Job overview
·The Patient Access Service Manager will be responsible for the day to day management of the Trust Outpatient Department on both sites
·The post holder will work alongside the other Band 7 in Patient Access, working collaboratively to address day to day operational pressures and delivering strategic projects
·The post holder is expected to provide a high quality and efficient outpatient service and support the delivery of key quality, performance and activity targets
·The Service Manager will ensure service delivery standards are achieved within the agreed timescales (e.g. wait time, backlog reductions, clinic redesign)
·The post holder will provide leadership support to a large team within Patient Access and colleagues across the organisation
·The role includes responsibility for ensuring that effective controls are in place to safeguard the clinical safety of all patients waiting for outpatient appointments and protect against the risk of misplaced patients within any redesign / reconfiguration / high volume rebooking work
·Undertake a systematic review of operational processes, capacity and clinical service configuration within the specialty to ensure right sizing of resources and alignment of demand and capacity
·Lead by example and act at all times as an ambassador for the Trust, championing the Trust’s values and upholding the highest standards of behaviour and compassion for all colleagues
Main duties of the job
·Provide visible operational leadership working alongside the Outpatient team On improvement in quality, performance and delivery of Trust objectives
·Support the delivery of operational processes, such as high-volume rescheduling, pathway validation, waiting list redesign, clinical triage or changes to Direct Booking or Referral Assessment Service processes
·Support the Outpatient Operational Manager in the delivery of the Outpatient Strategy and other key transformation projects
·Use expertise, knowledge and experience of effective project planning and execution to deliver any required improvements
·Support the Trust’s delivery of the recovery plan to a quantifiable step change improvement in patient experience, rescheduling, patients seen out of turn, overall size of waiting list, average time on waiting list, overdue follow-ups and national performance standards
·Lead a culture that ensures that all medical, clinical and operational employees comply with Trust access and cancer policies and adhere to best practice around management of waiting lists and documentation of outcomes
·Ensure a good knowledge of the key operational and quality policies and procedures
Working for our organisation
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.
Our values
We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.
Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Leadership
·Provide visible operational leadership working alongside the Outpatient team and other relevant clinical specialties to champion continual improvement in quality, performance and delivery of Trust objectives relating to planned care including clinical capacity for routine, diagnostic, urgent and cancer pathways across all subspecialty pathways
·Work with clinical service lines to educate, lead, and motivate staff to think innovatively to redesign pathways and improve processes to deliver the necessary improvement
·With the support of the Outpatient Operational Manager, conduct and facilitate business planning, service modernisation and transformation projects across Outpatients and RTT in relation to planning and implementing new ways of working and introduction of new technologies to meet current and future service demands, achieving Trust and regulatory quality and service standards
·Develop effective processes for monitoring, analysing and managing performance in Outpatients, identifying whencapacity andperformance falls below the key operational delivery objectives and taking corrective action, ensuring thatall national and Trust performance targets are met
·Ensure that all staff receive appropriate education and training opportunities and provide specialist skills training and coaching and mentoring as required
Service Delivery and Improvement
·Support the delivery of operational processes, such as high-volume rescheduling, pathway validation, waiting list redesign, clinical triage or changes to Direct Booking or Referral Assessment Service processes
·Work with the clinical service lines to provide advice and recommendations about the best approach to deliver performance
·Continually analyse service performance and booking data to ensure that the transitional changes are progressing as expected with no unintended consequences
·Undertake quality and equality impact assessments for any proposed change and establish appropriate processes to support continual monitoring of changes to ensure that there is no unintended consequence
·Ensure clearly written and well-designed local standard operational processes are embedded and provide training on the use and monitoring of the processes to ensure sustainability of change and delivering full compliance with the Trust’s access policy.
