Head of Integrated Operations

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see full job description attached.

To co-ordinate and lead the work of the integrated acute hospital, social work and community discharge teams, providing strategic oversight and direction, and clearly articulating priorities and delivery expectations

Ensure that a coherent strategy for integrated discharge is developed and shared across all the service provider partners.

To take responsibility for continually developing and reviewing plans to improve the effectiveness and safety of discharge processes, and working with service leadership teams to ensure the progress of individual plans, identifying risks, considering options and taking action to control and adjust against key project milestones and objectives as appropriate.

To be accountable for the delivery of services to patients with complex discharge needs, ensuring that communication between agencies is seamless, timely and co-ordinated.

Ensure effective planning, performance and financial management and operational delivery of integrated discharge team functions and work collaboratively with colleagues in the Bedford Hospital discharge team and neighbouring local authorities to ensure wherever possible standardisation and best-practice sharing across both hospital sites.

Service Improvement and Delivery

Ensure the efficient co-ordination and organisation of discharge team resources, making best use of capacity to deliver activity with cost effective utilisation of staff and non-pay resources.

Implement patient pathways with clinical staff and colleagues, which deliver best practice and make continual improvement in patient outcomes and against national and local KPIs.

Operate as a champion for service modernisation and change for admission avoidance and discharge planning, sharing best practice, successes and learning across the system.

Keep up to date with policy and legislative developments in Health and Social Care, ensuring the delivery of safe and timely discharges which are compliant with service provision.

Review national and local policies and assess local service delivery against these in collaboration with service leads - where necessary, develop and implement action plans to ensure service models meet recommendations and standards

Responsible for analysing and interpreting performance of multiple deliverables and complex project data, ensuring targets are reported on and strategies put into place to manage delivery

Provide advice and support on operational policy development and ensure oversight for key objectives relating to patient flow, transfers between providers, shared alerts and escalations and readmissions.

Leadership

Provide visible operational leadership, guidance, support and direction to staff within the integrated discharge team.

Use facilitation, negotiation and co-ordination skills to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders and contribute to an aligned vision which balances individual patient needs against the wider system priorities. Use indirect authority as required to influence decision making of colleagues and ensure coherence between different agencies and organisations.

Provider expert advice and support for highly complex patient situations and lead case conferences as required

Be clear about organisational direction and approach in all aspects of operational management and use knowledge of organisational priorities to consider options and inform decisions relating to integrated operations

Act as a senior leader within the two organisations, deputising for colleagues as required and acting at all times with maturity and sensitivity to the organisational priorities

Work as a core member of the leadership teams of Bedfordshire Hospitals and Luton Borough Council, offering options and suggestions, guidance and advice to others based on own experience and supporting the operational and strategic agenda as required.

To always work in a way that is constructive and collaborative with colleagues.

Communications

Build strong relationships with the wider system and beyond through appropriate engagements with internal and external stakeholders

Provide leadership and direction across situations where highly complex ideas or concepts need to be conveyed and implemented across the organisation in easily understood language, clearly articulating plans and brokering agreement between partners, using judgement to escalate where alignment cannot be achieved.

Ensure that all stakeholders, including senior clinicians, are appropriately engaged with developments in local pathways and processes and are regularly briefed on progress against key improvement objectives.

Communicate highly complex and sensitive information to internal and external colleagues.

Provide, receive and analyse highly complex, sensitive or contentious information at individual and group level and be comprehensive in verbal, written and presentation skills on a variety of subjects.

Assess and advise the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Adult Social Services on the key risk areas of delivering safe and effective discharge process and inter-organisational pathways and processes

Ensure high levels of stakeholder engagement at all times, including communicating highly contentious information including that proposing significant change in clinical pathway delivery.

Finance and Resources

Ensure resilient and efficient delivery of services within the scope of the integrated discharge team and associated functions

Ensure a co-ordinated workforce strategy in in place for all areas of responsibility which makes best use of the multi-professional workforce and delivers a resilient and flexible model for service delivery across the year

Work collaboratively with Business partners to ensure effective financial, quality and workforce planning that meets the needs of both current and future service provision

Clearly articulate priorities, objectives and deliverables within areas of accountability and ensure that careful resource planning to support delivery is undertaken

Hold accountability for the financial performance for the teams within integrated discharge, working with the finance business partner to ensure identification, monitoring and delivery of CIPs and productivity programmes, and achievement of the financial target identified in the service budgets

Ensure that budgets are managed in accordance with the each organisations schemes of delegation, working collaboratively with Finance leads, taking action where necessary to prevent or address variance in performance, and to incorporate recommendations of internal and external audit.

Provide monthly financial forecasts accounting for known operational pressures, CIP delivery and in-year changes to plan.

Ensure that equipment, training and any capital requirements are highlighted as part of the annual planning programme and oversee the appropriate approval and purchase processes to ensure effective and timely utilisation of resource

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to Diploma/Degree and current registered professional in relevant care discipline ie. Social Work, Nurse, Therapist
• Masters Degree or equivalent
• Evidence of continued professional development

Desirable

• Masters in Leadership and Management or equivalent management qualification
• Project Management Qualification

Experience

Essential

• Budget management and CIP delivery
• Significant experience of managing at least one Community Service
• Extensive leadership of multi-disciplinary teams
• Negotiation and influencing skills at a senior management level
• Working in a highly pressured environment
• Evidence of delivering and implementing strategic plans, service development and quality improvement
• Presenting complex plans at Board level
• Experience of leading significant project work and managing service changes

Desirable

• NHS experience at a management level

Knowledge

Essential

• Experience of discharge planning, including the legal framework surrounding discharge planning services
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills
• Ability to lead a number of projects and deliver to agreed timescales
• Able to rapidly assimilate a range of complex (often clinical) information and make expert judgments using analytical skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills in complex settings

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).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Luton & Dunstable Hospital / Luton Borough Council

Lewsey Road

Luton

LU4 0DZ

Employer's website

https://www.bedfordshirehospitals.nhs.uk/working-here/ (Opens in a new tab)