Band 8C Head of Planning

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Our trust has around 10,000 staff serving 1.6 million patients. It comprises Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital and more than 30 services in the community. This larger scale organisation provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to continue our pioneering work, particularly in finding ways to deliver even better care to our patients.

Our mission is to deliver world class care and expertise in our clinical services, underpinned by world class teaching and research and we will continue to measure our progress against our five governing objectives: excellent outcomes, excellent patient and staff experience, excellent value for taxpayers' money, being safe and meeting our external duties, and building a strong organisation.

Everyone is welcome at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. We're proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME, gender equality, staff carers and people with disabilities and lived experiences to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

Click here to view our video Welcome to the Royal Free
Click on the logo below to see the video of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust values

Job overview

This post is responsible for co-ordinating the trust's service line planning, strategic planning and annual planning processes, for contributing to development, and supporting the Royal Free's relationship with North Central London Integrated Care System and NHS England. This job is above all one in which developing effective working relationships with others from a variety of disciplines internally (clinical, financial, workforce, information management, performance) and externally (such as regulators and external advisers) is the key requirement.

Note:

This vacancy has been advertised in accordance with the new NHS pay rate which will take effect from autumn 2024. Please note if your employment starts before the 24/25 pay scales are implemented you will be paid under the 23/24 pay scales and any backpay will be adjusted accordingly. Further information can be found at https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/pay-scales-202425.

Main duties of the job

• Leading the annual planning process
• Supporting Financial Improvement Planning
• Supporting strategic planning

Working for our organisation

This role leads the Planning team within the Transformation & Improvement Directorate that is part of the Royal Free London's Group corporate services. The Directorate covers a range of change teams from strategy and planning to transformation and improvement.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1. ANNUAL PLANNING
• To be responsible for the production of the trust's annual plan, ensuring that North Central London Integrated Care System and NHS England guidance is followed, including the management through the Trust governance process
• To manage the relationship with the Finance and People teams as well as other Corporate Departments to develop the specific annual planning requirements
• To work with the Health Units to develop the individual Health Unit plans as well as as the overarching organisational plan
• To provide the market intelligence and analysis function at corporate and service line levels, such as Model Hospital, developing it further so as to support the planning requirements of the organisation and to support benchmarking.
• To undertake the annual process of corporate objective setting in the context of the board's strategy and governing objectives.
• To work with the communications department in expressing the board's plans for internal and external communications.
• Working especially with clinical directors and their teams to lead on service line planning for clinical services (and for some other entities) as prioritised by the trust executive, ensuring excellent co-ordination with related service and development programmes.
• To contribute to external relationships, especially with other providers in service line planning and with the health economy in long range planning, including solely representing the trust at those external meetings.
• To identify the need for and manage external advisers, including agreeing according to the trust's rules and guidelines their contracts and fees.
• To set and control the budget for the planning department, and to be responsible for financial performance against targets
• Direct line management, including responsibility for sickness, disciplinary, recruitment etc.

2. STRATEGIC PLANNING
• To support the development of the internal business case process
• To support the management of the internal business case process, including the Business Case Advisory Panel

Person specification

Education & professional Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Educated to postgraduate degree level (or equivalent experience)
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working with external advisers

Desirable criteria

• Experience of managing a planning process
• Experience of working in or with NHS organisations

Skills and aptitudes

Essential criteria

• Demonstrably numerate, including a working appreciation of statistics
• Demonstrably familiar with, and able to interpret, financial information
• Top quality written work in terms of clarity, accuracy and tone
• Ability to establish effective relationships with senior doctors academics, accountants, workforce and information specialist s
• Ability to brief top executives concisely and accurately
• Detailed understanding of NHS and key policy issues
• Developed IT skills

Personal Qualities & attributes

Essential criteria

• Ability to work under pressure to meet executives' demands
• Ability to work flexibly in a dynamic environment
• Diplomatic style
• Attention to detail

• Covid-19 Vaccination

  Getting vaccinated, and getting a booster, remains the best defence against COVID-19.
  We encourage and support staff to get COVID-19 vaccine and a booster dose as and when they are eligible.

• AT* - Apprenticeship Training. Where AT* is entered next to the job title indicates that this vacancy is for an apprenticeship role.
• By applying for this role, you accept if successful, that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which aims at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers. Therefore we require you to complete your stat and Man e-learning modules prior to joining our organisation.
• If you are an EU/EEA citizen who does not have EU Settlement or Pre-Settled status, you will require a visa to work in the UK.
• Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
• If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks your identity and right to work documentation will be verified remotely (in most circumstances), using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a "selfie" using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk
• The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.
• The Trust will request a DBS (CRB) if post involves regulated activities. The Trust is compliant with the Disclosure and Barring Service Codes of practice and the Rehabilitation of offenders act.
• By applying for this post you are agreeing to Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
• Please be aware of scams - unless specified above, we will only communicate with you via @recruit.trac.jobs or nhs.net e-mails and we will never ask you for any payments.

Applications are welcome from people wishing to job share or work flexible patterns. We are committed to equal opportunities.

Please note:

• Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date. Therefore please apply for this post as soon as you can, if you are interested and you meet the requirements of the Person Specification
• Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.
• Interview arrangements will be communicated via email so please check your email regularly following the closing date.

Please be advised that due to exceptionally high demand, all Royal Free accommodation is at full capacity and waiting lists are being held. Average waiting times are 12 months. Please do not rely on Trust accommodation when you commence your role and ensure you investigate alternative accommodation for your arrival.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• JD and PS (PDF, 488.3KB)
• PS (PDF, 488.3KB)
• FR (PDF, 111.5KB)
• Corporate, Admin & Clerical, Other - benefits, about RFL, values and governing objectives (PDF, 935.8KB)