A Vacancy at NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board.

Head of Transformation and Commissioning – Adult Mental Health

An exciting secondment opportunity (for a period of 6 months) is available for an experienced transformation and commissioning professional to join the team. The directorate will, at any time, be running multiple, complex programmes of change, aligned to the three strategic transformation clusters of:
1. Mental Health
2. Learning Disabilities, Autism and all age ASD
3. Children and Young People, including Neurodevelopmental pathways

The delivery of programmes of work within each of the above areas is key to achieving the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin’s (STW) strategic aims set out in our vision and STW Long Term Plan. This takes into account our clinical, quality, and financial goals.

As a leader within STW the postholder will be expected to demonstrate the values and behaviours of STW and the wider system, be highly motivated and driven to achieve positive improvements for the local population, understanding the provider landscape for both health and social care, be committed to partnership working founded on honesty and openness, and be able to articulate a coherent plan for achieving the vision of the STW system.

If this role is not of interest then we also have other roles across the portfolio currently advertised, including the head of transformation and commissioning for Children and Young People and Learning Disabilities and Autism.
• To commit to working and engaging constructively with internal and external stakeholders on a range of contentious issues to improve quality and resilience of services and improve partnership working across the health and social care economy. This will include issues where there are significant barriers to agreement and competing priorities.
• To personally lead, support and contribute to formal negotiations with senior level staff from external stakeholders, providing a high level of negotiating expertise to secure the most advantageous arrangements.
• To provide expert opinion on a wide variety of patient pathways and commissioning options, including the identification and interpretation of health needs, comparison of options and commissioning of appropriate care and services.
• To review, analyse and interpret service requirements and be responsible for the implementation of new contracts from initiation through to commissioning.
• Ensuring the comprehensive clinical, stakeholder, and service user engagement element of the standard approach to Programme Management is meaningfully carried out, and products of engagement are used to shape the work being done.

The NHS is the biggest employer in Europe. It’s a world-renowned institution and an exciting place to work, full of challenges and opportunities.

NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin was created on 1 July 2022 and is responsible for planning and buying a wide range of health and care services for the whole of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. These include GP and primary care services, hospital care, community healthcare and mental health services.

We also have a duty to monitor these services to ensure they provide a high level of care and are value for money. We are clinically-led and work closely with the 51 GP practices across the county. This means we can have closer links to our patients so we can develop more personalised local health services.

All roles within the team offer opportunity to make a positive difference to the lives and experiences of those who access our services.

In return, we provide a supportive environment in which to learn and develop, with the opportunity to further your skills and career within an exciting and evolving environment.

Joining our inclusive and innovative team comes with a range of benefits including flexible & agile working arrangements, pension scheme and generous annual leave allowance.

With our training schemes and support networks, you will be empowered to play a leading role in the future of healthcare, whatever your specialism or interest. And as a member of NHS staff you will receive plenty of discounts too.

Communication & Relationships Skills
• To communicate and provide highly complex and contentious information to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders including patients and their representatives (including legal representatives where applicable), the team and wider ICS, local authorities, other ICBs and NHSE/I.
• To commit to working and engaging constructively with internal and external stakeholders on a range of contentious issues to improve quality and resilience of services and improve partnership working across the health and social care economy. This will include issues where there are significant barriers to agreement and competing prioritie
• To nurture key relationships and maintain networks internally and externally, including national networks, this will include regional and national teams, NHS England leads, local authority partners and wider commissioned services and organisations.
• To personally lead, support and contribute to formal negotiations with senior level staff from external stakeholders, providing a high level of negotiating expertise to secure the most advantageous arrangements.
• To operate in a highly political and sensitive environment.
• To draft reports summarising status on issues, appraising outcomes, and providing progress reports for senior management and executive colleagues.
• To chair a range of meetings and boards as required.
• Developing strong, external working relationships that enable delivery of the identified programmes. Working collaboratively across the health and social care system.

Knowledge, Training and Experience
• To have expert subject knowledge in relation to a wide variety of functions relevant to role, including, but not limited to relevant sections of the Mental Health Act, NHS Act 2006 (as revised), Who Pays and responsible commissioner guidance.
• To use this knowledge to advise members of the public, team members and wider staff within and outside the organisation.

Analytical & Judgement Skills
• To review highly complex and contentious information in relation to patient pathways, referrals and commissioning requirements and to decide on an appropriate course of action and outcome.
• To provide expert opinion on a wide variety of patient pathways and commissioning options, including the identification and interpretation of health needs, comparison of options and commissioning of appropriate care.
• Developing business cases and effective strategies for change, ensuring future sustainability of service provision.
• Being able to adopt a full life course approach to pathway and service development, demonstrating knowledge and understanding of service models for all ages.
• Understanding population health and health inequalities, and how to design and commission services to ensure inequalities are tackled head on.

