Trac proudly powers the recruitment for
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

About
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT).
Since then, EPUT has grown from strength to strength, providing many community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Luton and Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk.
We are a large employer in the East of England with more than 5,500 staff working across more than 200 sites. We also provide services in people’s home and community settings.
Our Vision
“To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care”.
Our Purpose
“We care for people every day. What we do together, matters”.
Our Values
- We Care
- We Learn
- We Empower
Our strategic objectives
- We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
- We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
- We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
- We will help our communities to thrive.
Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory
Contact
- Address
- Trust Head Office
- The Lodge
- The Chase
- Wickford
- Essex
- SS11 7XX
- Contact Number
- 01375 364513
System maintenance
The trac.jobs system will be undergoing essential maintenance at . We expect the work to be completed by 22:00 on Tuesday 2nd September 2025.
During this time period it will not be possible to browse jobs, sign into your account or submit job applications.
System Head of Integrated Transfer of Care
Closed for applications on: 17-Jun-2024 00:00
Vacancy status: Closed
Closed for applications on: 17-Jun-2024 00:00
Key details
Location
- Site
- St Margaret's Hospital
- Address
- The Plane
- Town
- Epping
- Postcode
- CM16 6TN
- Major / Minor Region
- Essex
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Salary
- Salary
- £70,417 - £81,138 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (Band 8c)
Specialty
- Main area
- Transfer of Care
- Interview date
- 19/06/2024
Our Trust cares for more than 100,000 patients at any one time across our community health, mental health and learning disability services across Essex and parts of Bedfordshire and Suffolk.
We want you to be part of our journey of transformation, where our patients and their families are at the heart of everything we do and to achieve our vision to be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care.
You’ll be part of a Trust where you will be supported to be your authentic self and be the best you can be, where we will help you to grow, develop and thrive.
The Trust is recognised by the University of Essex and is a top provider of apprenticeships for people looking to be an assistant practitioner, senior health care support worker (CAP). Our trailblazing CAP apprenticeship won a national HSJ Award.
We are also recognised as a Veteran Aware Trust and holder of gold accreditation from the Ministry of Defence Employment Recognition Scheme. Our services are highlighted as an exemplar of good practice, producing the best care for more than 3.500 armed forces veterans in the past seven years.
We have been shortlisted and won national awards. We are an inclusive organisation and Level 3 Disability Confident Leader Trust.
We are constantly innovating and looking for new ways to deliver care, such as using technology to enhance patient care and working with partners to launch new services such as the Basildon Mental Health Urgent Care Department, virtual hospitals and falls response cars.
Join us and you’ll do the best work of your life – and make a difference to other people’s lives. What we do together, matters.
Job overview
This is an exciting newly created system role on behalf of West Essex Health & Care Partnership, which will be hosted by Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT). The post-holder will be based within the West Essex Care Coordination Centre (CCC) ) with equal responsibility and accountability to all system provider organisations. This will allow the successful candidate to make a real difference within our system on the back of the creation of an integrated single transfer of care team and approach.
The post holder will take a lead role in the development and management of a fully integrated multi-disciplinary Transfer of Care Hub (ToCH) which will support both West Essex and Hertfordshire flow for The Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust. The post holder will also have oversight and responsibility for the transfer of care of adults from Cambridge University Hospital Trust (CUHT), Barts Health NHS Trust (BHT), Mid & South Essex Foundation Trust (MSEFT) as well as Hertfordshire Community Trust (HCT) and EPUT community hospitals.
The successful candidate will have an excellent working knowledge of hospital discharge and admission avoidance policy and best practice. Candidates will need to demonstrate excellent leadership and communication skills, have recent experience of service transformation and be able to take responsibility for the day-to-day oversight and management of the integrated transfer of care hub, ensuring patients receive timely, safe and co-ordinated care.
Please note that interviews are being held on 19th June.
Advert
The post holder will:
- Provide effective leadership and direction whilst managing a rapidly changing environment to meet the diverse needs of all stakeholders, staff, and the people of Hertfordshire and West Essex.
- Quickly build credibility & excellent relationships at all levels internally and externally & utilise these to ensure sound decisions are made in all aspects of transformation & service delivery.
- Plan and organise the multiple transfer of care function to ensure that any blockages which impact on the prompt discharge of patients, particularly as they cross organisational boundaries, are unblocked and that new processes/procedures are implemented to ensure that a seamless discharge service is maintained
- Act as a point of escalation for staff within the service to ensure smooth delivery of service(s) as well as addressing any operational issues impacting on service deliverability.
- Interpret and develop national policy relating to discharge and transfer of care on behalf of the system proposing options and recommendations for agreement by system partners.
- Engage, support, and develop high performing teams; promoting effective structures and processes and a culture of delivery and collective working and have line management responsibility across multiple teams and will hold budgetary responsibilities within their portfolio
Working for our organisation
EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;
- Season Ticket Loans
- NHS discounts for staff
- Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
- Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
- The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
- Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
- Day One Flexible Employer
The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment
Join our Staff bank
What is Staff Bank?
Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.
All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.
If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Service Delivery
- Coordination of system flow and discharge pathways P1, P2 and P3 as part of the Transfer of Care Hub functions within Hertfordshire and the West Essex Care Coordination Centre
- Engagement in system escalation calls, deputising for the Deputy Director of Care Coordination and other senior system leaders as required.
