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Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
About
The Trust delivers acute hospital care, intermediate care, community, and primary care services to a population of over 600,000 people with a combined workforce of around 9000 dedicated and skilled staff from 17 locations including Whiston, Southport & Formby, St Helens, Ormskirk and Newton hospitals.
The Trust provides regional services for burns, plastic surgery and spinal injuries to more than 4 million people across Mersey and West Lancashire, Cheshire, the Isle of Man and North Wales.
Our Vision is to deliver 5 Star Patient Care:
- CARE that is evidence based, high quality and compassionate
- SAFETY that is of the highest standards
- COMMUNICATION that is open, inclusive and respectful
- SYSTEMS that are efficient, patient centred and reliable
- PATHWAYS that are best practice and embedded, but also respect the individual needs of patients
As a Trust, our aim is to provide a high quality service to all our patients. We strive to meet the best standards for professional care whilst being sensitive and responsive to the needs of individual patients.
As a teaching hospital trust, we have well established educational and research relationships with the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University. As Lead Employer, on behalf of the Mersey Deanery, we are responsible for over 5,000 trainee speciality doctors based in hospitals and GP practice placements throughout Merseyside and Cheshire.
Head of Operations - Surgery
Accepting applications until: 29-Jul-2024 23:59
Vacancy status: Open
Accepting applications until: 29-Jul-2024 23:59
Key details
Location
- Site
- Whiston Hospital
- Address
- Warrington Road
- Town
- Prescot
- Postcode
- L35 5DR
- Major / Minor Region
- Merseyside
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
- (NHS AfC: Band 8c)
Specialty
- Main area
- Administration
- Interview date
- 08/08/2024
Job overview
At Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Trust, we are seeking a Head of Operations to join the Division of Surgery, Anaesthetics and Critical Care.
This role is pivotal to the delivery of high-quality care at MWL and provides an opportunity for an inclusive and compassionate leader to shape the future of our services and improve patient outcomes.
The Trust is in the midst of an exciting but challenging time. As we continue to effectively recover our elective services; and further advance our strategic ambitions, we seek individuals capable of supporting teams to deliver outstanding and responsive care today, whilst ensuring we continue to build exceptional and resilient services and teams for tomorrow, motivated throughout by the goal of providing 5 Star Patient Care.
This role is the perfect development opportunity for an aspiring Divisional Manager who is keen to develop their career in senior operational management. As a Head of Operations, you will be a key member of the Divisional Leadership Team and take responsibility for agreed operational aspects of designated services including financial, activity and performance management. You will also support business and strategic planning, deputise for the Deputy Divisional Director of Operations as required and lead key pieces of work within the Division.
Please note that interview will include assessment tasks.
Candidates must be available on the date(s) below.
Interview date: 8th August 2024
Advert
The post holder will be responsible for the efficient and effective day-to-day running of their Services and the delivery of key operational performance targets (finance, activity, workforce and quality/safety).
Working in partnership with the Clinical and Nurse leads, the Head of Operations will be responsible for providing leadership and direction for services within their portfolio. This will include delivery of local and national targets as well as operational service objectives.
As Head of Operations , the post holder will work as part of a dynamic team in delivering an effective service supporting clinicians, managers and other staff across the organisation.
The post holder will support the development of strategic and operational policies for promoting good practice and innovation across emergency care pathways.
Working for our organisation
The Secretary of State has approved the partnership between St Helens & Knowsley and Southport & Ormskirk Hospitals.
From 1st July we have come together as a single organisation under the name Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Trust delivers acute hospital care, intermediate care, community, and primary care services to a population of over 600,000 people with a combined workforce of around 9000 dedicated and skilled staff from 17 locations including Whiston, Southport & Formby, St Helens, Ormskirk and Newton hospitals.
The Trust provides regional services for burns, plastic surgery and spinal injuries to more than 4 million people across Mersey and West Lancashire, Cheshire, the Isle of Man and North Wales.
Our Vision is to deliver 5 Star Patient Care:
- CARE that is evidence based, high quality and compassionate
- SAFETY that is of the highest standards
- COMMUNICATION that is open, inclusive and respectful
- SYSTEMS that are efficient, patient centred and reliable
- PATHWAYS that are best practice and embedded, but also respect the individual needs of patients
Our achievements include:
- Trust rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- Awarded National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for our Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Please see our Wellbeing & Benefits booklet for more information on our staff benefits. Accessible version available upon request.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The role will:
- Lead and develop a culture where safety, quality and excellent patient care are consistently delivered and lead improvements and innovation in the delivery of services.
