Site Trust Headquarters Town Gatwick
Salary £62,215 - £72,293 As per Agenda for Change.
Salary period Yearly
Closing 16/03/2025 23:59
Interview date 14/04/2025
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has a vision to ‘support our staff to provide a caring, high quality and efficient urgent and emergency care service to our communities’. We are rated ‘Good’ for care by the Care Quality Commission and while the other areas under their most recent report require improvement, our aim is to continually improve and to reach outstanding across all areas of the Trust.
Our 4,000+ workforce provide services to 4.9m people across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire. We handle over 1 million calls to 999 and 1 million calls to NHS 111 every year. More information regarding our services and locations can be found on our website.
Job overview
Are professional behaviours important to you, do you have the drive to impact the culture in SECAmb?
We are looking for a dynamic person to lead our Professional Standards function as the new Head of Professional Standards.
You will need to be able to be flexible in your approach when dealing with differing situations regarding professional behaviour.
We are looking for a HCPC registered Paramedic with significant experience leading the professional standards workspace.
Applicants should have demonstrable experience leading complex investigations and is expected to have a high degree of empathy and integrity. The ideal candidate will use intelligent kindness in their everyday work.
The role will require the postholder to have worked with professional regulators presenting cases and also supporting colleagues at hearings.
The Trust is on a transformational journey with Just Culture and is about to enter year two of the clinically led strategy. Our people are at the heart of this strategy and this post will support, guide and empower changes to professional behaviours and where required holding to account.
The role will be integral to the newly formed Paramedic Directorate but will hold trustwide responsibility for professional standards across the entire organisation.
If you think this role is for you, or you would like to discuss this role further please get in touch.
Main duties of the job
* Provide an expert point of reference for matters of professional standards, this includes up to an executive level.
* To lead the Professional Standards function: driving the development of an internal culture that delivers the highest standards of honesty and integrity; communicating with all stakeholders to develop and maintain a high level of confidence and trust in the integrity of SECAmb.
* Supporting the leadership of the highest quality professional clinical care in line with the principle of a ‘Just Culture’.
* Embed the principles of SECAmb into a compassionate approach to maintaining professional standards.
* Ensure that the trust is actively engaged with all the appropriate professional regulators.
Working for our organisation
* Option to join NHS pension scheme
* A minimum 27 days' holiday each year, increasing after 5 years’ service.
* Personal and professional development and training opportunities.
* Salary Sacrifice schemes for cars or push bikes.
* Access to occupational health and counselling services.
* Back up buddy App
* Access to NHS discounts, offering NHS employees a range of money-saving deals.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
They will work closely with the Consultant Paramedics, Chief Paramedic, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, and other senior members of the Clinical, Education and Standards, People and Culture and Operations Directorate, to identify risks, errors, professional and clinical malpractice, and assist the relevant Directorates to develop best practice.
Person specification
Qualifications
* Registered paramedic with demonstrable level of clinical and leadership experience
* A minimum of a MSc in Paramedic Science or equivalent clinical and leadership experience and/or substantial demonstrate experience in a similar role or setting
* A recognised qualification in Quality Improvement methodology
Experience
* Current experience working autonomously in a pre-hospital care environment
* Demonstrable experience of investigation at the most complex level
* Clear demonstrable experience in presenting highly complex information or situations requiring analysis, interpretation comparison of a range of options
* Detailed knowledge of the professional regulatory procedure with experience in presenting information to such panels or sitting in such a setting.
* Expert knowledge in the PSII, inquest, claims and internal resolution process
* Detailed experience in community with patients and families when things have gone wrong in the most complex of case. Detailed understanding of the duty of candour guidance.
