Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate

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Job summary

The role of Independent Senior Advocate (ISA) is a new role, developed as part of an exciting national pilot scheme. This is a 12-month, fixed-term contract, following which there will be a nationally commissioned external independent evaluation to inform the future roll out.

It will not be appropriate to second any currently practicing clinicians from Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Maternity services / Trusts into the role as this will undermine the level of independence of the role.

Main duties of the job

ISAs will work across both Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust to support women, birthing people and families across the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire area. They will help parents-to-be, new parents and families to be listened to, ensuring their voices are heard by their maternity and neonatal care providers. They will provide support to support women, birthing people and their families navigating the healthcare system and provide advocacy when they have a concern about the care they are receiving. In particular, ISAs will be available to support families attending follow up meetings with clinicians, where concerns about maternity or neonatal care are discussed, aiming to break down barriers to being listened to and heard. Their focus must be on supporting women, birthing people and families to navigate through complexity, to help to resolve their concerns and to seek change and improvements in their care.

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for more detailed information about the role and the skills needed.

About us

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB is responsible for the healthcare of a population of just over one million people. Our role involves deciding what services are needed for our diverse local populations, ensuring that they are provided and checking that they are delivering what's needed.

The ICB is a strategic component of the Integrated Care System (ICS) across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire delivering the commitments set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

As a strategic commissioner we are responsible for meeting the needs of our population through commissioning high quality services. We seek to improve the patient experience and are committed at looking at innovative ways we can improve care and offer more choice. Patients are at the heart of everything we do and it's important that they are involved not just in decisions about their individual care, but also in the decisions that shape the health services delivered locally.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Essential qualities include, advocacy and listening skills, experience of making change at a senior level across health and care, thorough knowledge of maternity services and the ability to support women and families navigate complex issues. A clinical background is not an essential quality.

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for more detail.

Job description
Job responsibilities

Essential qualities include, advocacy and listening skills, experience of making change at a senior level across health and care, thorough knowledge of maternity services and the ability to support women and families navigate complex issues. A clinical background is not an essential quality.

Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for more detail.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level.
• Advocacy qualification and counselling training, or equivalent level of experience.

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• Thorough knowledge and understanding of maternity and neonatal services.
• Experience of addressing health inequalities
• Extensive experience of advocacy.
• Experience of working at a senior level and of influencing change
• Extensive knowledge of specialist areas acquired through post graduate diploma or equivalent experience or training plus further specialist knowledge.
• Evidence of post qualifying and continuing professional development.
• Must have an understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy.
• Have an appreciation of the relationship between the NHS England, Integrated Care Systems and individual provider organisations.
• Experience of building effective cross functional working relationships to drive organisational agenda.
• Evidence of complex relationship building with senior stakeholders
• Understanding of issues surrounding equality and diversity and of the differences between people

Desirable

• Experience of supporting those with birth trauma and of working in bereavement
• Experience of leading or managing service improvement.

Skills

Essential

• Extensive advocacy skills
• Able to communicate effectively at all levels (including listening & hearing) and with compassion.
• Demonstrable experience of effective active listening.
• Demonstrable influencing skills - including at Board level
• Ability to work autonomously and to self-motivate
• Ability to recognise and overcome barriers on behalf of women and their families.
• Ability to prioritise conflicting and changing demands.
• Highly developed communication skills with the capability to analyse, review and make sense of highly complex, sensitive or contentious information.
• Demonstrable skills in presenting complex concepts and information which may include difficult and controversial issues.
• Ability to identify risks, anticipate issues and create solutions and to resolve problems.
• Ability to understand a broad range of complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ/no obvious solution.
• Ability to work without supervision, working to tight and often changing timescales.
• Evidence of planning and delivering programmes and projects and services on time
• Experience of managing difficult and challenging conversations

Values and Behaviours

Essential

• Commitment to and focused on quality, promotes high standards in all they do. Able to make a connection between their work and the benefit to patients and the public.
• Ability to operate in a value-driven style consistent with the values of the public services and specifically with the new organisational values
• Works across boundaries, looks for collective success, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others
• Values diversity and difference; operates with integrity and openness
• Works well with others, is positive and helpful, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others.

Person Specification
Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level.
• Advocacy qualification and counselling training, or equivalent level of experience.

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• Thorough knowledge and understanding of maternity and neonatal services.
• Experience of addressing health inequalities
• Extensive experience of advocacy.
• Experience of working at a senior level and of influencing change
• Extensive knowledge of specialist areas acquired through post graduate diploma or equivalent experience or training plus further specialist knowledge.
• Evidence of post qualifying and continuing professional development.
• Must have an understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy.
• Have an appreciation of the relationship between the NHS England, Integrated Care Systems and individual provider organisations.
• Experience of building effective cross functional working relationships to drive organisational agenda.
• Evidence of complex relationship building with senior stakeholders
• Understanding of issues surrounding equality and diversity and of the differences between people

Desirable

• Experience of supporting those with birth trauma and of working in bereavement
• Experience of leading or managing service improvement.

Skills

Essential

• Extensive advocacy skills
• Able to communicate effectively at all levels (including listening & hearing) and with compassion.
• Demonstrable experience of effective active listening.
• Demonstrable influencing skills - including at Board level
• Ability to work autonomously and to self-motivate
• Ability to recognise and overcome barriers on behalf of women and their families.
• Ability to prioritise conflicting and changing demands.
• Highly developed communication skills with the capability to analyse, review and make sense of highly complex, sensitive or contentious information.
• Demonstrable skills in presenting complex concepts and information which may include difficult and controversial issues.
• Ability to identify risks, anticipate issues and create solutions and to resolve problems.
• Ability to understand a broad range of complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ/no obvious solution.
• Ability to work without supervision, working to tight and often changing timescales.
• Evidence of planning and delivering programmes and projects and services on time
• Experience of managing difficult and challenging conversations

Values and Behaviours

Essential

• Commitment to and focused on quality, promotes high standards in all they do. Able to make a connection between their work and the benefit to patients and the public.
• Ability to operate in a value-driven style consistent with the values of the public services and specifically with the new organisational values
• Works across boundaries, looks for collective success, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others
• Values diversity and difference; operates with integrity and openness
• Works well with others, is positive and helpful, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others.

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.

Employer details

Employer name

NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board
Address

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICS

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

NG5 6LU

Employer's website