Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.
Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.
To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone.
Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.
Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.
LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.
We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
This fixed term post will be undertaking a Professional Accounting Technician Level 4 Apprenticeship whilst working within the Trust’s Income Team as an Assistant Income Accountant. The team will provide the relevant job-related training and support alongside the completion of the professional qualification.
Main duties of the job
The main purpose of the role is:
·To assist the income team with the accurate invoicing of all patient care income and divisional income.
·Assist the income team in the completion of the income register for all patient care income.
·Prepare, process and maintain monthly accrual / deferral journals
·To be the main point of contact for NCA queries, investigating and resolving challenges on a timely basis whilst maintaining confidentiality with communication of patient level data.
·To reconcile the income ledger and contract monitoring system on a monthly basis.
·To assist in the production of monthly divisional income reports providing analysis on variance to plan.
Working for our organisation
Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:
1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Main duties and responsibilities:
Financial Reporting and Planning
Work alongside finance and information colleagues to ensure that income is captured, reported and invoiced for appropriately in the financial ledgers in line with statutory guidance and timeframes of National Payment System.
·To be responsible for the maintenance of the Trust Central Income Invoice Log. This involves sending monthly invoice requests for all Central Income including non-patient care income as deemed appropriate (both routine and ad hoc) to the accounts receivable team, reconciling the invoices raised to the ledger, ensuring appropriate coding and recording the invoices in the log. The post holder is responsible for ensuring all financial controls and checks are followed and for resolving any issues on a monthly basis to ensure income is both invoiced and recorded correctly.
·To be responsible of collating all Financial Management (FM) invoice requests and sending to accounts receivable team (both routine and ad hoc). The post holder is responsible for ensuring all controls and checks are followed in regard to accuracy and completeness of invoice template that the FM team complete and investigate internally to resolve issues.
·Develop a good working relationship with the LGT Accounts Receivable team
·To undertake appropriate reconciliations on a regular basis to ensure the integrity of recording of patient care income in the financial ledgers
·Under the guidance of the income team prepare, process and maintain monthly accrual / deferral journals with appropriate back-up for audit requirements
·Assist the Income team with the production of monthly divisional income finance reports and commentary
·Work alongside the members of the Income and Contracting team to support clinical directorates, information and finance colleagues to ensure that ad hoc and regular contract monitoring reports are well constructed and meet their requirements
·Assist in the development, production and maintenance of the Income and Activity reports for internal and external reporting and ensure compliance within the statutory and mandatory deadlines
·Support the month end and year end processes for patient care related and central income including the preparation of high-quality working papers
·Assist the income team with the year-end audit backing as required
·Maintain appropriate records, working papers and procedure notes to support audit requirements for the income reported
·During the course of his/her employment the Apprentice Assistant Accountant (Income) may rotate around the other core accounting functions as directed by the Senior Management Team.
Contract Management
·To be the main point of contact for NCA queries, investigating and resolving challenges on a timely basis whilst maintaining confidentiality with communication of patient level data. This will require a good knowledge of the National Guidance
·To be responsible for the maintenance of the shared NCA query mailbox, ensuring queries are dealt with quickly and queries are filed in an appropriate manor. Support will be provided by the income accountant as required
·Support the process and calculation of clinical income activity through the Trust’s income monitoring system (TM1), both in-month and year-to-date, ensuring the position is accurate and reported in accordance with the accounting principles within the Trust’s general ledger system. Assist with completion of detailed reconciliations in relation to patient care activities income transactions for our Main Commissioners (Invoice Logs and Invoice Register)
·Prepare and maintain the contracts folder to support billing of contractual patient care income and the annual external audit
·Assist with the processing of in year contract variations including billing, recording in invoice logs, updating TM1 and adding to the contracts folder
·Maintain a working knowledge of the National Payment System
·Work closely with the Income and Contracts team to provide accurate and timely contract monitoring information to support the commissioning process and contract relationship with the ICBs and NHSE colleagues.
