Job summary
- Main area
- Trust Wide Support Services
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 350-TWS7317100
- Employer
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Hollins Park
- Town
- Winwick
- Salary
- £53,755 - £60,504 Per Annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 16/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Senior Sustainability Lead
Band 8a
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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
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Job overview
We are recruiting for a Sustainability Lead to act as the Trust's professional adviser on all Sustainability & Waste matters at Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust. Along with implementation lead for all matters under this remit including taking a project lead role in Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service as this is now in legislation, through the Health and Care Act 2022.
Ownership of Merseycare Trust Green Plan, and embedding this in day-to-day trust business. To provide professional leadership on environmental statutory compliance, Waste energy/utility procurement, technical advice and guidance, energy/utility monitoring and reduction programmes, project management, reporting, governance, partnership working, including functions not directly under E&F direct control such as supply chain activity and where appropriate, wider integration with STP and national strategies.
The Head of Sustainability will be the Trust lead specialist with an overall responsibility to develop and embed sustainability principles within the organisation.
The Trust has recently published its Green Plan and the postholder will be responsible for embedding this strategy across the Trust , engaging with Clinical and Corporate teams to deliver the Trust’s objectives and to promote sustainability at all levels of the organisation and with external partners.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will seek out, manage, and deliver sustainability projects and be responsible for the Trust’s sustainability action plan, monitoring its’ progress against the targets and objectives set. The postholder will develop plan to assist in securing funding where available and deemed necessary for the implementation of Energy and Carbon saving initiatives.
Responsibilities also require the development and implementation of appropriate auditing, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Communication, training and promoting sustainability awareness will be key aspects of the role.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. Lead the development and maintenance of the Trust’s Green Plan and associated action plans and targets.
2. Develop systems and procedures to ensure compliance with relevant legislation and ensure adoption of these procedures across the Trust. Audit and review relevant procedures.
3. Work with Estates & Facilities teams to ensure sustainable design and construction principles are embedded and delivered in capital projects and associated enabling works.
4. Support relevant environmental consultants as required in relation to the redevelopment and enabling works projects, e.g., BREEAM.
5. Review Trust sustainable development policies at required frequencies. Align with Greener NHS, local and NHS England priorities including social value, models of care, health and wellbeing and adaptation.
6. Review all Trust policies and strategies to embed sustainable development principles.
7. Produce regular reports on sustainable development performance to the Resources Committee and the Trust Board twice yearly.
8. Deliver Trust annual sustainability reporting requirements through the Sustainability Reporting Framework and other requirements.
9. Ensure climate change impacts and associated resilience (adaptation) measures are embedded
within the Trust’s Business Continuity Planning process.
10. Collaborate with clinical leadership and delivery teams to identify sustainable models of care and means to deliver service improvements to improve sustainability and patient health and wellbeing.
11. Establish a Green plan user group with Senior Stakeholder managers and set up a range of user groups to explore a range of initiatives.
12. Work with the Comms team to publish a case study per month related to the aims of the Green plan to ensure buy in from the Trust staff.
13. Provide support and guidance to the Capital Estates, Operational Estates and Facilities Managers and relevant on-site staff across the Trust in all matters relating to environmental, energy, sustainable procurement, and waste management.
14. Provide advice and support in the delivery of the sustainable travel and transport plans.
15. Co-ordinate and deliver Trust-wide sustainability awareness campaigns using available resources including intranet, staff newsletters, events, campaigns and workshops.
16. Develop, Co-ordinate and deliver Trust-wide sustainability training programmes including induction training and training on specific issues for all staff, both clinical and non-clinical.
17. Responsibility for managing the annual sustainability budget, maintaining an audit trail, ensuring
compliance with the Trust’s standing financial instructions.
18. Provide advice to the Trust on investment initiatives and recommend best use of Trust financial resources.
19. Deliver economies through sustainable environmental, energy, waste, procurement, workforce development and travel initiatives, defined through both financial savings and reduced carbon emissions.
20. Provide income generation advice, supporting the Trust to access charitable or local/ central government finance to fund sustainability initiatives.
21. Make savings and attract investment, because of implementing sustainability schemes.
22. Work with the outsourced Hard FM contractor to maximise the potential of their sustainability commitments, monitor and report on outcomes.
23. Manage successful funding bids, ensuring correct funding requirements, reporting and timescales are achieved.
24. Manage staff and training budget for Energy & Sustainability team.
25. Responsibility for ensuring energy and utilities budgets are agreed and managed.
26. Adopt project management disciplines in the delivery of the role.
27. Programme manage the implementation of sustainability schemes.
28. Manage staff as required and deliver training on area of expertise.
29. Deliver accurate, reliable, and timely reporting systems for the Director, Executive, Resources Committee and Board on the performance of sustainability and environmental initiatives and associated impact. Monitor outcomes, highlighting good practice or contentious issues, such as targets not attained.
30. Ensure comprehensive monitoring and targeting systems for social value, carbon, energy, transport, procurement, waste and water are maintained to enable reporting on cost, consumption and performance and enable consistent reporting both internally and externally on the Trust’s overall environmental performance.
31. Maintain clear records of sustainability initiatives implemented and costs and benefits of each initiative.
32. Raise the profile of sustainability within the Trust and the Trust’s environmental credentials across
the Region and ICS.
33. Develop and maintain effective relationships with our partners including Government agencies, Department of Health & Social Care, Local Authority, Cheshire & Merseyside Health & Care Partnership, universities and other external agencies and networks.
34. Raise the profile of the Trust externally and promote the Trust as a sustainability champion.
Person specification
Values
Essential criteria
- Continuous Improvement
- Accountability
- Respectfulness
- Enthusiasm
- Support
- High professional standards
- Responsive to service users
- Engaging leadership style
- Strong customer service belief
- Transparency and honesty
- Discreet
- Change Orientated
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to work across all levels both within the organisation including at senior management level and outside the organisation
- Excellent communication skills in order to communicate complex information effectively to a range of technical and non-technical audiences at all levels of the organisation including Executive committees
- Ability to develop, implement and monitor policies, procedures and systems to support core areas and disciplines
- Excellent report writing, strategy development, consultation and presentational skills
- Good negotiation skills, excellent influencing skills, raising the profile and commitment to sustainability and environmental issues
- Procurement and contract negotiation with suppliers including performance and contract management
- Strong interpersonal skills to enable development of good working relationships with personnel outside the direct control of the individua
- Able to establish credibility and good relationships and manage those relations with sensitivity and diplomacy
- Innovator and decision-maker with the ability to communicate new and controversial ideas
- Good computer skills to develop or create reports, documents, spreadsheets and presentations
- High levels of computer literacy are required in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, e-mail and internet
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to postgraduate degree level or equivalent experience in Environmental policy/Sustainability
- Master’s degree or equivalent relevant experience in Environmental/Sustainability Management
- Membership ofrelevant professional body such as the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) or equivalent
Desirable criteria
- Evidence of Specialist knowledge
- Formal project management/Auditing/training qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Demonstratable experience as a sustainability manager in the NHS or similar appropriate environment
- Specialist knowledge of national and local environmental and sustainability policies
- Working knowledge and understanding of the application of relevant British legislation and good practice in respect of all sustainability and environmental issues
- Substantial project management of environment/energy projects.
Desirable criteria
- Strong networking with other NHS and non NHS sustainable development and environmental managers
- Ability and confidence to challenge current working practices
- Experience of designing and implementing new systems and processes for managing and reporting information
- Experienced project management of a diverse portfolio of schemes including deadlines, standards and budget constraints
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Christopher Murphy
- Job title
- Deputy Director of Estates and Facilities
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07502580261
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