Knowledge
* Knowledge of how risk management can be applied to the handling of liability claims and Inquests
* Ability to lead, motivate and inspire others
* Sound political judgement and astuteness in understanding and working with complex policy, and diverse interest groups, and common sense in knowing when to escalate or brief senior managers/clinicians
* Evidence of leading challenging investigations/reviews and supporting staff through the process
* Understand how risk management can be applied to professional standards
Skills
* Evidence of the development of innovative approaches to professional standards
* Experience in providing assurance to directors around complex processes
* Proven ability to analyse complex problems and to develop and successfully implement practical and workable solutions to address them
* Ability to manage competing professional demands and work autonomously, whilst also prioritising competing demands and achieving good time management
Please note that the salary range noted on the vacancy is in line with agenda for change (AFC) pay scales. All successful applicants would be placed automatically at the bottom of the banding, unless proven, relevant NHS or equivalent experience can be demonstrated.
Following the revision of current national legislation (Vaccine as a Condition of Deployment), the Trust has reviewed our requirements relating to staff uptake of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) vaccination.
Going forward, for patient facing positions, we strongly recommend that new starters will be appropriately vaccinated unless medically exempt in order to offer greater protection against exposure to the virus for front line staff.
In line with this recommendation, if you are successful in your application for a front line post, we will seek information from you in relation to your vaccine status, including exemption status, as applicable.
Please note, all positions come with a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check relevant to the post. This will either be a basic, standard, or enhanced check depending on the role. The level of check will be outlined in the conditional offer letter sent to successful applicants.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to declare any unspent/unfiltered convictions. If you are shortlisted you will then be sent a self declaration form, which must be completed prior to attending interview. for any queries relating to declarations, please contact the Recruitment Advisor listed on the vacancy.
The Trust is passionately committed to being an inclusive employer - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. As an employer we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement networks, facilities and services to support staff from different backgrounds.
We actively support equality of opportunity for all our staff and welcome applications from individuals regardless of age, any disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief. The Trust is making progress towards its aim of becoming more reflective of the diversity of our community in our workforce and guarantees an interview to candidates with disability who meet the essential criteria specified. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and disabled applicants and those from other under-represented groups.
The Equality Act 2010 protects disabled people - including those with long term health conditions, learning disabilities and hidden disabilities such as dyslexia. If you tell us that you have a disability we can make reasonable adjustments to ensure that any selection processes - including the interview - are fair and equitable.
We are committed to offering opportunities to individuals with disabilities and offer on-going support, should you be successful, with any adjustments you may need when performing your role.
When completing the application please use your name as it appears on your passport and please ensure you include email addresses and contact numbers for your referees to avoid delay in the recruitment process.
Please note that under our Trust policies, we're unable to employ anyone under the age of 18 years old.
The majority of our roles will include some travel between sites for business purposes. If the vacancy you’re applying for includes work related travel, you will be required to ensure that you hold and have covered the cost of suitable car insurance to support this.
Should you require an application form in an alternative format including large print or braille, please contact recruitment@secamb.nhs.uk stating the vacancy reference number and we will be happy to provide this.
When completing the reference section, please include details to cover the last three years’ history.
Due to the high volume of applications at SECAmb, we regret that we will only be able to contact those applicants who are shortlisted for interview. If you have not heard from us within 10 working days of the closing date, then please assume you have not been shortlisted for interview on this particular occasion.
Please note that we contact all applicants via Trac Jobs and would advise you check your Trac Jobs account regularly.
Please be aware that the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy early if sufficient applications are received. For this reason we recommend completing your application as early as possible.
Follow our recruitment on Twitter @SECAmbRecruit and check out our Facebook page - SECAmb NHS Recruitment. You can also find us on Linkedin under South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.
If you are a current SECAmb employee, by applying for this position, if successful you will move to the terms and conditions associated with the post. Any unsocial hours payments will be paid under the Section 2 agreement of agenda for change. Section 2 unsocial hours will need to be claimed via your monthly timesheet. More information regarding section 2 can be found in the Agenda for Change handbook and on the our dedicated Section 2 page on The Zone.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Name Julie Ormrod Job title Consultant Paramedic, Urgent & Emergency Care Email address julie.ormrod@secamb.nhs.uk Telephone number 07766 471995 Additional information
Jaqui Lindridge
Chief Paramedic Officer
jaqualine.lindridge@secamb.nhs.uk
07741 129386
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