Director of Care

Job responsibilities

To provide leadership, strategic direction, and operational management of the hospice clinical services ensuring service provision is in line with the overall aims of the charity. The Director of Care ensures the delivery of high-quality, compassionate, and person-centred care to patients at the end of life, while maintaining high standards of clinical governance and compliance with all relevant legislation. As a member of the Senior Management Team the post-holder has a corporate role in delivering the organisational values.

The post holder will have the authority to use their own initiative and will be expected to investigate, make decisions, and act within broad management direction and guidelines. To meet the needs of the organization, the post holder may be required on a temporary basis to perform other duties within their capacity, competence, professional qualifications, and general level of responsibility. Any such duties may, with agreement, be made permanent.

Leadership and Strategic Oversight

1. As a member of the Senior Management Team attend Board meetings and lead in strategy development, policy formation, and management of matters concerning non-medical patient services reporting to and advising the Chief Executive and Board of Trustees.

2. To lead the creation of a strategic vision of excellence for care and empower others to participate in developing and implementing that vision.

3. Provide leadership to the nursing and clinical support services to ensure a caring, supportive but challenging environment and provide coaching to direct reporting staff to support them to achieve operational objective

4. To scope need, review data, and give recommendations for the redesign of services as and when appropriate both within the Hospice and in the community, driving forward quality, continuous improvement, and innovation.

5. Represent the Hospice externally with the aim of influencing the end-of-life and specialist palliative care agenda at local; regional and national levels, and in turn influencing the Hospice's future strategic direction.

6. Promote and support evidence-based care and actively encourage research initiatives within the Hospice and externally.

7. Promote the values and culture of the Hospice in decision-making and behaviours

Governance and Quality Assurance

1. Ensure the Hospice meets and exceeds all legislative and regulatory standards as set out by the Care Quality Commission and the Health and Safety Executive.

2. To lead on the evaluation and implementation of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), National Service Framework guidance and other relevant national and regional guidance.

3. Undertake the role and fulfill the responsibilities of Registered Manager, ensuring the Hospice is compliant with all the required national quality standards and related legislation.

4. Undertake the role and fulfill the responsibilities of Accountable Officer, ensuring the Hospice complies with all relevant guidance and legislation.

5. Undertake the role of Caldicott Guardian, ensuring the Hospice is compliant with national standards.

6. Undertake the role of Complaints Manager; ensuring complaints and concerns are handled effectively and efficiently and in accordance with legislation and current best practice.

7. To act as Clinical Governance Lead ensuring a framework through which Severn Hospice ensures continuous improvement and the underpinning of quality services to patients including robust reporting mechanisms and evidence that meet the requirements of our regulating bodies.

8. Ensure the overall effective management of all non-medical patient services in accordance with the philosophy of the Hospice.

9. With the Consultants in Palliative Medicine ensure the effective development, implementation, and review of the Hospices clinical policies and procedures to ensure patient safety and best clinical practice.

Staffing

1. Provide efficient and effective leadership and management of staff facilities and resources.

2. Ensure that all nursing, professionally registered clinical support, and other staff meet both the Hospices and statutory professional requirements.

3. Set the strategic direction for the professional development of all clinical staff, encouraging a proactive and explicit programme of development for both individuals and departments; and that concords with the Hospices overall strategic development.

4. Ensure that a robust process for staff appraisals, development, and performance management is in place and complied with.

Financial and Resource Management

1. To have ultimate responsibility for business planning and budgetary control of services under their responsibility. To liaise with departments to ensure that expenditure is within budget.

Collaboration

1. To work closely with other palliative care providers, both locally and nationally, influencing, supporting, and contributing to the development of palliative care services in the wider health and social care setting.

2. To act as an ambassador for the Hospice and deputise for the Chief Executive in their absence.

3. Maintain excellent working relationships with our commissioners and local partner organisations, liaising with NHS Acute and Community Trusts, other community services, and Hospices as required.

4. Develop and maintain links with local and national professional groups by participating and/or networking with other groups/services for the wider development of palliative care at Severn Hospice.

