Digital & Transformation Lead (DTL)/Manager - LiGA PCN in Warrington

A vacancy has arisen for a Digital & Transformation Lead/Manager for LiGA PCN; the vacancy has arisen due to the retirement of the current post holder who has been with the PCN since its inception in 2018.

The post is 1 WTE (37.5 hours) per week over five days although this may be negotiable. Remote working may be permissible although onsite working is required to support the CDs/Member Practices. The post is currently based at Slag Lane Medical Centre but this is subject to change but will remain within the geographical area of the Member Practices - Lowton, Golborne and Ashton-in-Makerfield. PCN meetings are mostly held via MS Teams although face-to-face meetings and Member Practice visits may be required.

As DTL/Manager of LiGA PCN, you will support improved patient access to care through the effective setup, oversight and continuous improvement of services. You will contribute to the management of staff (ARRS personnel and any support staff appointed by the PCN), demonstrating a sound understanding of HR processes and procedures, whilst ensuring contractual compliance and financial sustainability. You will provide clear and timely oversight of services to the PCN Board/Exec, ensuring Members are appropriately informed to enable effective and well-evidenced decision making, delivering the requirements of the National PCN DES.

The post-holder will work across 8 GP Practices within Wigan Locality, and will be responsible to the two PCN Clinical Directors.

The post-holder will work with LiGA's two Clinical Directors along with other Leadership within LiGA Primary Care Network (PCN) to create a vision aligned with the ICs strategy to guide service improvements, identify opportunities to make tangible positive transformation and provide the inspiration, expertise and leadership to deliver changes in a collaborative way.

The post-holder will plan, co-ordinate and directly support the delivery of transformation activity in General Practice within the PCN with a view to improving patient access, quality and continuity of care, staff and patient satisfaction, and the efficiency and sustainability of General Practice services.

The post-holder will work closely with staff within our Member Practices to understand current service models, identify challenges, agree priorities for improvement and then support these to be delivered.

The post-holder will develop strong relationships with our Member Practices and other local PCNs/DTLs/Senior Leads within Wigan area via regular established monthly meetings (a good working relationship across Wigan is enjoyed and appreciated) and will support the planning and delivery of improvements that will provide benefits to patients and staff.

The post-holder will develop relationships with Wigan Locality, NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (NHSGMICB) to discuss and agree local transformation plans and activity to support alignment with broader strategy, including digital strategy.

About LiGA PCN: Established in 2018, LiGA PCN consists of 8 Member Practices across the geographic areas of Lowton, Golborne and Ashton-in-Makerfield (approx. six mile area) which fall within the Wigan Locality of NHS Greater Manchester ICB (NHSGMICB), and who work together to deliver high-quality, accessible Primary Care services to our local population of approximately 43,000 patients, bringing our Member Practices together to improve patient outcomes, reduce Health Inequalities, improve on Neighbourhood working and enhance service delivery through shared resources, integrated working and innovation.

The PCN enjoys successful relationships between our Member Practices, Wigan Locality and NHSGMICB. There are two Clinical Directors, an Education & Development Lead, a Health Inequality Lead, Cancer Lead and Medicines Optimisation Lead along with a good complement of ARRS personnel which includes, First Contact Physiotherapists, Clinical Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, Community Link Worker, Care Coordinators and GP Assistants. Our Member Practices work across two clinical systems (EMIS and TPP SystmOne). We achieve good (often above National average) results within the requirements of the National PCN DES, local Enhanced Services, QOF, National GP Patient Survey results, with our Practices co-operating fully with such requirements. We strive to increase uptake of National screening Programmes such as bowel, breast, cervical cytology and AAA screening Programmes.

The Digital and Transformation Lead/Manager is to undertake the following key responsibilities in delivering health services:

The core objective of the PCN Digital and Transformation Lead/Manager role is to support the PCN and its Member Practices to deliver ongoing improvement to services and work towards the requirements of the National PCN DES in such areas as Capacity & Access Improvement, Health Inequalities, Core 20+5 along with other local targeted areas/Enhanced Services, i.e., GP Enhanced Specification.

The role will require experience in quality/service improvement with expertise in transformational change and a good understanding of primary care systems and processes, including familiarity with general practice digital systems and how they can be used to deliver improvement. The role emphasises patient access, optimising workflows and fostering collaboration across the health care system to improve efficiency, patient outcomes and population health management in alignment with NHS England's digital priorities and Wigan Locality/NHSGMICB objectives.