- Lead their portfolio in the planning of future service developments and to ensure that the resources and facilities meet the needs of their services, implementing change programmes as appropriate.
- Work with clinical staff to develop changes in clinical practice through the development of evidence-based practice which complements the Trust’s Clinical Governance Strategy and Service and Financial Plan, working closely with the Divisional Director of Nursing and Head of Quality.
- Lead with their portfolio any agreed Trust Organisational initiatives.
- Ensure all Trust Policies and Procedures are adhered to and make recommendations on their amendment where necessary.
- Ensure with their Services management teams that systems for corporate governance and application of the Trust’s assurance framework are in place.
- Monitor performance against CQC Standards and NHSLA standards and initiate appropriate action to ensure these standards are achieved and maintained.
- Establish and maintain systems for assessing service users views on the quality of services provided and for involving patients’ relative and their representatives in the planning and development of services, wider strategic management of Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Governance.
- To develop and support a healthy working environment with an open culture that fosters high morale and commitment among all staff and promotes wellbeing, professional and personal development.
- Contribute and support clinical networks both internally and externally to the Trust.
- Participate in the General Manager on call rota.
Leadership
- To provide a professional, senior management contribution across their portfolio working in partnership with the Senior leads, Clinical Directors, Heads of Nursing and others to deliver cost-efficient, high quality and responsive services.
- To play a key role in the leadership development of the operational managers within their portfolio. Provide senior management support to ensure any problems or issues are swiftly resolved. Develop and implement longer term solutions to issues raised, where required.
- To deliver on key strategic work-streams and key objectives as directed by the Divisional Director of Operations / Deputy Divisional Director of Operations and/or outlined by the Executive Board.
- To ensure the establishment and maintenance of good relationships and communication throughout their services and with the wider Trust, promoting a culture where clinical staff and other staff are actively involved in the decisions on how services are provided, governed and targets delivered.
- To promote a professional Management Team by role modelling behaviour, communication, and approach to work, and in all aspects by demonstrating the organisations vision and values.
- Support the local operational teams in the development of service and financial plans to effectively manage resource allocation. Promote a culture where clinical staff and other staff are actively involved in the decisions on how services are provided and targets delivered.
- Develop effective partnerships with the Clinical Divisions and corporate functions in order to deliver the Strategic and Operational priorities of the Trust.
- Strengthen links with essential service partners, such as other care providers, regional networks and other divisional teams.
- Lead the development of a comprehensive clinical governance framework for their portfolio. This will include supporting a culture that encourages risk reporting and associated learning. Ensure all policies and procedures are adhered to by the Department.
Operational Management
- Overall budgetary responsibility and accountability for the service areas, working with the multi-disciplinary team to ensure effective management of all delegated pay and non-pay budgets.
- Performance manages teams within the service area, including agreeing and monitoring activity, access, financial, workforce and quality/safety targets. Hold appropriate managers to account in the delivery of targets, the development and maintenance of high standards and ensuring that staff, patients, carers and the public are treated with dignity and respect.
- Monitoring standard of service provision to improve the quality of patient care and safety in line with local/national guidelines.
- Achievement of all relevant national and local performance standards through the establishment of performance objectives for the service area. In discussion with the Divisional Director of Operations / Deputy Divisional Director of Operations, securing the infrastructure to support the levels of performance required.
- Ensure activity and workforce reporting for the service area is accurate, timely, effective and contributes to the Division’s financial profile.
- Develop the clinical leadership, managerial and business capability within the service area to bring about effective change.
- Develop the clinical leadership, managerial and business capability within the service area to bring about effective change.
- Responsible for planning and management of service improvement within the defined area.
- Ensure effective communication and staff involvement mechanism are in place in the service area.
- Ensure the Trust is able to meet key national and local performance targets through effective management and integration of all systems.
- Work with infection control teams to raise the profile of infection control in their services to ensure appropriate use of techniques and where appropriate, isolation and maintenance of patient safety through more effective management of infections.
- Work in partnership with the clinical divisions to review breaches of national performance targets to identify root cause and actions required to improve performance.
- Contribute to strategic planning and reconfiguration of services across the Trust.
- Lead on and participate in regular audits.
- Responsible for the monitoring and reporting of NHSLA specific to area of management.
- Responsible for monitoring and reporting CQC specific to area of management.
People
- Adhere to all Trust HRM policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with employment legislation and regulation at all times.
- Develop a culture where empowerment is the norm and decision making is allocated to appropriate levels allowing every individual to feel they make a valuable contribution.
