Job summary

A key senior leadership role supporting the Director of the Directorate and a key senior finance professional and part of the Welsh Government NHS Financial management team.

Provide leadership, strategic, and professional management combined with operational responsibility for closely monitoring NHS Wales' organisations financial performance.

Lead role in assessing the financial health of NHS Wales's organisations and provide a holistic assessment of improvement potential and key focus areas through aligning all intelligence and best practice information developed and accessed by the function

Provide leadership in developing and implementing all aspects of the Directorates intervention methodology.

Lead role in influencing the strategic financial intelligence agenda, developing all aspects of the Function's co-ordination of all costing, benchmarking, resource utilisation, and allocation intelligence to provide a holistic view of financial intelligence across all NHS Wales organisations. This includes supporting the development of the Value Based Healthcare agenda as required.

Main duties of the job

Lead role in influencing the strategic financial intelligence agenda, developing all aspects of the Function's co-ordination of all costing, benchmarking, resource utilisation, and allocation intelligence to provide a holistic view of financial intelligence across all NHS Wales organisations. This includes supporting the development of the Value Based Healthcare agenda as required.

The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; Welsh and/or English speakers are equally welcome to apply.

About us

The NHS Executive works in partnership for and on behalf of Welsh Government, in and with the NHS in Wales and is hosted by Public Health Wales.

Our key purpose is to drive improvements in the quality and safety of care - resulting in better and more equitable outcomes, access and patient experience, reduced variation, and improvements in population health.

We do this by providing strong leadership and strategic direction - enabling, supporting, and directing NHS Wales to transform clinical services in line with national priorities and standards.

To find out more about working for us and the benefits we offer please visit

For guidance on the application process, please visit

Job description

Job responsibilities

Communications & Relationships

Provide leadership and direction across situations where highly complex ideas or concepts need to be conveyed and implemented in easily understood language. Develop close working relationships with a number of stakeholders to deliver the Directorates business objectives. Providing and receiving highly complex, highly sensitive or highly contentious information, where there are significant barriers to acceptance, overcome these using the highest level of interpersonal and communication skills, such as would be required when communicating in a hostile, antagonistic or highly emotive atmosphere. Providing best practice advice to NHS Wales organisations on all aspects of financial management. Communicate directly with Boards, managers, clinicians and staff, patients and the public, demonstrating a high level of presentation skills. Write convincing, well researched and articulate papers for Board level consumption.

Analytical & Judgemental Skills

Be able to analyse and assess conflicting information where expert opinion may differ, or information may not be viable relying on judgement and critical thinking to deliver an appropriate outcome. Create reports from internal and external sources that allow evaluation of services and advise policy approaches. Lead on identifying the impact of new initiatives, evidence based proposals, and producing implementation and benefit realisation plans. Ensure that any nationally required financial information submissions are submitted accurately and on time; evaluate and interpret exceptions. Work closely with NHS Wales organisations to provide comparative analysis to support pathway development across acute, primary and community care settings. Analyse all metrics applicable to optimal performance and support drive for improvement in financial performance and delivery.

Planning & Organisational Skills

To support the formulation of long term strategic plans and frameworks which involve uncertainly and may impact on NHS Wales organisations ensuring they fit within the Welsh Government (WG) strategic planning and delivery context. To regularly monitor and review a variety of delivery plans, intervening when required to ensure delivery stays on track. Responsible for the effectiveness of financial monitoring as a means for ongoing review of organisations sustainable financial health and delivery against all improvement programmes. Ensure that changes implemented, policies and frameworks written, and concepts developed are in line with latest WG guidelines and evidence based best practice. Lead on the development of all aspects of Financial Intervention, from trigger identification to methodology and implementation. Lead in providing professional financial assessments of the overall holistic view of financial performance and sustainability by organisation. Lead work to develop a comprehensive financial risk assessment and mechanism to inform WG escalation status and ensure that future plans address an improvement in underlying financial risk and sustainability. Lead in developing benchmarking models which compare performance with the best in the UK and worldwide where appropriate and provide sufficient analysis to support and guide performance improvement. Lead in developing the Financial Planning & Delivery Directorates strategy and maximise benefits from strategic partnership working.

Managerial & Leadership

To direct, lead and motivate the Financial Planning & Delivery Directorate. This will include coaching and mentoring, resource planning, standard setting, sickness and performance management, team and individual development.

Policy & Service Development Implementation

Responsible for a range of policy and framework development and implementation to support NHS Wales financial delivery. Work with partner organisations and stakeholders as appropriate in collaborative schemes for delivery of joint strategy and service developments. Develop models to modernise structures that support new ways of working and future service development. Work with the NHS Executive, WG, and others to ensure that the information required to produce financial analysis is developed and available on a timely basis.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Knowledge

Essential

CCAB / CIMA Qualified & Member of Professional body Educated to Postgraduate level or equivalent, Evidence of Continuing Professional Development

Desirable

Postgraduate managerial qualification or other professional qualification, Programme / Project Management qualification Demonstrates significant Personal Leadership development, Evidence of personal research into a clinical, managerial, financial area

Experience

Essential

Extensive experience, working at a senior level in a large complex organisation, Significant experience as a senior finance manager within the NHS Record of effective contribution to the development of business strategy, Experience of planning and implementing long-term strategy Proven track record of successfully introducing service improvement or successful management of significant organisational change in a complex environment, Experience of significant involvement in a clinical, service or finance improvement project Experience of strategic thinking at a senior level and engagement with independent board members and senior executives, Demonstrable success in building, leading, motivating, managing and developing teams Detailed knowledge of NHS Wales finance regime, including a thorough understanding of organisations financial duties, responsibilities and governance requirements Detailed understanding of NHS Wales planning framework and processes, Good understanding of the concepts of Value Based Healthcare

Skills and Attributes

Essential

Ability to analyse and appropriately present often highly complex information, Able to interpret complex qualitative and quantitative information and provide advice to senior leaders Proven ability to achieve targets and objectives within a demanding and pressured environment against challenging deadlines, Able to demonstrate a high level of interpersonal skills, displaying credibility, influence and political acumen Sound judgement, decision making, and organisational skills, Able to interpret legislation, national guidance as appropriate to the role. Ability to communicate excellently both verbally and in writing in a manner which is clear, fluent and persuasive, Excellent oral communication skills and ability to explain complex financial issues to senior non-finance staff in Welsh Government and NHS Self-motivated and committed to developing self and team members, An aptitude for creative thinking, evidence of strategic development and delivery of innovative approaches Ability and confidence to demonstrate leadership across NHS Wales on driving improvements in financial planning and financial management and confidence to constructively challenge and support senior staff and their teams

Other

Essential

Advanced keyboard skills & Ability to travel between sites in a timely manner to meet the needs of the service

Desirable

Ability to speak Welsh

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