Senior Improvement Practitioner

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We are proud to provide 'Outstanding' care and be a great place to work.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust provides safe, compassionate and high quality hospital and community care to the half a million people living in East Sussex and those who visit our local area.

We are one of the largest organisations in East Sussex with an annual income of £700 million and we are the only integrated provider of acute and community care in Sussex.

Our extensive health services are provided by over 8,000+ dedicated members of staff working from two acute hospitals in Hastings and Eastbourne, three community hospitals in Bexhill, Rye and Uckfield, over 100 community sites across East Sussex, and in people's own homes.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated us as 'Good' overall, and 'Outstanding' for being Caring and Effective. The Conquest Hospital in Hastings and our Community Services were rated 'Outstanding' and Eastbourne DGH was rated 'Good' Our two acute hospitals have Emergency Departments and provide 24 hour a day care, offering a comprehensive range of surgical, medical, outpatient and maternity services, supported by a full range of diagnostic and therapy services.

Job overview

At ESHT we are about to embark on a multi-year year journey to develop and deploy a systematic approach to Continuous Improvement - a central component of the Trust's refreshed Strategy.

We're extremely excited to have a CEO who understands how important - and central - Continuous Improvement is to doing the best for our Patients and Colleagues.

We're looking for highly motivated people to join our team in stretching roles that are going to be critical to leading the Trust in achieving it's priorities.

Our team will be extremely involved in deploying the Trust's Strategy which is aimed at:

• Improving the quality of care for our patients
• Developing and empowering staff to be confident working with improvement tools and methodologies
• Being much more systematic and structured/standardised in how the Trust solves its most complex challenges in the short and long term

The Trust will need to have a culture of Continuous Improvement - where all of our team's and staff "live improvement" - day in day out for the benefit of our patients.

This role will be a key part of the team responsible for delivering the Trust's Improvement Programme, training people in Improvement tools and methodologies and deploying a new Quality Management System at ESHT.

Main duties of the job

This senior role leads key areas of the Improvement function. Core elements include supporting the Head of Improvement with leadership and direction, acting as an expert in Continuous Improvement (CI) tools and methodologies, and leading capability building by designing and delivering CI and Quality Management System (QMS) training. The role also requires expertise in deploying the Trust's QMS and embedding the team's delivery model.

As a team player, you will embed the delivery model, follow the Trust's performance and development processes, and support the development of the QMS and Improvement Culture across the Trust.

Core responsibilities include supporting management of the Improvement Team, leading the use and deployment of Improvement Tools to deliver the Trust's Strategy, and leading Trust-wide QMS implementation. You will ensure a standardised, governance-aligned approach to CI; design and deliver QMS and CI training; promote learning across the Trust; and ensure improvement work has clear objectives, measurable outcomes, and strategic alignment. You will lead key improvement projects, contribute to leadership culture, ensure strong governance and risk management, and build relationships with leaders to support their development. As an ambassador for the CQI programme, you will manage strategic change projects, develop improvement policies, shape long-term plans, and work closely with the Clinical Director of Improvement to support QMS deployment.

Working for our organisation

A wide range of staff benefits are available to our staff including staff development, enrolment in the NHS pension scheme, auto-enrolment to our Temporary Workforce Service, access to onsite nurseries. staff restaurants and accommodation.

In addition to an internal Occupational Health department, all staff also have access to free psychological support through our confidential Employee Assistance Programme. Onsite parking is available from only £50 a year.

There has never been a better time to join East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, submit your application today.

Statement on the Use of AI

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Using AI for your application may not accurately represent your knowledge, skills, and experience and may result in a disconnect between your qualifications and our assessment of your application.

We encourage applicants to take the time to thoughtfully complete their applications; by doing so, you allow us to better understand your true potential and ensure a fair and transparent evaluation of your application. Over reliance on AI-generated content may diminish your chance of success.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the job description attached.