Management of KPIs will be required, such as to improve patient engagement, reduce demand on traditional channels and offer improved proactive care.

The post holder's expertise will also be used to:

• Work alongside organisations to understand current challenges to effective service delivery and identify solutions, including existing best practice within the PCN.
• Drive the planning and prioritisation of changes that will improve the delivery of care and improve patient and staff experience in the organisations within the PCN.
• Ensure all change is ultimately focused on improving services for patients and is based on working with patients and communities to understand their needs and experiences.
• Build relationships with organisations across the PCN to develop consensus for improvements and to ensure all staff (clinical and non-clinical) are fully engaged throughout the process of selection, implementation, deployment and monitoring/evaluation of change, peer challenge and learning.
• Develop and manage an overall transformation plan for the PCN, including identifying interdependencies, risks, considering the potential impacts on the wider Organisation, and determining resource requirements.
• Link with other PCN Digital Transformation Leads/Managers, Wigan Locality, NHS Greater Manchester and other system partners to collaboratively solve problems, share learning, gain buy-in for transformation and to support alignment with wider strategy and improvement approaches.
• Provide hands-on capacity and support to organisations in implementing and sustaining agreed changes.
• Support staff to identify and participate in relevant training and/or professional development opportunities that will support the achievement of agreed improvements.
• Support organisations and staff to optimise the use of existing functionality and new technology to deliver benefits for patients and staff and to enable improvement.
• Use improvement techniques to focus on the delivery of changes and analysis of their impacts, providing feedback to staff on both positive and negative impacts of the changes made.
• Use data to support population health management and workforce planning.
• Advise on innovative opportunities and support organisations to maximise the benefits from innovation through the sharing of learning and best practice.
• Develop and implement mechanisms for assessing the impact of agreed changes.
• Keep PCN leadership and member organisations updated on the progress of current initiatives, capacity for change, progress and issues so that plans can be adapted in response.
• Assess the PCN's transformation maturity and help Wigan Locality, NHSGMICB to understand local support needs, for example, facilitated by using relevant frameworks.

The post-holder will need to have skills in relation to understanding and using data to drive improvement and assess impacts. These skills will be used to:

• Take a data driven approach, looking at the evidence and information available to support an understanding of the challenges, identify possible solutions and track the impacts of changes that have been made.
• Work in partnership with the Wigan Locality, NHSGMICB to identify relevant data sets and to support standardisation in the use of measures for understanding change and improvement in general practice.
• Bring together data from a variety of sources and use information to develop insights into working practices, or support population health management, risk stratification or workforce planning, effectively tailoring content to meet the needs of the audience.
• Effectively present and communicate data to organisations and PCN staff at all levels to increase understanding of operational challenges.
• Interpret data and highlight variation to support open discussion about when variation is and is not warranted.
• Help PCN/Organisation staff to understand the limitations of datasets and when other information may be available to supplement understanding of issues.
• Support and encourage a focus on data in understanding the effectiveness of the changes made.
• Seek and secure analytical resources as required to support the PCN in developing and implementing appropriate data and information sharing mechanisms.
• Use data to track and assess the impact of changes made to operational processes and to track trends and developments over time.

With responsibility for developing and supporting the delivery of transformational projects across the PCN, the post-holder will be skilled at engaging different stakeholders, bringing people together and gaining support and buy-in to change.

These skills will be used to:

• Build and maintain good working relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, including with the Wigan Locality, NHS Greater Manchester.
• Initiate and participate in the development of effective systems of communication and co-operation between organisations, staff and other members of the primary care team.
• Ensure that changes are aligned with agreed clinical priorities and have ownership and engagement from clinical leaders and staff.
• Support practices to communicate changes and new processes effectively and consistently to patients.
• Identify best practice and learning from other areas that could be applicable to the PCN and communicate this to staff.
• Make connections across the PCN/with local colleagues to support learning between organisations and the sharing of best practice.
• Make connections with other PCNs, Wigan Locality, NHSGMICB and other service delivery organisations, patients and communities to plan and deliver changes that will improve working between General Practices and other primary and community care/wider care services.
• Lead or participate in relevant working groups, project groups, service meetings and other forums across the PCN, Wigan Locality, NHSGMICB to agree changes, share learning, discuss challenges and resolve issues.

Qualifications: Educated to Masters level in a relevant area of academic practice or equivalent working experience at this level.

Experience: For essential criteria please see attached person specification.

Personal Qualities: Please see attached person specification.

Skills: Please see attached person specification for essential and desirable skills required.

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.