Technical
·To maintain up to date skills and knowledge
·To develop and maintain a close working relationship with the Trust’s Information function, ensuring that they are informed of data requirements and timescales
·To undertake the production of any ad-hoc information requests as appropriate
·To ensure that all data handled within the role is dealt with to the highest standards of confidentiality and security, taking responsibility for ensuring any breaches are reported and remedial action taken
·Be required to manipulate complicated spreadsheets and will therefore require good Excel skills
Systems
·Provide ad hoc and routine analysis of patient / service level data as and when required for the Contract Managers and other colleagues, using Excel / NEP / TM1 and other systems as appropriate. The post holder will be expected to report in a format suitable to the requirement
·Maintaining current income procedures within the Trust to ensure continuity of service.
Workforce
This post will report to the Income Accountant. This post will include attending meetings internally and externally and taking minutes to feed back; managing and responding to income and activity queries from ICBs and colleagues within the Trust and ensuring that income and contract management timetables are met.
The role requires close working relationships in the team, and especially Information and Finance teams.
The jobholder will be expected to:
6. Exhibit a proactive and confident approach to their work.
7. Work autonomously but also very much as part of the team.
8. Manage their own workload, but supporting the requirements of the team
9. With the assistance from the Income team, prioritise their work accordingly in support of the many conflicting statutory and internal deadlines
Financial
·Whilst the jobholder does not directly manage a budget, they will be responsible for supporting the income and contracting team in managing the reporting of income.
·The jobholder will be expected to work with, liaise and influence other colleagues within the team, and within the Information team to ensure all activity and income are reported to the mandated timescales.
Communications and Relationships
·The jobholder will need to have and be able to demonstrate exceptional communication skills as the role will liaise with a wide variety of people both internally and externally to the Trust. This will include all level of colleagues in Commissioning / Information / Finance / Service Managers.
·The jobholder will be expected to communicate clearly and appropriately depending on the audience.
·The role will involve access to patient level data. The jobholder is expected to be sensitive to the content of the data they may be working with.
General
·The jobholder will use a computer for over 90% of their working day.
·The jobholder will need to have accurate keyboard skills and a keen eye for detail.
·With the breadth of this supporting role, and the combination of the complexities around Acute, Community, Specialised and Non-Contracted services, the level of concentration required will vary on a daily and sometimes hourly basis.
·ICBs and other colleagues within the Trust will contact the jobholder as and when they require information – this can be by MS Teams or by email.
·Good Excel and reporting writing skills are essential to the role.
·The post holder is required to participate in the Trust appraisal process and work towards meeting identified development needs, attending mandatory and statutory training as required.
·The jobholder will be responsible for maintaining their own education and training requirements, addressing any developmental needs as required in order to ensure best practice is maintained within the highest professional standards
·The jobholder will be expected to contribute to the review and updating of departmental procedures and processes with a view to improving the effectiveness of the Department and the services provided.
Person specification
Essential criteria
10. Good standard of education to A Level (or equivalent) including Maths and English GCSE
Desirable criteria
11. •Part qualified and actively studying for a CCAB accountancy qualification, AAT or NVQ in accounting.
Experience
Desirable criteria
12. Experience of working in a finance function in a large complex organisation, preferably within contracting, commissioning or information
13. Experience with financial reconciliations
14. Experience and understanding of financial ledgers including recording of income
15. Experience dealing with Commissioner queries and challenges with regards to Non Contracted Activity
16. Knowledge and understanding of NHS Commissioning and Finance Issues
Skills, Abilities and Knowledge
Essential criteria
17. Systematic and disciplined approach to maintaining high professional standards, e.g. re quality of working papers, maintaining audit trails.
18. Systematic and disciplined approach to workload ensuring that deadlines are achieved i.e. all work is completed within required timetables and to required standards.
19. Attention to detail
Desirable criteria
20. Good knowledge of spreadsheets
21. Knowledge of Acute Healthcare accounting systems
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
22. Good interpersonal and communication skills and consideration of the implications of his/her chosen course of action
23. Wanting to learn and progress
24. Able to work well under own initiative but equally as part of a team
25. Highly motivated
26. Demonstrates a flexible and adaptable approach to work
27. Must be able to travel on Trust business, across sites within the Trust, and to other Commissioners and Trusts generally within London
We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.
As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women’s staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.
Please note that sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route is subject to Trust allocation and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approval.