Job summary
The Legal Team is a part of NHS England's Delivery Directorate and provides legal advice, support and expertise to the whole organisation to promote good decision making, controls and accountability to Parliament and to deliver better outcomes for patients. We provide an accessible, high quality legal service that enables NHS England to comply with the law, manage legal risk, make effective decisions and demonstrate itself as being a well-run leader of the NHS. The team is made up of a number of sub/mini teams known as Domains, each specialising in a particular area of law. This role sits within the Patients and Commissioning Domain.
Main duties of the job
The Senior Healthcare Lawyer is a key member of the Public Law - Patients and Commissioning Domain, reporting into the Head of Public Law - Patients and Commissioning.
The role of the Senior Healthcare Lawyer is to ensure NHS England is a legally compliant organisation, in all internal and external undertakings, to advise upon and manage all aspects of legal risk and to make sure NHSE makes the most effective use of its legal powers for the benefit of patients.
You will advise on the underpinning legislation for NHSE, to senior decision makers often personally and at pace, as well as maintaining and improving an agile advice service for others in the organisation. This frequently means having a fast, solution focus that is able to articulate risk and opportunity to facilitate informed and efficient decision making.
Candidates will also need a high degree of resilience, the ability to deal with ambiguity, and excellent communication skills. You will need to have or rapidly build good relationships for this network to support good decision making and risk management.
The NHS is committed to building an inclusive personal, fair and diverse health and care system and a workplace where belonging, equity, diversity and inclusion are treasured. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds.
About us
NHS England leads the NHS in England to deliver high quality care for all. We support NHS organisations to deliver better outcomes for our patients and communities, work to get the best possible value for taxpayers, and drive improvement across the NHS. From April 2023, NHS England, Health Education England and NHS Digital became a single organisation, putting workforce, data, digital and technology at the heart of our plans to transform the NHS. Following the integration of those organisations the new NHS England is transforming how it works and this is an exciting time to join the Legal Team as a Senior Healthcare Lawyerwithin the NHS England Legal Team. For more information about this role please review the Job Description and Person Specification.
Please contact Chanel.Alexander-Buonanno@nhs.net if you require the job pack in a different, more accessible format.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person
Job description
Job responsibilities
Candidates for the role will have significant experience in advising on public law, the exercise of NHS or other public statutory functions, decision making by public bodies and identifying and mitigating associated legal risk.
Candidates will need to be able to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of public law in a health setting and the ability to provide senior decision makers with pragmatic, facilitative advice at pace in the context of NHS Englands legal landscape. The Public Law domains advise on public and health care law, including the exercise of NHS England functions and duties, across a range of different areas. In particular, the Public Law Patients and Commissioning domain undertakes a broad range of legal work with a particular specialism in the NHS commissioning and delegation, Primary Care, vaccines and immunisations delivery, Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act, Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding, independent investigations and reviews. Candidates will need to demonstrate their experience in one or more of these areas and the ability to swiftly develop an expert knowledge across all of these areas.
The large volume and breadth of legal advice provided by the Legal Team means the postholder will need to work dynamically and at pace, constantly prioritising competing demands and ensuring the Head of Public Law Patients and Commissioning is kept informed of new, key or high risk matters. The candidate will need to maintain high levels of accuracy whilst working under time and capacity pressures and will be able to demonstrate the ability to plan and organise a broad range of complex activities, formulating and adjusting plans to reflect changing circumstances and resources.
In addition to the provision of legal advice, the role holder will support the Head of Public Law Patient and Commissioning to lead the domain by escalating legal risk and domain issues swiftly and effectively and supporting them to meet domain and wider team objectives and deliverables.
The candidate will have oversight of their portfolio of work within the domain and be responsible for outsourcing; managing external legal advice and firms; meeting domain reporting requirements; securing the collation of domain data via our case management system to ensure quality and value for money legal advice; and leading on business partnering relationships with specific teams across the organisation and triangulation of information within the domain and wider legal team as necessary.
Candidates will need to work well with and learn from others and be positive, supportive members of the domain and wider team, contributing to wider team projects and deliverables as required. The post holder will have a commitment to quality and the promotion of high standards in all they do. They will demonstrate self-awareness and consistently look to improve their work, seek feedback and develop themselves.