- Engender an environment where all staff are constantly seeking to make service improvements and deliver to their agreed individual and group objectives.
- Lead the overall HR management of all staff within the portfolio ensuring that the right calibre of individuals are recruited and retained with the necessary training knowledge and expertise to performance to the required standards.
- With the Divisional Leadership Team, Clinical Leaders, Matrons and Directorate managers, lead and motivate staff ensuring that every employee is involved, treated and respected and recognised in order to enable the Division to help the organisation deliver excellent patient care.
- Operate effective communication systems resulting in all staff being aware of the important issues facing the organisation.
- Develop individual managerial capability within the Division maximising individual talents and expertise.
- Review of both short and long term workload patterns within the Care Group and to relate these to the human resource strategy for the Division. Ensuring comprehensive workforce planning, appropriate staffing levels and skill mix.
- Ensure all staff including clinical staff have an annual appraisal and have development needs identified in a personal development plan, deferring to Trust Medical Director as appropriate.
- Promote staff learning and development opportunities throughout the Care Group in line with overall objectives of the Care Group and individual educational requirements.
Personal Development - Be aware of latest practice thinking and service delivery elsewhere in the UK.
- Participate in personal objective setting and reviews that are in line with the Strategic Objectives, including the creation of personal development plans.
- Employees have a duty to attend all mandatory training sessions as required by the Trust.
Partnership Working - To adhere to Organisational policies and procedures relating to own workplace to contribute to service development.
- To evaluate current policies and procedures and identify the impact they have within their clinical environment and nursing services.
- To identify outcomes of evaluation and offer constructive views on how the service should change as a result.
- To implement and propose changes to policies/practices in own area.
- To evaluate with others the effectiveness of any changes and how these have improved services.
Equality and Diversity
- To recognise the importance of people’s rights and interpret them in a way that is consistent with Organisational procedures, policies and legislation
- To challenge behaviour that infringes the rights of others
- To identify and take action where necessary to address discrimination and oppression
Making Every Contact Count
- Front line staff are in an ideal position to offer support and advice on how to improve health and wellbeing
- Staff should use their interactions with the public to give them additional advice on health and wellbeing
- Staff will be given training and support to help them to signpost people to other services which may improve their health and wellbeing.
Transitional arrangements are in place for EU,EEA and Swiss Citizens following the UK's withdrawal from the EU. Should you this apply to you, you are advised to familiarise yourself with these arrangements to ensure you continue to have right to work in the UK and how to evidence that right in the future. Please see the document attached to this vacancy. This requirement does not apply to Irish citizens, who can continue to freely enter, live and work in the UK.
The Trust is a non-smoking site. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action.
Please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated, should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed therefore you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience. The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience.
We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce.
As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact [email protected]
We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision making process.
The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.
Changes have been made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook which mean that:
- All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
- There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
- Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.
At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working.
Please be advised that the use of Artificial Intelligence on applications is monitored and if you choose to use this, you must declare this on your application form.
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Master’s degree in a subject relevant to service area or First degree with post graduate qualification and equivalent level experience
- Evidence of continuous professional/personal development
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Extensive management experience in a senior role within the acute sector and associated with the speciality
- Knowledge and understanding of the modernisation agenda and the opportunities for redesigning services
- Record of successful operational management
- Experience in successful delivery of key NHS targets and standards
- Experience of business planning, budget setting and financial controls
- Experience of leading a team(s) and managing staffing issues
- Experience of implementing systems to improve patient safety and patient experience
- Evidence of having managed large pay and non-pay budgets
- Knowledge of current policy and issues in professional practice and the wider NHS
- Knowledge and understanding of the clinical governance and its application to improve care
- Knowledge of and positive approach to promoting equality and diversity
- Knowledge of recent policy development in the NHS
- Understanding of the part this role will play in delivering success within MWL
- Proven success at managing complex organisational change while maintaining service quality
- Significant experience of staff management, including the setting of objectives, team and individual appraisal, recruitment, and disciplinary issues
- Evidence of report writing and presentation skills, to include business cases and formal presentations
Desirable criteria
- Experience of Network management
- Evidence of service development
- Demonstrable change management experience
Skills
Essential criteria
- Experience of dealing with complex issues in a large organisation
- Commitment to self-development with ability to demonstrate in depth knowledge of key policies and themes in the healthcare provision in the UK
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Paula Nevins
- Job title
- PA to Divisional Director of Operations
- Email address
- [email protected]
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