RQ1745731 – Strategic Commissioning and Systems Development Lead in Woolwich

The Royal Borough of Greenwich Council and the South East London Integrated Care Board have joined forces to develop an integrated commissioning approach across Greenwich. This role is pivotal in implementing that approach.

Equality and Diversity

RBG/ICB are committed to providing services and employment to a community with an increasing variety of backgrounds. We promote equality, equity and actively tackle discrimination, treating everyone with dignity and respect.

Disability Confident Employer

We are a Disability Confident Employer and support the guaranteed interview scheme and the Government’s Access to Work Scheme. Applications from all community members, including those with lived experience of disability or social exclusion, are welcomed.

Job Purpose

• Manage up to six directly managed staff.
• Accountable to the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Systems Development or the Associate Director.
• Develop and implement an integrated commissioning approach across the Council and NHS, fostering strong partnerships and high-quality services that enable Greenwich residents to lead healthy, independent lives.
• Support colleagues through partnership and co-production, continuing to design and implement the integrated commissioning framework for adult and children’s services with appropriate governance structures, driving an outcome-focused approach to health and social care.
• Collaborate with the market, residents and colleagues across the system to implement transformational change through commissioning for outcomes, including further integration of health, care and other support services.
• Deliver all commissioning activities in high-value projects and be accountable for the activities of the officers you manage.
• Serve as the strategic commissioning and system development lead for services for adults/children, holding direct responsibility for one of the following commissioning functions:
• Home First including Home Care – Adults
• Ageing Well, including Accommodation-Based Care – Adults
• Early Help, including Carers/Integrated Community Equipment Services/Assistive Technology Enabled Care – Adults
• Learning Disability Partnerships – Adults
• Mental Health and Complex Care including Physical Disabilities – Partnerships – Adults Transition and Autism, across Children’s and Adults
• Prevention and Maternity – Children
• Social Care – Children
• SEND – Children
• Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing – Children

Policy, Service Development, Transformation and Re-design

• Act as the nominated lead on specific policy areas and ensure strategic development.
• Accountable to the Head of Service or Associate Director for developing strategic commissioning action plans in line with the borough’s commissioning approach.
• Interpret and apply legislation, guidance, local and national priorities to inform plans and strategies, advising colleagues, partners and senior managers on value-for-money decisions that address local need and outcomes.
• Collaborate with partners and residents to develop outcome-focused strategies and service specifications with clear priorities and targets.
• Lead and manage time-limited projects such as transformation projects and procurements.
• Plan and support the implementation of transformational work, including commissioning services in response to reforms across children and/or adult services.

Financial and Physical Resources

• Responsible for financial planning and budget areas across the Council and NHS for key client groups and services.
• Review and intervene effectively where financial and budgetary issues arise.
• Identify and implement opportunities to optimise public sector resources across organisational budgets.
• Ensure the Council and ICB achieve efficient services and value for money across all commissioned services.

Collaboration, Communities and Relationships

• Develop relationships and collaborate with stakeholders such as care management, public health and service user groups to ensure their engagement in service development.
• Co-produce and facilitate stakeholder forums, ensuring that forum decisions influence service improvement and that concerns are escalated to senior managers when needed.
• Establish collaborative relationships with providers and manage provider forums to implement change and deliver outcomes for Greenwich residents.

Insight and Planning

• Map and review service provision and develop strong business relationships with providers to understand strengths and weaknesses, identifying improvement opportunities using best practice.
• Develop a strategic understanding of local demand, future trends and population needs using data analysis, focus groups and desk research.
• Collect and interpret data, produce performance reports, and analyse trends in demand and provider performance.
• Engage service users to incorporate their feedback into monitoring, commissioning and future planning.

Innovation, Quality and Performance Improvement

• Manage service and contract performance for a specific range of business and operational services, supporting statutory duties and promoting well-being, independence and choice.
• Promote continuous improvement and innovation in partnership with existing services and partners.
• Collaborate with providers to trial innovation, mitigating risk and evaluating impact.
• Co-produce performance measures with providers, reviewing processes and using data to evidence strengths and develop improvement plans.
• Develop strategic borough and service-specific plans where services do not meet minimum quality standards, and establish contingency plans.
• Continuously adapt services and improve outcomes through resident scrutiny, problem-solving, reflection and evaluation.
• Implement quality management and develop quality characteristics guiding service provision.

Setting Staff up for Success

• Support Integrated Commissioning Directors, Associate Directors and Heads of Service by providing inspirational, consistent and effective leadership.
• Use the commissioning competency foundations toolkit to manage and support all staff, optimising impact and value for money.
• Participate in ongoing professional development using the competency foundations toolkit to enhance delivery impact.
• Lead and develop the internal and provider workforce through effective management and influence.
• Require an Enhanced DBS with an adults or children’s barred list (depending on the role) and Safer Recruitment tools.
• Undertake any other work appropriate to the post’s level and nature.

Person Specification – Shortlisting Criteria

Knowledge

• Educated to degree level or equivalent professional qualification or management experience, or knowledge acquired through experience or training.
• Good knowledge of the health/care system, policy, priorities and practice with implementation experience in a health, care or local authority setting.
• Good knowledge of service design, behavioural science and transformation tools and strategies that drive improved outcomes for people.
• Thorough knowledge of relevant legislation, including the Children Act 1989, Health and Care Act 2022, Care Act 2014, Children’s and Families Act 2017, Mental Health Act 1983, Deprivation of Liberties, statutory regulations and government guidance, and standards relevant to planning, commissioning, procuring, safeguarding and quality assurance.
• Sound awareness of the needs of vulnerable residents.

Skills and Abilities

• Understand and interpret qualitative and quantitative data, including financial information.
• Manage knowledge and lead need assessment, identifying gaps and forecasting demand.
• Develop and manage outcome-focused, stakeholder-led projects and programmes.
• Communicate effectively and accurately at all levels; write reports, business cases, briefings and present information clearly.
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiation and influencing skills to engage internal and external stakeholders and maintain credibility.
• Adopt a systems leadership behaviour, implementing values across a complex health and care system to influence system change.
• Collaborate with partners and residents to implement transformational design/re-design (with or without procurement routes).
• Develop market intelligence strategies, prioritising needs and resources, and enable a thriving, stable market including micro-markets.
• Manage the development of a diverse, sustainable market, maximizing value for money and understanding wider strategic issues such as workforce development.
• Lead and enable innovation and continuous improvement through evaluation of outcomes collected via co-production.

Experience

• Manage political sensitivities and support change.
• Significant senior experience in the health or care sector, including service management, commissioning, staff management and performance monitoring.
• Manage teams of professionals or specialists within a performance-management culture.
• Inter-agency and collaborative working experience across organisational boundaries at all levels and with different professional groups.
• Enable co-production of innovative outcomes with people supported, their families and neighbourhoods.
• Review current service and demand, flow and pathways, and conduct gap analysis.
• Contribute to complex transformational change programmes and projects, including business case development.
• Effectively manage, influence and develop internal and provider workforce, including risk mitigation to trial innovations.
• Support the sustainability of the market in Greenwich, ensuring quality and a suitably skilled workforce.
• Work with providers to deliver provision through effective performance management, addressing poor performance and decommissioning services.
• Contribute to recruitment, retention and career development of RBG/ICB and provider workforces.

Equal Opportunities

• Understand and commit to the Council’s and ICB equal opportunities policies, applying them in this post.
• Understand and commit to achieving the Council and ICB staff values, applying them in this post.
• Understand and commit to tackling structural racism.

Employment Equity

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