be responsible for ensuring that the Service lives within its designated
• Delegate the management of budget down, where
• Lead on Cost Improvement Targets for the service.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to master's level in relevant subject or equivalent level of experience
• Relevant ICT or management qualifications (e.g., CCIE/MCSE, PRINCE2, ITIL Practitioner)
• Significant evidence of continued professional development towards Board level in a specialist area

Desirable

• Membership of relevant professional or registered body

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

• Substantial leadership/management experience in a medium/large acute hospital or health software supplier
• Significant experience working at a Senior Level in a large, complex, NHS IT department or health software supplier
• Significant experience successfully managing a team and developing/delivering clinical digital solutions.
• Significant experience with significant involvement in managing demand from multiple work streams/customers including large scale clinical digital projects
• Experience of and ability to manage complex operational situations that involve staff from all levels within the organisation and across a range of professional and organisational boundaries
• Significant experience of working collaboratively within or with a health and care setting
• Proven experience of identifying and building successful and positive relationships.
• Knowledge and understanding of the National EPR agenda and the work involved in ensuring compliance with regulations etc.

Desirable

• Experience of working with Executive Directors across multiple organisations, effectively influencing the direction of digital strategy across a regional footprint
• In-depth knowledge of national guidance relating to all disciplines with IT services

Skills

Essential

• Effective leadership, management and motivational skills and the ability to develop an efficient team
• Ability to analyse, disseminate and present complex information, using both verbal and written disciplines.
• Extensive IT skills
• Ability to prioritise conflicting agendas and maintain momentum.
• Strong co-ordination skills are necessary to ensure that all locations/services provide a robust, quality service at all times
• Excellent report writing skills
• Excellent planning skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Effective management of staff

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Address

Whiston Hospital

Warrington Road

Prescot

L35 5DR

Employer's website

https://www.sthk.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)