You can find further details about the job, organisational structure, recruitment profile, expected outcomes and benefits information in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Secondments
Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.
Salary Progression Applicants will commence at the bottom of Band 8c with a full-time starting salary of £70,417, with a pay step increase after 5 years service. For posts based in Inner London, the above salaries will include the additional supplement of 20% of basic salary, subject to a minimum payment of £5,132 per annum and a maximum payment of £7,746 per annum. This is offered in accordance with NHS Terms and Conditions and is based on office location.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Candidates for the role will have significant experience in advising on public law, the exercise of NHS or other public statutory functions, decision making by public bodies and identifying and mitigating associated legal risk.
Candidates will need to be able to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of public law in a health setting and the ability to provide senior decision makers with pragmatic, facilitative advice at pace in the context of NHS Englands legal landscape. The Public Law domains advise on public and health care law, including the exercise of NHS England functions and duties, across a range of different areas. In particular, the Public Law Patients and Commissioning domain undertakes a broad range of legal work with a particular specialism in the NHS commissioning and delegation, Primary Care, vaccines and immunisations delivery, Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act, Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding, independent investigations and reviews. Candidates will need to demonstrate their experience in one or more of these areas and the ability to swiftly develop an expert knowledge across all of these areas.
The large volume and breadth of legal advice provided by the Legal Team means the postholder will need to work dynamically and at pace, constantly prioritising competing demands and ensuring the Head of Public Law Patients and Commissioning is kept informed of new, key or high risk matters. The candidate will need to maintain high levels of accuracy whilst working under time and capacity pressures and will be able to demonstrate the ability to plan and organise a broad range of complex activities, formulating and adjusting plans to reflect changing circumstances and resources.
In addition to the provision of legal advice, the role holder will support the Head of Public Law Patient and Commissioning to lead the domain by escalating legal risk and domain issues swiftly and effectively and supporting them to meet domain and wider team objectives and deliverables.
The candidate will have oversight of their portfolio of work within the domain and be responsible for outsourcing; managing external legal advice and firms; meeting domain reporting requirements; securing the collation of domain data via our case management system to ensure quality and value for money legal advice; and leading on business partnering relationships with specific teams across the organisation and triangulation of information within the domain and wider legal team as necessary.
Candidates will need to work well with and learn from others and be positive, supportive members of the domain and wider team, contributing to wider team projects and deliverables as required. The post holder will have a commitment to quality and the promotion of high standards in all they do. They will demonstrate self-awareness and consistently look to improve their work, seek feedback and develop themselves.
You can find further details about the job, organisational structure, recruitment profile, expected outcomes and benefits information in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Secondments
Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.
Salary Progression Applicants will commence at the bottom of Band 8c with a full-time starting salary of £70,417, with a pay step increase after 5 years service. For posts based in Inner London, the above salaries will include the additional supplement of 20% of basic salary, subject to a minimum payment of £5,132 per annum and a maximum payment of £7,746 per annum. This is offered in accordance with NHS Terms and Conditions and is based on office location.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive with relevant post-qualification experience, and educated to Masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in specialist area
Knowledge
Essential
- Significant experience of advising in relevant area of legal practice (public law) and with wider subject matter expertise across a number of key areas relating to healthcare and public law
Desirable
- Experience of advising in respect of one or more of the following relevant practice areas: NHS commissioning and delegation, Primary Care, vaccines and immunisations delivery, Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act, Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding, independent investigations and reviews.
Skills
Essential
- Excellent legal advisory and prioritisation skills with the ability to manage competing deadlines
Desirable
- Experience in NHS or other public law sector
Values
Essential
- Works well with others, is positive and helpful, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive with relevant post-qualification experience, and educated to Masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in specialist area
Knowledge
Essential
- Significant experience of advising in relevant area of legal practice (public law) and with wider subject matter expertise across a number of key areas relating to healthcare and public law
Desirable
- Experience of advising in respect of one or more of the following relevant practice areas: NHS commissioning and delegation, Primary Care, vaccines and immunisations delivery, Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act, Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding, independent investigations and reviews.
Skills
Essential
- Excellent legal advisory and prioritisation skills with the ability to manage competing deadlines
Desirable
- Experience in NHS or other public law sector
Values
Essential
- Works well with others, is positive and helpful, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others
Additional information
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).
