Associate Director – Offender Healthcare Operations
Band 8d
Main area: Offender Healthcare
Grade: Band 8d
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 277-6905784-KENT
Site: Bracton Centre
Town: Dartford
Salary: £93,903 - £107,412 pa inc
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 17/01/2025 23:59
Interview date: 29/01/2025
Job overview
A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a permanent role as Associate Director, to provide effective leadership and management of all Oxleas’ Prison Healthcare services across London and Kent. We are looking for an experienced and driven senior leader to join our friendly senior leadership group.
You will possess excellent organisational skills and be a quick but considered thinker, able to flex between dealing with emerging crises and working towards the service’s long-term aspirations. You will excel in establishing and developing excellent working relationships with service users, colleagues, partner agencies, and stakeholders, and be skilled at coordinating moving parts and dealing with ambiguity and nuance.
The role is extremely busy and challenging but hugely enjoyable and fun, and you will be made to feel very welcome!
Main duties of the job
The purpose of the role is to lead the operational delivery of integrated physical, mental, and emotional well-being of detained populations within HMP London and Kent.
1. In conjunction with the Service Director, responsible for the effective leadership and management of all Prison healthcare services which contractually we provide.
2. In liaison with the Service Director and Heads of Healthcare, regularly link with key stakeholders including commissioners and prison governors and directors. This will include attendance at contract meetings and local prison governance forums.
3. In liaison with the Service Director and other members of the Core Board, lead the development agenda on new business opportunities, including writing business cases.
4. Provide direction and coordination in conjunction with Heads of Healthcare services in shaping and implementing the future provision and quality of services provided.
5. Ensure proactive management of sub-contracted services through a regular review process that ensures the required quality and financial standards are met.
Working for our organisation
Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities, and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing, and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils, and the voluntary sector through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools, and people’s homes.
We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London, we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Kent, and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.
Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:
* We Listen
* We Care
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Key Duties and Responsibilities
Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification for full details.
1. This post requires visible leadership and engagement at prison sites with an expectation of regular attendance at sites across HMP London and Kent: HMP Wandsworth, HMP Isis, HMP Swaleside, HMP Elmley, HMP Standford Hill, HMP Maidstone, HMP Rochester, HMP Cookham Wood, HMP East Sutton Park.
2. Responsible for overall annual budget of £44 million across 9 prison sites and approximately 500 WTEs. Ensure that each site manages its expenditure within the income attributed to it, achieving agreed income targets and activity plan, taking mitigating action to reduce expenditure as required.
3. Operate independently in providing leadership and direction to the prison teams ensuring effective participation in the development of services in the prisons.
4. Develop and maintain strong and positive relationships with the Service Director, Regional Managers, and Heads of Healthcare to assist in moving services forward.
5. Develop and maintain effective working arrangements with Commissioners, voluntary organisations, secure service providers, and other stakeholders.
6. Responsible for the performance management agenda within the prisons including reporting and monitoring arrangements.
7. Provide effective leadership through formal supervision and appraisal.
8. Actively promote a culture of equal opportunities for staff and service users.
9. Provide specialist knowledge and leadership on the delivery of healthcare in prisons across the catchment area ensuring the delivery of a high-quality service is delivered within allocated resources.
10. Participate fully in continuous professional development and supervision.
Person Specification
Education, Training & Qualifications
* Educated to degree level with a relevant qualification at masters/doctorate or equivalent experience.
* Evidence of ongoing professional development.
Knowledge and Abilities
* Minimum of five years’ experience at senior management level in a health or social care organisation.
* Experience managing large operational teams covering a large geographical area. Leading on cultural change to embed new ways of working across dispersed and diverse services and teams.
* Working successfully with partner organisations and stakeholders including staff, service users, commissioners, and regulatory agencies.
* Managing significant budgets and achievement of recurrent efficiencies and savings.
* Ability to analyse and interpret performance and financial information in ways that inform and drive improvement in services.
* Ability to communicate clearly and openly with all staff on issues of difficulty as well as successes.
* An excellent understanding of effective systems of governance and the management of clinical and non-clinical risks.
* Excellent project management skills and the ability to see through tasks to their successful conclusion within timescales and budgets.
* Strong performance management skills combining clarity around expectations, direction, and holding others to account.
* Excellent negotiation skills to broker agreements with a range of stakeholders including commissioners, governors, and patient/family representatives.
* Commitment to the aims and values of the NHS combined with high personal integrity.
* Review, develop, and lead implementation of workforce-related policies and protocols to support the Trust’s strategic and operational priorities.
Experience and knowledge of healthcare delivery in a prison environment.
Knowledge of and experience working in the NHS.