- Lead on system discharge meetings, ensuring that agreed actions are implemented and maintaining daily briefings to the Operational leads across the system.
- Creating a culture of trust and collaborative working to help reduce handoffs and duplication
- To identify the key blockages to effective discharge and to manage a programme of work to ensure that those blockages both internally and externally are addressed.
- To provide senior oversight on the management of complex cases in order to reach fast resolution. This will involve partnership working and rapid problem solving with families and partner organisations.
- To ensure a good understanding of the local resources across West Essex and Hertfordshire to enable expedited appropriate support.
- To provide visible leadership for areas of responsibility and clinical services and create a climate which encourages teamwork, partnership working, maximises individual potential and stimulates innovation
- To provide a structure within which the sharing of information/responsibilities/ feedback is managed across the different organisations working within the transfer of care hubs/Care Coordination Centre – i.e., social care, community services, voluntary services, acute hospital.
- To monitor and review complex data streams and report performance in relation to discharge and delays at all levels across all dimensions of care and delivery
- To facilitate multidisciplinary team meetings on the wards, ensuring that the discharge planning process starts on admission and early referrals to the multidisciplinary team are made.
- Ensure regular and appropriate engagement of relevant parties in the discharge of people to ensure that people are managed on the correct discharge pathway, receive consistent information and are discharged at the earliest opportunity.
- Ensure robust systems are in place for receiving daily and timely information that enable early discharge of patients
- Maintain an overview of Hertfordshire & West Essex Surge and Escalation policies and procedures (OPEL) as they apply to discharge.
- Support teams in managing complex discharges and application of the Choice Policy
- Pro-actively lead the decision-making process, collecting and analysing highly complex information in order to make effective decisions in complex situations.
- Regularly review performance of flow, (for example, stranded- and super- stranded outcomes), and address any blockages to effective flow.
- Provide high quality professional leadership and advice and guidance to the discharge team and system partners, on all complex and potentially sensitive discharge issues.
- Be familiar with the respective pressures within each of the organisations and support the daily management of these through prioritisation of work, sharing of timely information and regular feedback to the operational teams.
Managerial
- Direct line management responsibilities of Transfer of Care Team. This will require both direct line management as well as matrix working across teams in the system who contribute to discharge.
- Responsibility for objective setting, regular 1-2-1 meetings and mid-/year-end appraisals.
- Ensure effective rostering of staff to cover capacity and demand requirements over operational hours.
- Ensure that the discharge team are supported and enabled to effectively support, advise and develop ward staff in relation to discharge ‘best practice’.
- Ensure all staff are trained and, have access to on-going learning and development to fulfil their roles.
- Ensure all staff are regularly offered access to health and well-being support.
- Within the parameters of matrix working, direct activity and refer issues of performance to organisational line management. Therefore, ensuring the highest professional standards of practice and patient care are achieved
Important note: please ensure that as part of your application, you include professional references with business contact information covering your last three years of employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.
As a newly appointed employee, you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post; the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.
Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email [email protected] and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.
The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.
Important Notice: Recently the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) which amended on 22 July 2021 and come into force on 11 November 2021 that anyone directly employed to work in a Care Home or who are required as part of their role to be deployed to a CQC registered care home are required to have had both their COVID vaccinations, unless they are exempt. This is therefore a requirement of this role and will form part of our pre-employment checks.
Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered ‘suitable alternative employment’ to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.
Applicant requirements
Person specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential criteria
- • Health or Social Care qualification eg RN, AHP, Social Worker
- • Educated to Master’s degree level or significant relevant equivalent experience in relevant field
Desirable criteria
- • Experience & knowledge of working within both health and social care systems
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- • Highly developed communication skills (written, oral, presentational, and interpersonal)
- • Able to engage and motivate people in different settings, including negotiation, reconciliation.
- • Comprehensive understanding of discharge agenda and health and social care policy.
- • Understanding of Equality & Diversity
- • Comprehensive knowledge of change management & service improvement processes.
Skills/Experience
Essential criteria
- • Partnership working with a range of agencies and stakeholder organisations
- • Line/ matrix management of teams presenting across Organisations
- • Developing effective networks and strong relationships with a range of partners
- • Improvement/transformation of benefits for patients/ service users /customers and colleagues
- • Significant experience in delivering improvements to complex discharge through partnership working
- • Experience of operational management of staff and services
Desirable criteria
- • Significant experience and in-depth knowledge of influencing through matrix management and with no direct management responsibilities
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
- Able to use political judgement in understanding and working with complex policy and diverse interest groups.
- Highly developed leadership and influencing qualities with the ability to enthuse, motivate and involve individuals and teams working towards a culture of integration.
Documents
- Job Description (PDF, 784.5KB)
- Person Specification (PDF, 552.3KB)
- EPUT Pledge - Step into Health (PDF, 211.0KB)
- Candidate Privacy Policy (PDF, 336.6KB)
- Right to Work Information (PDF, 293.6KB)
- Employer Recognition Scheme - Gold Award (PDF, 27.7KB)
- Trust Vision and Values (PDF, 168.9KB)
- Values of the NHS Pension (PDF, 151.3KB)
- EPUT Staff Benefits (PDF, 89.3KB)
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Vanessa Wakefield
- Job title
- Deputy Director Care Coordination & Flow
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07866 786718
No longer accepting applications
Sorry, this vacancy is no longer accepting applications.
You can search for similar jobs on the employer's job board, or visit our national jobs board Health Jobs UK.