5. Promote the active involvement of the Hospice in conferences, seminars, and publications.

Other

1. Keep abreast of developments in practice.

2. Negotiate your own action plan to ensure continuous professional development and enhance role competence.

3. Contribute to internal and external training initiatives to ensure continued assessment and development of the appropriate skills mix required for hospice service delivery.

The above job description is a summary of the main responsibilities of the post holder and not an exhaustive list of duties to be undertaken. The duties may be redefined in accordance with the demands of the service. Any redefinition will be subject to discussion between yourself and your manager and be within your level of competence.

Aptitudes and Attributes

Essential

• Leadership and Team Management - inspires, motivates and empowers individuals and teams to consistently deliver excellence for all stakeholders, in line with strategy.
• Integrity - open, honest and professional in undertaking the role.
• Interpersonal relationships strong and effective collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders, resilient, adaptable and able to manage conflict effectively. Kind, but assertive and tenacious when required.
• Communication conveys and receives complex information effectively across a wide range of stakeholders ensuring sound understanding and effective discourse, which matches the organisations strategic goals.
• Quality Management Track, measure and improve care quality through use of data metrics, and best evidence.
• Decision making makes timely and sound decisions reflecting organisational values and evidence.
• Flexible and adaptable responds positively to changes in context and environment to ensure the continuation of service, and/or maintain the safety and wellbeing of staff .
• Reflective and reflexive - engages in continual learning and development to improve personal/professional effectiveness.
• Positive problem solver - Adaptable and flexible when demands and priorities alter.
• Strategic Planner develop and uses long term plans to enable organisational goals to be achieved
• Ethics and Regulation understands relevant law and ethics to deliver high quality patient care.
• Financial resilience manages and works within budgetary requirements, ensuring best value for money.
• to manage conflict and handle conflicting views
• Mobile willing and able to work at any of the Hospices sites as requested

Qualifications

Essential

• Professional specialist education Registered Nurse, Educated to Degree level
• Relevant Postgraduate qualification eg; Palliative and end of life care, Healthcare management, or similar

Desirable

• Masters Degree / PhD

Experience

Essential

• Broad clinical experience relevant to the post, including specialist skills/ experience in designated area
• Sustained and successful background in Clinical Management and Leadership of Teams.
• Successful multi-organisational / interagency working and strategic collaboration
• Developing and implementation of change processes and effective support for staff during change
• Use of evidence, data metrics and other markers of care quality
• Budgetary management

Desirable

• Broad clinical experience relevant to the post, including specialist skills/ experience in designated area
• Sustained and successful background in Clinical Management and Leadership of Teams.
• Successful multi-organisational / interagency working and strategic collaboration
• Developing and implementation of change processes and effective support for staff during change
• Use of evidence, data metrics and other markers of care quality
• Budgetary management

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Able to work as part of leadership team demonstrating organisational values in everyday work.
• Able to lead and manage using organisational goals, PSRB standards and codes to support high quality, safe and appropriate service delivery.
• Clinically competent to meet the needs of patients for end-of-life care
• Ability to synchronise complex information and present options and recommendations for consideration of the organisation
• Evidence of highly effective interpersonal skills, which support influencing, negotiation and collaboration internally and externally to the organisation.
• Identify and support service delivery/change by the development of individuals through establish development frameworks
• Demonstrates excellent organisational skills and develop and facilitate those skills in others
• Intellectual flexibility, able to think beyond existing structures, ways of working, boundaries and organisations to produce more effective and innovative service delivery and partnerships.
• Sound political judgement and astuteness in understanding and working with complex policy, and diverse interest groups.
• Recognises when to brief others or escalate knowledge.
• Demonstrates commitment to improving patient services through an ability to sustain performance focus on achieving demanding goals
• IT Skills including word processing, spreadsheets, email and using the internet

Desirable

• Knowledge of charity governance
• Skills in managing regulatory inspections
• Work as member of senior team, and Board

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).