Job summary
The portfolio of acute services commissioned by the team comprises approximately £1 billion of healthcare contracts across 14 NHS providers and a range of smaller independent sector and third sector providers. Strategically important services commissioned include:
Radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and complex surgery for cancers
Neonatal and specialised paediatric surgical and medical services
Major trauma, burns, neurosurgery and complex spinal surgery
Cardiac surgery and complex cardiology
Blood disorders, bone marrow and stem cell procedures
Transplant and complex internal medicine procedures
The acute services commissioning programme is delivered by a multi- disciplinary team, including finance, business intelligence and pharmacy professionals with clinical support from NHS England's nursing and medical directorates. The majority of provider facing contract, relationship and pathway management is undertaken by a dedicated team of commissioning managers.
The post holder will support the Head of Department and their team to ensure their work stream of programmes are planned and managed effectively and take the lead in assisting in their successful delivery by working under the direction of a Senior Commissioner to assist with all aspects of contract and performance management.
Main duties of the job
Project Management
Contribute to performance improvement, taking a lead for identified areas.
Provide coordination of and participate in relevant working groups and provide project advice, expertise and support where requested.
Provide relevant and timely specialist advice and guidance on own portfolio.
Work with members of the Team to investigate the causes of any variance from plan and proactively contribute to the implementation of solutions.
Management of a risk and issues tracking mechanism and the resolution and escalation processes.
Financial and Physical Resources
Provide regular reporting on the targeting of resources and monitoring their implementation from a value for money perspective.
Provide oversight and monitoring of all aspects of team budgets or manage budgets as required.
- Ensure project expenditure is monitored accordingly
About us
The South West Specialised Commissioning team is responsible for commissioning both acute and mental health services from a wide range of NHS and private sector providers.
Responsibility for commissioning of our programmes is due to be delegated to Integrated Care Boards from April 2025 in line with national policy, at which point the team is expected to transfer to a host ICB. Applicants areadvised to ensure they understand what this means before applying for the role.
The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, which will inform the detailed design work and we will achieve this purpose by:
- Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
- Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
- Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
- Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
- Delivering value for money.
If you would like to know more or require further information, please visithttps://www.england.nhs.uk/.
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
- Reviewing, in detail the performance of providers against financial, operational, access and clinical/outcome measures
Developing, with the provider and ICB colleagues, remedial action plans to address performance failures or mitigate service sustainability issues
Leading, where directed, on the negotiation of contracts within portfolio, ensuring that contracts are signed within national timescales
Organise and chair routine contract performance meetings with providers
Reviewing high cost patients and manage interventions to control spend, or facilitate complex patients receiving the correct treatment in the correct setting where there are access difficulties
Monitoring service quality and compliance with service specifications, taking action to address quality risks and using contractual levers to support providers to comply with standards
Identify and implement, with provider and ICB colleagues, plans to reduce variation in spend, and deliver commissioner and whole-system QIPP savings from pathway improvements, waste reduction, demand control and other efficiency and productivity initiatives
Act as business/managerial lead for service change and pathway changes in relation to providers within portfolio
Within portfolio, lead on implementation of new national commissioning policy, service specifications, or nationally directed procurement actions
If you like what you have read and think you have the skills and experience, we need then don't delay, apply today! We get lots of applications for our roles and so we sometimes have to close our posts early. Don't miss out!
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Reviewing, in detail the performance of providers against financial, operational, access and clinical/outcome measures
Developing, with the provider and ICB colleagues, remedial action plans to address performance failures or mitigate service sustainability issues
Leading, where directed, on the negotiation of contracts within portfolio, ensuring that contracts are signed within national timescales
Organise and chair routine contract performance meetings with providers
Reviewing high cost patients and manage interventions to control spend, or facilitate complex patients receiving the correct treatment in the correct setting where there are access difficulties
Monitoring service quality and compliance with service specifications, taking action to address quality risks and using contractual levers to support providers to comply with standards
Identify and implement, with provider and ICB colleagues, plans to reduce variation in spend, and deliver commissioner and whole-system QIPP savings from pathway improvements, waste reduction, demand control and other efficiency and productivity initiatives
Act as business/managerial lead for service change and pathway changes in relation to providers within portfolio
Within portfolio, lead on implementation of new national commissioning policy, service specifications, or nationally directed procurement actions
If you like what you have read and think you have the skills and experience, we need then don't delay, apply today! We get lots of applications for our roles and so we sometimes have to close our posts early. Don't miss out!
