Business Manager - Memory Services

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good'.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone's potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I'm going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you'll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

This role is an exciting opportunity to provide operational and strategic leadership of the business and administration systems supporting the Trust's three memory services (covering Croydon, Lewisham, and Southwark and Lambeth). The post plays a key role in supporting the services to reduce the amount of time patients wait for a memory assessment, and to increase the number of patients receiving a diagnosis within six weeks of referral, in line with national targets. An ability to understand and analyse data about the services' current clinical activity is essential, as is the drive to identify themes and areas for improvement.

The postholder will provide professional leadership and support to six service administrators, and work closely with the memory service team leaders to ensure that systems operate safely, effectively and responsively to meet the needs of services. This will include sharing best practice and reducing unwarranted variation in systems as well as ensuring that clinical capacity is maximised.

The role would suit someone with significant experience of administration in a health or social care setting, who is passionate about service development and quality improvement, and is able to plan and oversee specific improvement projects. The post involves working flexibly across the three team bases as well as some flexibility to work from other sites, so the postholder must be able to travel across the four boroughs on a regular basis.

Main duties of the job
• You will be reviewing data around waiting times and frequency of patient contact on weekly basis to identify issues and themes, propose and implement ideas for development and set and monitor trajectories for improvement. We are therefore looking for someone who has experience of analysing and presenting service-related data, and who has either completed, is working towards, or is willing to undertake further qualifications in managing data, such as the level 3 data technician apprenticeship.

Another key aspect of the role is offering professional leadership and support to the administrators across the memory services, and providing specialist advice, guidance and training to support skill development. Being able to draw on your own significant experience of administrative work in a health or social setting is essential in this, as well as having excellent interpersonal skills.

You will ensure that administration, business and office-based systems operate safely, effectively and responsively to meet the needs of services. This includes sharing best practice across teams, reducing unwarranted variation in practices, and ensuring that all practices are in line with Trust policies and procedures. Experience of participating in and supporting service development and quality improvement initiatives, and an ability to think strategically are key skills in this area.

Working for our organisation

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has three memory services, covering the boroughs of Croydon, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark. The memory services provide assessment, diagnosis, treatment initiation and support planning for individuals presenting with memory problems consistent with a suspected dementia.

They are busy multi-disciplinary teams, receiving over 2000 referrals per year between them. They serve diverse populations, and work closely with primary care and voluntary sector agencies in the area. While they work primarily with people over 65, they assess patients of any age and have access to specialist investigations as required.

The post will involve working flexibly across the three team memory service bases as well as some flexibility to work from other sites if desired, so the post holder must be able to travel across the four boroughs on a weekly basis. All three bases have good public transport links, so driving is not required.

The Southwark and Lambeth Memory Service is located at 151 Blackfriars Road (SE1 8EL), within walking distance of Waterloo and Elephant and Castle train stations and served by several bus routes

The Lewisham Memory Service is based at 91 Granville Park (SE13 7DW), a short walk from Lewisham station and shopping centre

The Croydon Memory Service is based at 122 Selhurst Road (SE25 6LL), a short walk from Selhurst station and within walking distance of South Norwood high street and Norwood Junction station.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key responsibilities include:
• Providing professional leadership and support to the administrators across the memory services, providing specialist advice, guidance and training to support skill development. This will include support with the training, supervision and appraisal of administrative staff
• Regularly reviewing data around waiting times and frequency of patient contact to identify issues and themes, propose and implement ideas for development and set and monitor trajectories for improvement. This includes collecting and analysing data to monitor dementia diagnosis rates and progress against the NHS England ambition to increase the number of people with dementia diagnosed within 6 weeks of referral
• Ensuring that administration, business and office-based systems operate safely, effectively and responsively to meet the needs of services. This includes sharing best practice across teams, reducing unwarranted variation in practices, and ensuring that all practices are in line with Trust policies and procedures
• Ensuring that waits for the services and appointment booking is managed in line with the Trust's standard operating processes and that data quality requirements are met for all referrals received. This will include reviewing, maintaining and analysing data and performance reports and implementing actions to improve data quality on a regular basis.
• Leading on the recruitment and induction of new administrative staff within the service and implementing regular reviews of administrative support, using problem solving approaches to identify alternative ways of working where appropriate and ensuring that resources are targeted effectively
• Liaising with internal and external stakeholders such as GPs, acute hospitals and voluntary agencies to ensure cohesion and good communication with those parts of the memory pathway that are delivered outside of the service, and put systems in place for joint information reporting as required
• Supporting with the ambition to successfully achieve MSNAP accreditation for the services, and contributing to the development and improvement of the service through taking a lead role on other appropriate projects. This will include providing project management support, including developing and operating systems for managing projects, recording activities and tracking progress
• Ensuring that the memory services have appropriate systems in place for to collection of patient and carer feedback and that the responses to these are used to good effect to inform improvements within the service
• Managing the non-pay budget and process, ensuring that any purchasing is completed in line with agreed policies and processes, that resources are used to good effect, that any budget discrepancies are investigated and resolved and that financial sustainability is monitored
• Leading on the management of space, the environment and IT to maximise the clinical capacity of the services and support effective outpatient, virtual and home visit appointments for clinicians.
• Leading on health and safety and fire safety compliance within the services, including ensuring the timely submission of health and safety documentation, and ensuring any issues are dealt with promptly.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Relevant degree, professional qualification or equivalent experience (A)
• Evidence of continuous professional development (A)
• Completed, working towards or willing to undertake further qualification in using data, e.g. data technician apprenticeship (A/I)

Desirable criteria

• Dementia Friend Training (A)
• Further training in project management (A)

Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant experience in administration in a health or social care setting (A/I)
• Experience in the development and maintenance of electronic data collection systems (A/I)
• Experience of analysing and presenting data (A/I)
• Experience of participating in and supporting service development and quality improvement initiatives (A/I)

Desirable criteria

• Experience of managing projects (A/I)
• Experience of supervising / managing administrative staff (A/I)
• Experience of recruitment and selection processes (A/I)

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

• High level of competency in the use of Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Teams (A/I)
• Understanding of equality and diversity issues relevant to service provision and the work environment (A/I)
• Ability to plan and prioritise workload and work to deadlines (A/I)
• Ability to think strategically, plan, implement and review progress (A/I)
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written, within an ability to motivate others and liaise at all levels (A/I)
• Ability to travel across the Trust's three memory services (public transport links are good, so driving is not essential) (A/I)

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of quality improvement methodology (A/I)

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity

Please note:

• That all applications for this post will need to be made online
• That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
• That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
• That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
• That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not successful
• That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
• That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
• That we are a smoke-free Trust

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion , Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe'

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

• Job Description and Person Specification (PDF, 528.6KB)
• SLaM Staff Benefits (PDF, 1.1MB)
• Happy to Talk Flexible Working (PDF, 680.1KB)