Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1. Strategic Planning and Service Development

• Develops and implements long term service strategy and policies for managed areas that fully reflect the direction and service needs of the Trust, in line with corporate strategies of stakeholders and linking directly to relevant legislation as well as national and local healthcare guidance and initiatives. Resolves conflict, where they arise, relating to service provision.
• Responsible for the interpretation and implementation of broad policies and NHS guidance, contributes to corporate policies and strategy and develops services locally in line with them.
• Leads and coordinates service objectives ensuring relevance to local and national priorities.
• Plays a key role in service planning for departments, develops and implements long-term strategic plans for continued development of services.

2. Service/Operational Management

• Coordinates operational management of departments working closely with Clinical Director, department leads, Nurse Clinicians, other service managers and divisional management team.
• Plans and implements strategy for operational management so as to meet organisational performance plans within agreed budgets and timescales.
• Provides leadership and direction for departmental managers within division, ensuring clear
• Communication of policy, business objectives and agreed targets.
• Ensures the implementation of effective and appropriate performance management systems and processes to ensure delivery of performance targets.
• Leads services on the performance management agenda. Develops and introduces strategies and process changes to ensure recurrent achievement of activity at target levels. This includes liaison with clinicians to influence working practices to achieve the necessary changes.
• Interprets and analyses highly complex data in relation to performance management, interpreting performance management reports and producing or contributing to the production of these as required.
• Ensures the Directorate has good governance structures in place.
• Responsible for the Quality agenda within the Directorate. This includes investigating incidents, complaints and PALS, and producing reports and complaint responses in line with Trust requirements. Where these tasks are delegated, ensures that there are processes and systems in place to support the appropriate and timely completion of these
• Leads on substantial programmes of work to improve services across pathways of care or for specific care groups as designated.
• Develops own work plan in line with divisional and Trust objectives.

3. Service Improvement

• Manages improvement in patient and carer experience and the efficiency with which services operate by appropriately utilising service redesign techniques such as process mapping, demand and capacity, statistical process control, and discovery interviewing whilst simultaneously embedding the use of these tools in the Division.
• Deploys change management techniques to deliver service improvement.
• Utilises and interprets research and audit findings appropriately to aid the development of new managerial guidelines, protocols and facilities which will support improvements.
• Is responsible for writing and producing service improvement reports and project updates.
• Produces business cases for new developments and in line with the Trust Business Case process.
• Ensures that there are developments and improvements across the entire pathway by undertaking work in the allocated area, in line with Divisional and Trust objectives.
• Leads and delivers on specific projects, which will bring about an improvement in the provision of health care services within the Division in collaboration with operational managers and their teams.
• Ensures that regular progress reports, data sources and overall service details are produced and submitted to Divisional Board
• Regularly attends and participates in team meetings, and work closely with the other service managers within the Division.

4. Financial Management & Business Planning

• Takes responsibility for, and manages service budgets.
• Leads on business planning for the department, ensuring that there is an agreed performance management framework to effectively monitor the delivery of the annual business plan and that any conflict with respect to content and delivery is reconciled.
• Prepares robust business cases to enable services to remain financially stable and responsive to the demands placed upon them. Performs highly detailed and complex option appraisals in order to inform decision making process, to include redesign of services, capital projects.
• In liaison with the Divisional Manager and the divisional accountant contributes to budget setting for all services within area of responsibility
• Ensures organisational procedures are deployed across department for control of activities against budget.
• Ensures that services work to achieve organisational effectiveness and deliver services within available resources.
• Develops schemes and action plans to implement cash-releasing efficiency savings targets.
• Support trust wide implementation of cost improvement programs
• Uses and analyses financial information systems to ensure robust systems for financial monitoring, budgetary performance and appropriate allocation of funding for service.
• Using contractually agreed performance indicators monitors service provision of external service providers.

5. Human Resources Management

• Implements Trust strategy and policy for HR management and development Including recruitment & selection , discipline, grievance, performance appraisals and essential training for all staff in the Directorate including medical staff.
• Develops and implements departmental workforce plan as part of business planning process in line with Division and Corporate HR strategies.
• Ensures appropriate departmental structures and skill mix to enable and empower individuals to make decisions, where appropriate, and that individuals have clearly defined responsibility and accountability.
• Ensures effective recruitment processes are implemented within departments compliant with Trust policy. Chairs appointment panels
• Ensures that appraisal systems are implemented and cascaded to all staff within departments.
• Provides appraisal/performance review resulting in clearly understood objectives and personal development plans that reflect both the needs of the Trust and the longer term goals of staff.
• Takes action under Trust personnel policies (e.g. grievance, disciplinary, capability) where necessary.
• Ensures systems are in place within departments to identify poor performance, conduct issues and that any individuals identified are appropriately supported and managed within Trust policies.
• Ensures that grievances and whistle blowing are treated appropriately and within Trust policies
• Ensures that the service adopts flexible working practices that meet the Working Time
• Directive and achieve a fair balance between the preferences of individual members of staff, the needs of the service, and the preferences of the whole staff group.
• Oversees medical rotas ensuring junior doctor rotas are fit for purpose and in line with national guidance. This includes responsibility for the hospital out-of-hours junior doctor rota and the Medical Oncology middle-grade rota.
• Ensures that communication mechanisms operate effectively so that a culture is promoted where all staff can become involved in influencing and supporting the achievement of quality improvement and patient-focused care.

6. Communication

• Communicates highly complex and sensitive information on compliance with performance targets, strategic objectives resources, staffing and service related information, with senior managers and directors within Trust and across other external organisations and agencies.
• Presents Directorate Business cases to committees across the Trust as required as part of the Trust Business Case process.
• Negotiates influences, persuades and reconciles conflicting views in a challenging environment in a manner that ensures corporate credibility and fosters effective and lasting relationships with colleagues, staff, patients and other stakeholders.
• Develops and implements processes that support good communications within service areas and the division
• Ensures effective communications and engagement with other divisions within Trust, promoting the interests of the Division of Clinical Support and Specialist Surgery using negotiating and influencing skills to ensure that services managed are considered in the planning and development processes of other clinical groups.
• Undertakes presentations to staff groups and the public.

7. Education, Training, Audit, Research and Development

• Ensures training and development plans are in place across all services and those training needs analyses are regularly reviewed in order to determine optimum staff to deliver present and future service.
• Takes responsibility for personal continuing professional development.
• Participates in and leads projects and audit, including trust-wide audit.

8. General

• Participates in management on-call and weekend/bank holiday site management rota