Associate Director of Finance - Improvement Programme

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Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 - the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as "good" or "outstanding" in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King's College London's GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity to join Team LGT in a newly created post as Programme Director for the Trusts Improvement Programme. As a credible senior leader with significant experience in operational and financial management you would be joining a set of teams delivering large and complex improvement programmes across our sites and services. Reporting into the Deputy Director of Finance you would have senior accountability for the financial delivery these programmes

At LGT, we are clear about the journey we are on to improve the experience for our staff and patients through our Improvement Programme. We've made significant progress over the last year and have strengthened our operational, clinical and improvement teams to support this. We still have a lot of work to do, but know that we can do this through continuing to build and strengthen our relationships both in and outside of the hospitals. Our approach encompasses strong collaboration, sharp oversight and accountability, and celebration of our progress.

The South East London Finance Academy is committed to fostering professional development and career growth for all with a particular aim of enhancing opportunities for under-represented groups and improving the diversity of our finance community.

This means, that as part of our Secondment Pledge, this permanent role is advertised with the flexibility of a potential secondment opportunity for the successful candidate. If you would like to explore this flexibility, please discuss with your current line manager and raise for discussion with the recruiting manager, this will not adversely affect your application in any way. Whilst all secondments will require agreement from both the host and receiving organisations, all organisations within SEL are committed to approaching this conversation positively.

If successful, and you would like to take up the secondment opportunity, you will need to complete the Secondment Request Form found here, South East London: Secondment Request Form, to aid discussion with your host and receiving organisations. On successful completion of the secondment, and in collaboration with your receiving organisation, you will have the opportunity to convert the secondment to a substantive appointment.

This post may not attract a COS.

Main duties of the job

The post holder is expected to work as part of a cohesive Improvement and Finance Teams and wider operational colleagues and, when necessary, to take lead responsibility for Trust-based issues outside of your immediate sphere of responsibility. You will be expected to present, and advise on, highly complex and sensitive financial and business information/issues to large groups, such as the whole Finance function as well as clinical and non-clinical colleagues from outside of Finance.

Working for our organisation

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream

Colleagues across the department work flexibly and we encourage all employees to consider how best to work to suit your individual needs. Amongst other options we welcome applications from colleagues considering the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times and a hybrid working approach

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Strategic leadership

• Provide senior leadership to LGTs Improvement and Transformation Programme, developing a coherent structure to support the financial analysis and reporting of the programme
• Responsible for the delivery of strategic programmes, ensuring delivery of workstream success and continued progression of required programmes and business cases through Trust governance cycles to ensure delivery of short and medium-term Trust strategy
• Ensure quality, patient safety, productivity and efficiency, best practice and performance are at the heart of improvement and that operational and clinical teams are engaged in this
• Contribute to the design and delivery of relevant IT and business intelligence systems and products relating to the portfolio, including contribution to changes to the Trust's Electronic Patient Record and other enabling systems as required.

Programme management, governance and delivery

• Proactively drive improvement and next steps through personal experience, knowledge of current best practice, robust governance and visible leadership in holding teams and individuals accountable for their actions and commitments
• Hold leadership teams to account for delivery of their objectives through regular review meetings, including across areas without direct line management responsibility. Provide appropriate input and challenge to plans where necessary.
• Effectively and proactively lead a portfolio of concurrent, complex projects, with a range of interdependencies and stakeholders.
• Manage the complex nature of the portfolio, working with divisional teams to ensure that plans align with the Trust's overarching vision and strategy and support clinical and operational teams to identify new opportunities and ways to respond to challenges