Skills
* Skilled in the use of IT equipment and software: Proven editorial skills, management of information systems, advanced keyboard skills for accuracy.
* Excellent oral and written communication skills.
* Full driving licence.
* Physical Effort: Must be able to sit in a restricted position for long periods when writing up reports, sitting in meetings, etc.
* Mental Effort: There is frequent requirement for prolonged concentration when analysing, writing reports, attending meetings plus the postholder should expect frequent interruptions.
* Emotional Effort: There will be occasions when dealing with highly distressing or emotional circumstances such as when conveying unwelcome news or having to deal with unexpected deaths. Strong ability to empathise and be sensitive to the needs of others, to overcome barriers to understanding to achieve project outcomes.
* Working Conditions: Working in prisons will mean that the postholder is exposed to noise.
* High level of integrity. Team player. Able to champion the Trust’s values and principles at all levels.
* Able to demonstrate political acumen, both within the organisation and externally. Keeps abreast of national and local policy and best practice to inform own working.
* Able to develop oneself and others.
* A professional manner and a positive approach. Strong customer focus.
* Able to self-manage and work effectively in a complex deadline-driven environment; highly self-motivated and results-oriented.
* A ‘systems thinker’ – able to identify and take forward opportunities to make corporate processes more efficient and effective.
* Able to problem solve and work proactively with colleagues to come up with solutions. Able to work flexibly, dealing with ambiguity and responding rapidly to changing priorities.
Other
This post requires the ability to travel at least 50% of the time to ensure high visibility leadership and support to teams across London and the South East.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
All applicants must be willing to undertake National Security Vetting in order to work in a Prison Setting. This will be completed as part of the pre-employment checks through Oxleas and the prison vetting team.
You will need to provide:
Proof of right to work documentation
Proof of ID, needs to include 1 photographic ID
Proof of address documentation
Non-UK passport holders will need to have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home office Share code.
Address History:
5 years address history will be needed.
Applicants that are not UK Passport holders who provide less than 5 years UK address history will need to provide a Police Certificate which must be in English from where they resided previously.
Applicants who are UK Passport holders who have lived abroad for a period of more than six months during the last three years will need to provide a certificate of good conduct or an overseas police check in English from the countries resided in or visited.
In order to assist you in obtaining a Police Certificate, guidance can be sought from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants
If the country you have resided in is not listed here, you can obtain the necessary information by contacting the relevant Embassy or High Commission for that Country. Their contact details can be found on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en).
Person specification
Education & Qualifications
* Degree or equivalent professional qualification
* Evidence of ongoing professional development.
Experience
* Substantial experience of leading and managing integrated health services in a prison environment including primary care, substance misuse, mental health, and associated specialty cares.
* Substantial years working with commissioners to deliver Trust contractual obligations.
* Significant experience of managing subcontractor relationships holding them accountable for service delivery in line with service specification.
* Experience of advising senior colleagues about marketing, business development, and bid writing; persuading, influencing, and negotiating where necessary.
* Project management experience involving large and complex projects and programmes.
Skills/Abilities/Knowledge
* Knowledge and understanding of NHS structures and Foundation Trust status.
* Knowledge of robust project planning techniques, and how to successfully deliver complex projects.
* Ability to communicate well both orally and in writing to convey complex and sensitive material accessibly and compellingly.
* An innovative and creative thinker with the ability to identify business opportunities.
* Substantial years working in a bid management position or relevant equivalent position.
Attitudes/Aptitudes/Personal Characteristics
* Self-motivated
* Clearly articulates information
* High level of integrity
* Seeks creative solutions to problems
* Team player
Other - Access to Driving License
* Access to full clean driving licence
We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes and supports individuals of all abilities. Remember, if you meet the minimum criteria for this role and you have a disability, you can be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme - Please ensure you select this on your application form. We would encourage you to be open about your needs so we can work with you to design a comfortable and accessible interview experience. Any information you provide regarding a disability or a need for adjustments will be treated in confidence and will only be shared with colleagues who are supporting this request.
If you require any adjustments to participate fully in the interview process, please let us know by adding the relevant details when scheduling your preferred interview date and time. Please feel free to contact the appointing manager to discuss your needs.
We encourage applicants to contact the hiring manager before their interview if they have any questions about the role or the process. This is a great way to get clarity and prepare effectively for the interview.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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: Aisling Thompson
Job title: Service Director Forensics & Offender Healthcare
Email address: aisling.thompson2@nhs.net
Telephone number: 07748088649
If you'd like to explore opportunities to work for us please submit an expression of interest form.
Our HR team will keep in touch with you to find the right opportunity.
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