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to Post-graduate degree level in relevant subject or equivalent level qualification or significant experience of working at a similar level in specialist area.
- Further training or significant experience in project management, financial management or supporting change management processes.
Knowledge and experience
Essential
- Demonstrable specialist knowledge in a relevant discipline
- Significant experience of successfully operating in a politically sensitive environment.
- Evidence of continued professional development
- Demonstrated experience of co-ordinating projects in complex and challenging environments.
- Experience of drafting briefing papers and correspondence at senior management team level.
- Experience of monitoring budgets and business planning processes.
- Knowledge of Financial Systems e.g. monitoring budget management, processing invoices and procurement
Desirable
- Working knowledge of relevant specialised services from a commissioner or provider perspective
- Experience of acute or mental health contract management, including as principal negotiator
- Knowledge of relevant commissioning guidance and frameworks, including (e.g. payment by results, treatment abroad etc).
- Experience of managing risks and reporting
- Demonstrated experience in a Healthcare environment
- Comprehensive knowledge of project principles, techniques and tools, such as Prince 2 Foundation and Microsoft Project
- Experience of setting up and implementing internal processes and procedures
Skills, capabilities and aptitudes
Essential
- Demonstrate ability to develop excellent working relationships in often challenging environments.
- Clear communicator with excellent written and presentation skills; capable of constructing and delivering clear ideas and concepts concisely and accurately to a diverse and varied range of audiences consisting of internal and external stakeholders.
- Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required.
- Ability to analyse very complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources.
- Demonstrated capability to act upon incomplete information, using experience to make inferences and decision making.
- Numerate and able to understand complex financial issues combined with deep analytical skills.
- Demonstrated capabilities to manage own workload and make informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales.
Values and behaviours
Essential
- Commitment to and focused on quality, promotes high standards in all they do.
- Able to make a connection between their work and the benefit to patients and the public.
- Values diversity and difference operates with integrity and openness
- Works well with others, is positive and helpful, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others.
- Adaptability, flexibility and ability to cope with uncertainty and change
- Able to travel across various sites
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to Post-graduate degree level in relevant subject or equivalent level qualification or significant experience of working at a similar level in specialist area.
- Further training or significant experience in project management, financial management or supporting change management processes.
Knowledge and experience
Essential
- Demonstrable specialist knowledge in a relevant discipline
- Significant experience of successfully operating in a politically sensitive environment.
- Evidence of continued professional development
- Demonstrated experience of co-ordinating projects in complex and challenging environments.
- Experience of drafting briefing papers and correspondence at senior management team level.
- Experience of monitoring budgets and business planning processes.
- Knowledge of Financial Systems e.g. monitoring budget management, processing invoices and procurement
Desirable
- Working knowledge of relevant specialised services from a commissioner or provider perspective
- Experience of acute or mental health contract management, including as principal negotiator
- Knowledge of relevant commissioning guidance and frameworks, including (e.g. payment by results, treatment abroad etc).
- Experience of managing risks and reporting
- Demonstrated experience in a Healthcare environment
- Comprehensive knowledge of project principles, techniques and tools, such as Prince 2 Foundation and Microsoft Project
- Experience of setting up and implementing internal processes and procedures
Skills, capabilities and aptitudes
Essential
- Demonstrate ability to develop excellent working relationships in often challenging environments.
- Clear communicator with excellent written and presentation skills; capable of constructing and delivering clear ideas and concepts concisely and accurately to a diverse and varied range of audiences consisting of internal and external stakeholders.
- Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required.
- Ability to analyse very complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources.
- Demonstrated capability to act upon incomplete information, using experience to make inferences and decision making.
- Numerate and able to understand complex financial issues combined with deep analytical skills.
- Demonstrated capabilities to manage own workload and make informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales.
Values and behaviours
Essential
- Commitment to and focused on quality, promotes high standards in all they do.
- Able to make a connection between their work and the benefit to patients and the public.
- Values diversity and difference operates with integrity and openness
- Works well with others, is positive and helpful, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others.
- Adaptability, flexibility and ability to cope with uncertainty and change
- Able to travel across various sites