·Keep up to date with national best practice developments and guidance in relation to planned care access and management of processes to ensure the delivery of excellent clinical services
Project management
·Support the Outpatient Operational Manager in the delivery of the Outpatient Strategy and other key transformation projects
·Provide regular reporting and updates to clinical service lines and other relevant stakeholders to provide assurance regarding the delivery of the Trust’s recovery plan
·Use expertise, knowledge and experience of effective project planning and execution to deliver any required improvements
·Ensure clear communication of timescales and expectations to all stakeholders involved in the project
·Undertake specific and quantified resource mapping for any changes to process that directly impact the outpatient service
·Ensure timely and appropriate escalation of emerging risks and make appropriate recommendations for mitigation
·Use expert knowledge of waiting list and patient booking management to provide accurate modelling of the impact of changes and set up systems and processes to continually test the change against these forecasts and make adjustments to quantum or timing of change as required
Financial and Performance Management
·Establish trigger points for escalation where demand, capacity or delivered activity falls outside of agreed tolerances and risks the clinical service achieving or maintaining the required performance standards
·Use the recovery programme to identify and quantify opportunities for productivity and efficiency improvements and provide proposals for recurrent cost improvements
·Create formal reports on service delivery performance and improvement to be shared Trust wide and with external partners
·Support the Trust’s delivery of the recovery plan to a quantifiable step change improvement in patient experience, rescheduling, patients seen out of turn, overall size of waiting list, average time on waiting list, overdue follow-ups and national performance standards
Risk Management and Governance
·Support staff with training and advice as to how to safeguard against ‘lost to follow-up’ type incidents and use process improvements to engineer out the most common causes of these errors
·Investigate incidents and provide learning and recommendations for process changes in a timely and effective way
·Lead a culture that ensures that all medical, clinical and operational employees comply with Trust access and cancer policies and adhere to best practice around management of waiting lists and documentation of outcomes
·Ensure that potential errors in processes are assessed for clinical risk of harm and that proportionate mitigating checks and reporting are established where appropriate
·Ensure that local procedures for booking, discharging, cancelling and rescheduling appointments are auditable and transparent, and that staff are trained in how to use them
·Work collaboratively with colleagues to ensure that effective governance arrangements and performance management systems for elective access are in place
·Work collaboratively with colleagues to ensure risks are identified and included as appropriate on the organisational risk register
Application of knowledge
·At all times the post holder should use their professional management knowledge and experience to assess, plan, evaluate and judge the appropriate interventions
·The post holder should maintain a good knowledge of all relevant legislation specific to their role
·The post holder should maintain their knowledge of changes in the NHS and wider industry to enable and direct services to respond to changing requirements and securing best practice
·Aspire to expand the application of service improvement techniques within the clinical service lines, including QSAR, process analysis and project management discipline
·Ensure a good knowledge of the key operational and quality policies and procedures to maintain compliance with these at all times and contribute to development of policies and procedures as needed
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. Educated to Degree level or equivalent experience in an NHS Management Role
2. Evidence of continued professional development
3. Further relevant training
Desirable criteria
4. Management/ leadership / Project Management qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
5. Experience of working in a senior role in Patient Access
6. Experience of working across planned care and delivering improvement against national access standards
7. Experience of managing, leading and motivating a team
8. Experience of service improvements/ transformation and project management
Desirable criteria
9. Experience of training staff to improve their knowledge and application of best practice principles and local procedures
Knowledge
Essential criteria
10. Expert in waiting list modelling and simulating impact of interventions
11. Specialist knowledge of patient access pathways, applicable national standards and capacity and demand modelling
12. Able to produce clear and concise formal project reports and project documentation
13. Good understanding of the current NHS agenda and healthcare policy
14. Knowledge of service improvements/ transformation and project management
15. Experience in Risk management and governance
16. Able to write, test and audit the compliance of operational policies and processes
Desirable criteria
17. NHS IT systems including referral interfaces between primary and secondary care
18. Knowledge of appropriate standards and external bodies, such as the Care Quality Commission
Personal Skills
Essential criteria
19. Able to work independently and make autonomous decisions
20. Able to interpret and analyse data / information to make recommendations – including ability to respond to unexpected demands
21. Excellent written and verbal communication style
22. Able to embrace and lead and change
23. Able to prioritise workload and delegate to others and adjust plans / resources as required
24. Able to work flexibly to meet the demands of the role
25. Demonstrates a strong desire to improve performance and lead positive change
Desirable criteria
26. Experience in negotiating and influencing change
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.