Senior Policy Advisor
Our Organisation
The NHS is building a culture that is positive, compassionate and inclusive – and we all have our part to play.
As employers we are committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution and supports us to be an Employer of Choice, while helping our colleagues to deliver high quality services for our patients and communities.
As a flexible employer, we want to support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern.In addition, although the role advertised may have a ‘home’ office base indicated, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
Job overview
The Integrated Urgent and Emergency Care (IUEC) and Deputy Chief Operating Officer (DCOO) directorate works across NHSE and Government to develop national policy and strategy relating to the full spectrum of integrated urgent and emergency care, including access to UEC services (999, 111, UTCs, A&E) as well as in hospital process and productivity including discharge, and stepdown intermediate care.
Through the team, policy is developed into products and implementation programmes, alongside a robust operational programme where we monitor the impact of policy and provide national leadership to the emerging operational circumstances across IUEC – including day-today operational management of IUEC and the Better Care Fund at a national-level.
Main duties of the job
The Senior Policy Advisor will work as part of a dynamic team in delivering an effective service supporting managers & staff across the Integrated Urgent & Emergency Care (IUEC) )/ Deputy Chief Operating Officer (DCOO) directorate. The post holder will ensure the provision of a professional executive support function to all areas of the portfolio, ensuring that the National Director is fully briefed and prepared for all activities within their remit.
The post holder will be required to quickly establish themselves as a credible, trusted member of the Private Office by building an understanding of the IUEC and DCOO directorates & forming key relationships both internally within NHSE & externally with DHSC & other bodies.
The post holder should have strong problem-solving & relationship building skills, be comfortable working with numbers & be able to communicate clearly both in written form & verbally. The post holder will be a self-starter & work autonomously, identifying opportunities & risks for the programme & acting as required.
The role will operate as a key interface between the National Director of IUEC/DCOO & stakeholders (internal and external). The post holder will be responsible for sustaining & developing strong & effective stakeholder relationships across the senior management team of the directorate, other exec offices & Ministerial Private Officers at DHSC, as well as a range of other external key delivery partners, such as the Royal Colleges.
Working for our organisation
The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, which will inform the detailed design work and we will achieve this purpose by:
- Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
- Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
- Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
- Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
- Delivering value for money.
If you would like to know more or require further information, please visit https://www.england.nhs.uk/.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
NHS England hold a Sponsor Licence; this means that we may be able to sponsor you providing the Home Office requirements are met. To be eligible for sponsorship through the Skilled Worker route you’ll usually need to be paid the ‘standard’ salary rate of at least £38,700 per year, or the ‘going rate’ for your job, whichever is higher.You can find more information on the Government website.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
You can find further details about the job in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.
Key responsibilities for the programme include:
- Delivery of the UEC Recovery Plan – and the 10 workstreams associated with this.
- National leadership, policy and strategy development across IUEC
- Managing and responding to government requests on IUEC
- Delivery and monitoring of the Better Care Fund
- National operational oversight of UEC services
Working with regions to:
- Support to regional teams to deliver the UEC Recovery Plan – including setting national policy direction for regional implementation and management.
- Support to regional teams in performance management of systems, providing national support when required.
- Interactions with system UEC and operations teams to ensure delivery of UEC services.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Educated to degree level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in specialist area
Knowledge and experience
Essential criteria- Understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy
- Have an appreciation of the relationship between the Department of Health and individual provider and commissioning organisations
Skills Capabilities & Attributes
Essential criteria- Highly developed communication skills with the capability to analyse, review and make sense of highly complex, sensitive or contentious information across a diverse range of subjects relevant to post portfolio
- Ability to understand a broad range of complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ/no obvious solution
- Ability to work without supervision, providing specialist advice to the organisation, working to tight and often changing timescales
Values and behaviours
Essential criteria- Operating in a value-driven style consistent with the values of the public services and specifically with the new organisational values
- Values diversity and difference; operates with integrity and openness
Our commitments to you
We are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative work environment that delivers better patient outcomes.We strive to ensure our people feel trusted, valued and empowered. We’re passionate about nurturing and developing people. When you join us, we want you to grow and excel, and we offer many opportunities for you to do that. We welcome your talent and enthusiasm irrespective of age, disability, neuro-divergence, sex, gender identity and gender expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances.
We have policies and procedures to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability and/or who are neuro-divergent.
We welcome applications from disabled candidates. If you meet all the essential criteria, you will be guaranteed an interview.
Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK under the Skilled Worker route are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.
If applying for this role on a secondment basis, please make sure you have obtained prior agreement from your current line manager to apply for this position.
Please note that we currently do not accept applications via recruitment agencies.
The NHS Business Services Authority is responsible for the processing of your application; a privacy notice is attached to advise you on how we will process your personal data.
If you have applied via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. If you are appointed to a post, information will also be transferred into the NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
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NHS England