Financial management and reporting

• Ensure sufficient data availability within the portfolio to identify, monitor and track financial performance and benefits delivery, and to satisfy reporting requirements internally and externally.
• Analyse complex data sets; provide meaning and reflection to ensure continuous improvement. Make judgements involving a range of facts or situations which require analysis or comparison of a range of options, or to identify the next course of action in nebulous situations.
• Work closely with divisional teams and business intelligence teams to ensure new policies and processes are embedded and there is strong alignment with general performance management and accuracy, in line with the national access policy.
• Undertake regular audit, benchmarking, data collection and analysis to determine improvement required and relative performance delivery to other providers.
• Manage the Costing Team and trusts Service Line Reporting function
• Lead the Trusts National Cost Collection and Corporate Benchmarking returns
• Ensuring Trust Standing Financial Instructions and Trust-wide financial policies and procedures are developed, implemented and maintained to minimise Trust risk.
• Contribute to the Development, implementation and maintenance of efficient and effective policies and procedures specifically related to the trust efficiency & transformation programme within Finance and Trust-wide to ensure accurate and reliable information and records are maintained and ensuring established Finance procedures are in place and are adhered to throughout the Trust and that Trust policies are adhered to by Finance staff.
• Along with other senior colleagues, acting as lead for the Finance Directorate on the development and implementation of local and/or national projects as may be required, and develop policies and procedures ensuring that they comply with relevant financial guidance and legal requirements, and having regard to the Trust's financial interests. Put in place processes to ensure compliance with financial content of policies.

Person specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential criteria

• Educated to masters degree level or equivalent experience
• Project management qualification or equivalent experience
• Improvement qualification or equivalent experience

Desirable criteria

• Professional Chartered Accountancy Qualification (CCAB)
• Evidence of continuing professional development and management education

Experience

Essential criteria

• A proven track record of operating at a senior level within a large, complex organisation, ideally within the NHS or a similar public sector body
• A strong background in financial management, including successfully managing large budgets and a proven ability to deliver cost improvement programmes (CIPs).
• Significant experience in leading and delivering large-scale transformation, efficiency and strategy development programmes within a politically sensitive environment
• Proven experience of delivery of complex multi-disciplinary, multiple output projects
• Extensive post-qualification experience in a large and complex organisation with significant autonomy.
• Up to date with the NHS policy, national directives and all Governance aspects but with a specific emphasis on NHS Finance.

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, written and verbal.
• Ability to communicate highly complex and sensitive information to large groups.
• Ability to challenge and effectively manage and deal with highly contentious situations and issues. Strong strategic and analytical skills to address complex issues and make data-driven decisions.
• Sound political judgment and astuteness in understanding and working with complex policy, information and diverse interest groups
• Highly developed influencing skills: with senior health care professionals across the Health Community and external organisations.
• Ability to be intellectually flexible and to look beyond existing structures, ways of working, boundaries and organisations to produce more effective and innovative ways of working and partnerships.
• Proven ability to prioritise workload in a dynamic work environment and instruct and direct others which deliver positive outcomes.

Desirable criteria

• Proven ability to make significant contributions to long term organisational strategy.

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Has the drive and energy to make things happen; frequently goes "above and beyond" the call of duty.
• Has resilience, patience, authority, gravitas, and an ability to influence widely.
• Demonstrable commitment to and focus on quality, promotes high standards to consistently improve patient outcomes.
• Demonstrably involves patients and the public in their work.
• Demonstrable commitment to partnership working with a range of external organisations. Works across boundaries, looks for collective success, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others.
• High level of work organisation, self-motivation, drive for performance and improvement, and flexibility in approach and attitude.
• Actively develops themselves and others.
• Uses evidence to make improvements, seeks out innovation.
• Self-awareness in terms of emotional intelligence, biases and personal triggers with cultural sensitivity and awareness.
• Values diversity and difference, operates with integrity and openness.

We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.

As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women's staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.

Please note, not all roles will meet the criteria for a skilled worker visa.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

Application numbers

To ensure fairness and manageable shortlisting processes, some vacancies may have an application cap. This means the vacancy will close once a set number of applications have been received even if this happens before the advertised closing date.

We recommend applying as early as possible to avoid missing out. All applications received before the cap is reached will be considered equally and assessed against the person specification.
Documents to download

• Job Description (PDF, 850.1KB)
• Working at LGT (PDF, 4.2MB)
• Visa and Certificate of Sponsorship Information for Applicants (PDF, 3.8MB)
• Candidates Guidance on Applying (PDF, 175.2KB)
• Candidate Guidance on the use of AI (PDF, 3.8MB)