Head of Governance and Control

Are you looking to progress and develop your career in a senior leadership role in NHS Finance, working as part of a fast paced, compassionate, and innovative team? An exciting opportunity has arisen at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust to lead the Financial Governance and Control team.

Leading a highly enthusiastic and committed team this role will support the Assistant Director of Finance in providing robust financial accounting support, governance and advice to Gateshead Health NHS FT.

Candidates who have strong communication, planning and problem-solving skills and are passionate about the delivery of patient care would be ideally suited to join our Finance Team. There will be opportunity to bring innovative ideas to develop and enhance the use of digital solutions to improve financial accounting and reporting as we explore new ways of working. This along with access to a generous annual leave and pension scheme, agile and flexible working and continued learning and development opportunities makes this a fantastic opportunity for the right candidate.

Main duties of the job

The post holder is required to:

To lead, in conjunction with the Assistant Director of Finance, the Governance and Control function

To lead on the development, implementation, monitoring and review of cash management, debt recovery and working capital strategies in line with Trust requirements and regulatory guidance

To be the lead financial professional for capital planning, reporting and monitoring.

To lead on the Group treasury management function, including treasury management policy between the Trust and its subsidiary.

To attend and service the Audit Committee, overseeing issues of governance including production and maintenance of Standard Financial Instructions, Scheme of Delegation, and liaison with internal and external audit.

To provide effective liaison with both Internal Audit, External Audit and Counter Fraud in particular during the annual accounts process

To be responsible for provision of information and advice to the Charitable Funds Committee and be a member of the Charitable Funds Operational Group.

The team operate an agile working model of working from home and the hospital site.

About us

Based in the North East of England we provide a range of hospital and community health services from our leading facilities, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blaydon urgent care centre and Bensham Hospital, all within Gateshead.

Established in 2005, we were one of the first foundation trusts in the country and since then have consistently achieved the highest levels of care for patients.

We now employ around 4,800 staff and currently provide 444 hospital beds across the Gateshead region.

Our values should be the \’golden thread\’ which runs through everything we do – they are the core of who we are. Our five values can easily be remembered by the simple acronymICORE; Innovation, Care, Openness, Respect, Engagement.

We have a number of staff networks including the Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women\’s Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our Armed Forces network is one of our emerging networks.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is one of our highest priorities, and we offer a range of support and initiatives as part of our \’Balance\’ programme balancegateshead.com to cater for our diverse workforce, so that your individual needs can be supported, allowing you a happy and healthy working experience with us.

Job responsibilities

This role requires excellent leadership qualities and strong communication skills in order to support the Financial Governance and Control Team. The post holder should have significant post qualification experience to provide expert financial advice and support to both the finance team and the senior management team across the organisation. The post holder should possess excellent problem-solving, planning and organisation skills in order to meet the essential criteria for the role.

Please see the full job description for all further duties and responsibilities.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Experience

• Experience of Managing staff including work planning, development and training needs
• Experience in the use of computerised general ledger, including examples of maximising benefits of use
• Excellent IT Skills with extensive experience in the use of spreadsheets and databases relative to finance activities
• Ability to use own expertise and judgement in complex problem solving
• High level of analytical skill – using examples of systems used and audience prepared for
• Excellent IT Skills with extensive experience in the use of spreadsheets and databases relative to financial management in the NHS

Knowledge

• Specialist knowledge of financial and accounting procedures
• Specialist knowledge of NHS Foundation Trust financial regime
• Knowledge of other finance systems for example, payroll, debtors and supplies
• Knowledge of costing systems and programmes
• Knowledge of income and contracting relative to finance in NHS

Communication & Relationships

• Evidence of excellent inter-personnel skills and the ability to develop collaborative and effective working relationships both internally and externally at a senior management level
• Clear and effective verbal and written communications skills
• Ability to demonstrate persuasive, motivational and negotiation skills
• Evidence of effective leadership skills
• Ability to think and act on own initiative

Planning and Organisation

• Ability to plan own workload effectively and efficiently and that of other members of the team
• Ability to effectively prioritise conflicting workload demands from various stakeholders
• Ability to work unsupervised, to tight timescales and deadlines in a constantly changing environment

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.