Planning & Organisational Skills
• To work within the overall strategic objectives, devise, implement and monitor the strategy, to evaluate, interpret and locally implement best practice.
• To oversee the tracking of progress against plans and transition milestones, ensuring appropriate processes are in place to flag issues, risks and concerns with the relevant stakeholders.
• To draft and implement short, medium and long-term strategic business plans, which involves uncertainty and impacts across the organisation achieving quality outcomes.
• To plan all workload and resource to ensure compliance with all statutory, regulatory and framework requirements.

Physical Skills
• To use a wide variety of computer-based software and platforms.
• To undertake complex data and spreadsheet analysis, requiring close concentration and use of VDU equipment for extended periods of time and for most of the working day (the postholder will ensure that appropriate screen breaks are taken).

Patient/Client Care
• To support work of the team to champion patient care and improve quality and safety of care for vulnerable patients in all cohorts.
• To support the provision of providing patient care for NHS funded services. This may require patient level decisions which impact on the patients care requirements and the design and commissioning of bespoke packages of care.

Policy/Service Development
• As workstream lead, to work internally and externally to deliver projects, initiatives and services to time and in a cost-effective way to improve responsiveness, quality and sustainability of services to patients eligible across the STW area.
• To work collaboratively and where appropriate, jointly, with other commissioners including Local Authority partners.
• To ensure that best practice is developed and delivered at organisational and departmental levels.
• Challenge ways of working and persuade, motivate and influence other senior managers to realign their practice where necessary.
• To drive and lead development and improvement of processes.
• To ensure stakeholder representation is engaged throughout the cycle.
• To drive process efficiency in the continuous development of the end-to-end cycle and associated performance metrics.
• To be responsible for proposing and drafting changes, implementation and interpretation to policies, guidelines, service level agreements (SLA’s) and service specifications.
• Ensuring the comprehensive clinical, stakeholder, and service user engagement element of the standard approach to Programme Management is meaningfully carried out, and products of engagement are used to shape the work being done.
• Ensuring that there is sufficient patient and public involvement to co-produce transformation of, or changes to, services with the support of the Communications and Engagement tea

Financial & Physical Resources
• To ensure the securing of value for money, giving due consideration to all relevant factors including risk, quality and other factor Striving to deliver value for money and working with colleagues across the system to help achieve financial balance.
• To develop the portfolio of programmes demonstrating value for money for the current spend through tracking, managing and delivering agreed benefits around projects developed.
• To support the Associate Director with budget management. This will include evaluating the value for money of new contracts, monitoring the performance of existing providers and ensuring that provider performance aligns, and complies, with contractual terms and conditions.
• To act in a way that is compliant with Standing Orders and Standing Financial Instructions in the discharge of this responsibility.
• To be responsible for developing and commissioning projects and procurement of services to meet patient needs and support project delivery.
• To provide advice and prepare strategic reports and briefings for stakeholders.
• To develop and deliver efficiency schemes to ensure optimum use of physical and financial resources.

Human Resources/Staff Management
• To be responsible for the development and composition of the team to ensure clinical and cost effectiveness and to promote service resilience.
• To support and line manage the team including direct line management of direct reports and wider management of the entire team.
• To work in a matrix management style and to foster close working relations with other managers within the NHS, independent contractors, Local Authority, provider, and voluntary agencies.
• To recruit as necessary and performance manage a team that delivers a range of tasks within a matrix structure in a new and challenging environment.
• To be responsible for the day-to-day range of staff management matters, which will include responsibility for supporting appraisals, development of staff, recruitment and where necessary processes such as grievance and disciplinary matters.
• To plan operational workforce requirements to ensure the needs of the service are met and that statutory, regulatory and framework requirements are adhered to.

Information Resources
• To oversee the team to develop and implement project data collection systems that will provide accurate and timely data.
• To work with performance colleagues to develop and implement qualitative and quantitative measures to determine performance against the organisational strategy. Report progress against the strategy through personal representation at senior management forums and by written reports to appropriate boards and groups of staff.
• To provide in-depth analysis, interpretation and production of complex and multiple reports including national benchmarking and activity reports.
• To be responsible for devising, developing and implementing appropriate information sharing systems to facilitate effective working practices for the end-to-end processes and ensure accurate analysis of management information.
• To lead the creation and implementation of information systems for collecting, evaluating and interpreting large volumes of intricate data on expenditure to inform the short, medium- and long-term strategies.
• To collate as required, qualitative and quantitative information and lead appropriate analysis to develop robust business cases and contribute to project products.
• To have oversight of all complaints, subject access requests and freedom of information requests relevant to workstream.

Research & Development
• To ensure that benefits from research, development and innovation are realised by stakeholder organisations.
• To maintain a good knowledge of emerging best practice and implement within the commissioning cycle.

Freedom to Act
• To support collaborative working across boundaries and local authority areas.
• To ensure a smooth transition through decision making process to the management of contract
• To make decisions, in line with the scheme of delegation, on behalf of the organisation and be accountable for those decisions.
• To deputise for the Associate Director as directed.

This advert closes on Tuesday 4 Apr 2023