Directorate Support Manager

Job Summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Division of Medicine & Therapies at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to fill the role of Directorate Support Manager. This position will enhance the management structure within the Division of Medicine & Therapies, providing operational and business management support to the Directorate.

Main Responsibilities

The post holder will work closely with the Directorate Manager, Clinical Director, and Matrons to ensure that the Directorate and its services meet their quality, activity, and financial targets. This will involve providing operational management, managing staff, projects, complaints, performance, and budgets.

Key Requirements

• Previous NHS management experience
• Developing business cases
• Managing staff
• Managing projects within appropriate timescales
• Managing complaints
• Budget management
• Experience of leading and achieving change in a complex environment
• Experience of leading re-design or change management initiatives
• Experience of assisting negotiations involving complex, sensitive, and contentious matters
• Experience of assisting service planning taking into account finance, manpower, equipment, and organisational factors

Desirable Qualifications and Skills

• Experience of managing a service with competing stakeholders
• Awareness of strategic management processes and their application fiscal planning, manpower
• Understanding the role of IT in delivery of an effective service
• Experience of data manipulation and advanced excel skills
• Knowledge of the national and regional health strategies

About Us

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is a large acute and specialised hospital trust that provides a range of local acute services to the residents of Worcestershire and more specialised services to a larger population in Herefordshire and beyond.

Our Vision

We are committed to recruiting the best people to work with us to achieve our Vision - working in partnership to provide the best healthcare for our communities, leading and supporting our teams to move 4ward. Our 4ward behaviours, which we ask all staff to demonstrate, underpin our everyday work and remain firmly at the heart of all we do.

Our Objectives

• Best services for local people
• Best experience of care and best outcomes for our patients
• Best use of resources
• Best people

Job Responsibilities

The Directorate Support Manager will be responsible for:

• Assisting in ensuring that the operational performance of the Directorate is effectively managed to meet agreed Trust and Divisional objectives
• Working with the Directorate Manager to ensure achievement of the Trust in-patient, outpatient maximum waiting time targets, emergency access, and national cancer targets
• Monitoring patients waiting via Trust Reporting systems, analysing information, and taking relevant action to ensure that no patients breach the targets
• Discussing non-routine capacity issues with the Directorate Manager to ensure all waiting times and booking targets are met
• Monitoring performance against activity targets and other service objectives
• Working with the Directorate Manager, Clinical Directors, Matrons, Departmental managers, and the Finance team to set and deliver the Group objectives, in line with Directorate, Divisional, and Corporate targets and strategies
• Ensuring there are effective processes in the Directorate to manage the Outpatient Waiting List System and ensure all outpatient bookings are in line with the recommended Trust standards
• Delivering income and expenditure balance on the devolved resources
• Deputising for the Directorate Manager as required
• Taking devolved responsibility for specific clinical areas within the Directorate as agreed with and under the management of the Directorate Manager, including meeting with the Clinical Director, Matron, and Departmental Leads on a regular basis
• Working with the Clinical Director, Matron, Finance Manager, and Heads of Departments to identify service developments and new ways of working within the specialty and develop plans for implementation for reporting to the Directorate and the Division
• Contributing to the identification of cost pressures and assisting in the delivery of cost savings and service efficiencies and delivering an annual cost improvement plan
• Reviewing equipment needs and developing supporting rationales for bids for new and replacement equipment within the specialty as part of the Trust's business planning cycle
• Ensuring complaints and incidents are investigated in line with the Trust complaint policy. Where appropriate, co-ordinating the response in liaison with the Directorate Management Team
• Ensuring accurate coding systems and processes are in place within the Directorate to ensure activity is accurately recorded, impacting on income streams
• Participating in the Trust management on-call rota
• Undertaking project work as directed by the Directorate Manager, such as working up plans for waiting list initiative work, including work in the private sector, and weekend working
• Assisting the clinical staff with the development and updating of protocols and disseminating the information throughout the clinical area
• Ensuring the Trust's Infection Control policy is fully enforced
• Being responsible for the operational management of administrative and clerical staff within the Directorate
• Ensuring staff are aware of and comply with Trust policies
• Implementing HR policies as appropriate, such as Attendance Management, Grievance policy, and Disciplinary Policy
• Managing the systems in place for monitoring of sickness and absence and annual leave of administrative staff and where appropriate, organising cover
• Coordinating and undertaking return to work meetings where appropriate, in accordance with the Trust's attendance management policy
• Booking agency staff in line with the Trust's agency request guidelines
• Managing the effective recruitment of designated Medical Secretaries and Administrative and Clerical staff within the Directorate
• Arranging and supporting training and development of staff as identified from the PDRS and ensuring that all staff have a personal development plan in place, monitoring the review cycle for the staff groups
• Providing Human Resources with weekly reports on agency expenditure, Admin and Clerical staffing levels, sickness, and maternity leave, and monthly reports on Admin and Clerical vacancies
• Collating information and drafting Directorate reports for Divisional meetings
• Supporting specific allocated Divisional projects
• Reviewing equipment needs submitted by the Directorate and ensuring the development of supporting rationales
• Working with Directorate Leads, Service Leads, and other clinical representatives to support development of complex business cases for the Division, in conjunction with the Business Advisor for the Division
• Working with Directorate Leads, Service Leads, and other clinical representatives to ensure strategic objectives and plans are developed as part of the Trust's business planning cycle
• Working with the Heads of Service, Clinical Director, Matron, Finance Manager, and Heads of Departments to identify and facilitate service developments and new ways of working
• Undertaking project work as directed by the Directorate Manager, including supporting projects relating to compliance plans, changes in pathways, capacity, and demand profiling, and major service alterations
• Contributing to the identification of cost pressures and assisting in the delivery of cost savings and service efficiencies and delivering an annual cost improvement plan
• Assisting in Divisional Medical Staff recruitment
• Overseeing the effective recruitment, induction, training, and development of clinical staff within departments across the Directorate, ensuring that each member of staff has a robust Personal Development Review and a Personal Development Plan agreed as part of the Knowledge and Skills Framework
• Ensuring Junior Doctor compliance in relation to the European Working Time Directive, working closely with the Clinical Director to achieve this
• Coordinating the provision of locum Medical Staff for the Division, including liaising with Locum Agencies, In-house Medical Staff, and Consultants as availability of Locums
• Ensuring suitability of locums by ensuring all documentation relating to GMC registration, fitness to practise, and health clearance are available for the Consultant to view
• Actively managing the annual leave, study leave, and sick leave for Medical Staff within the Division, maintaining accurate records, and ensuring the Divisional procedure is adhered to
• Coordinating Induction for all Junior Medical Staff on commencement in the Division, ensuring new staff are clear about their working rota and rest periods
• Being responsible for ensuring that all time sheets for locum staff are completed, coded, signed, and forwarded to the Agency and Finance Department
• Maintaining an up-to-date list of all Medical Staff in the Division
• Producing and further developing regular and comprehensive reports for the Finance team on Locum Agency expenditure
• Linking in with other Divisional Medical Staffing leads to share good practice, ensure policies and procedures are up to date, and are adhered to, and to standardise working practices