If you have any questions about this position please do not hesitate to contact us.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Educated to Masters level or equivalent
• Project management qualification or equivalent experience
• Leadership and Coaching qualification
• Training and experience in quality / service improvement techniques
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Desirable criteria

• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent
• Leadership or Coaching qualification

Experience

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of health service management, including change management and workforce re-design, acquired through training and experience to Masters or equivalent level
• Experience of implementing a variety of large scale and complex change and improvement projects using a formal methodology within the public and private sector organisations
• Strong experience of Improvement Tools and Methodologies and how to apply them to Change and Improvement Projects
• Confident in risk, issue and change management tools and techniques
• Experience of managing change projects in a systematic way by using project management tools and techniques.
• Experience of developing and implementing a benefits tracking and realisation frameworks
• Experienced in working with senior stakeholders to identify and prioritise the delivery of projects
• Experience of working across organisational boundaries and of delivering projects across multi-disciplined areas, working with multiple stakeholders to deliver improvements and transformational change
• Experience of working at senior level and developing governance processes
• Experience of managing teams from diverse backgrounds
• Experience in line managing and developing colleagues

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in the NHS or other complex healthcare setting
• Understand how to "contract" for pieces of work to ensure appropriate allocation of resources and prioritisation of effort.
• Experience of performance management processes and associated governance
• Experience working in a Professional Services environment outside the NHS to bring a broader professional perspective and consulting rigour to the team
• Familiarity with NHS Line Management policies, processes and procedures
• Experience in deploying a Quality Management System in a healthcare context

Skills

Essential criteria

• Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information; agreement or co-operation required;
• Present highly complex, sensitive or contentious information to groups
• Motivational skills to encourage collaborative working to improve services/performance where there may be resistance to change; Presents workshops to large groups of staff
• Understanding of system working and interdependencies and how to navigate complex stakeholder relationships
• Able to gain confidence and respect of senior members of staff and to be a trusted advisor for structuring the delivery of change projects
• Excellent interpersonal skills - influencing, negotiating and communication (written and oral) skills
• Able to challenge and influence established beliefs and behaviour in clinical and non-clinical staff to deliver outcomes
• Able to remain calm under pressure
• Complex facts or situations, requiring analysis, interpretation, comparison of a range of options/highly complex facts or situations requiring analysis, interpretation, comparison of a range of options
• Analysis of performance data and capacity and demand data, assessment of projects, identification of areas for collaborative working /expert analysis of performance/service redesign in cutting-edge situations
• Critical thinking and problem solving skills and creative thinking to establish innovative solutions
• Able to work with large amounts of data, perform detailed analysis, to support identification of opportunities for transformation
• Able to think strategically and evaluate the longer term impact of proposals
• Plan and organise broad range of complex activities; formulates, adjust plans and strategies/formulate long term, strategic plans, involving uncertainty, may impact across the whole organisation
• Plans and implements new ways of working, facilitates collaborative working across the sector, capacity planning.
• Highly developed knowledge of programme and project management methodology, processes, structure and governance
• Confidence in training colleagues in Improvement Tools, techniques and Methodologies (e.g. A3's, Fishbones and other tools/models)

Desirable criteria

• Be confident leading discussions at the Executive level, with credible experience managing challenging messages and managing senior discussions
• Knowledge of the NHS Constitution, the Trust vision and current change agenda in the NHS

Patients come first at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.

Our vision is to be:

• The healthcare provider of first choice for the people of East Sussex.

Our mission is to:

• Deliver better health outcomes and an excellent experience for everyone we provide with healthcare services.

Our strategic objectives are to:

• Improve quality and clinical outcomes by ensuring that safe patient care is our highest priority.
• Play a leading role in local partnerships to meet the needs of our local population and improve and enhance patients' experiences.
• Use our resources efficiently and effectively for the benefit of our patients and their care to ensure our services are clinically, operationally and financially sustainable.

Our aims are that all services delivered by the Trust are:

• Safe
• Effective
• Caring
• Responsive and
• Well led

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.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.
Documents to download

• Senior Improvement Practitioner (PDF, 288.6KB)
• Context for the role (PDF, 128.6KB)
• Guidance for Applicants - AFC (PDF, 152.4KB)