Vacancy: Director of Care

Post : Director of Care
Reporting to : Chief Executive
Location : Hospice sites at Stockton and Bishop Auckland
Base : Time to be shared between both sites

Job Purpose

Proactively lead the continuous and strategic development of our care and support services to ensure effective high-quality care. Provide dynamic, inspiring, professional visible leadership to the teams to ensure effective management, organisation and delivery of integrated patient care. Provide an effective link between the hospice and the key regulatory bodies that monitor our care (such as CQC and the CCG), whilst embedding a quality improvement culture at the hospices.

Responsible for developing services according to local need, national guidance and best practice, ensuring effective partnership working with other organisations to share resources and expertise, and for ensuring that all clinical services comply with regulatory and legislative standards as the Registered Manager and as Caldicott Guardian.

Key Responsibilities

• Hold the positions of CQC Registered Manager, Accountable Officer for Controlled Drugs and Caldicott Guardian ensuring the clinical governance strategy promotes a culture of clinical excellence and meets the requirements of CQC and Commissioners.
• Provide strong, visible and supportive leadership to the Managers of the Services, enabling them to effectively lead their teams and continually review and develop services to improve outcomes for patients and clients.
• As part of the senior management team, be responsible for monitoring against key targets, provide data to enable effective governance and compliance of services, inform organisational strategic development and monitor the external environment in order to anticipate changing demands on service provision.
• Represent Butterwick Hospice Care externally, building relationships with stakeholders and potential partners, with the aim of contributing and influencing the specialist palliative and end of life care agenda regionally and raising the profile of services offered.
• As a member of the Senior Management Team, contribute to the wider operation and strategic development, supporting the CEO to develop the hospice and  promote collaboration across the region whilst delivering on organisational strategic objectives.
• Oversee clinical budget and support clinical managers to work within financial restraints and funding restrictions.

Specific duties include but not limited to:

Clinical Leadership

• Lead on the development and implementation of the clinical services strategy across the hospice’s services.
• Lead by example to assure the highest levels of professional performance and conduct, ensuring all staff fulfil the requirements of their roles and adhere to all organisational policies and procedures.
• Cultivate a climate of openness, transparency and learning, to ensure that patient safety and excellent care is embedded throughout the organisation
• Accountable for ensuring Butterwick Hospice Care adheres to the highest standards of clinical governance through methods such as audit, risk management, incident and complaint management, evidence-based care policies and procedures.
• Accountable for ensuring that all safeguarding regulations are adhered to and that our mandatory training, policies and procedures reflect best practice, leading on care policy review and development.
• Produce high-quality reports and data for CQC, CCG/ICS, Quality Account, Board of Trustees and other stakeholders and meetings as necessary.
• Undertake investigations and produce subsequent reports in line with hospice policy, sharing learning and embedding best practice.
• Working with Senior Team colleagues, ensure all complaints, concerns, accidents and incidents are handled effectively and efficiently, in accordance with hospice procedures and best practice and that any learning from these is shared as appropriate both within and externally to the organisation.
• Ensure record keeping, information management, cleanliness, infection control, nutrition and hygiene standards meet hospice standards, external guidelines and legislation.
• Accountable for delivery of a safe and sustainable staffing model, which incorporates robust systems for staff development and maintaining professional standards.
• Promote and support evidence-based practice and actively encourage research initiatives within Butterwick Hospice Care and externally, within ethical committee guidelines.
• Explore and promote opportunities for innovation and collaboration to shape services and be of value to the wider palliative and end of life care sector

Leadership

• Utilise a range of internal and external data sources to review and develop care services, involving users and key stakeholders, to ensure existing and emergent patient and client outcomes are achieved.
• Develop a culture which welcomes authentic patient partnership to ensure services are responsive and that patient/service user and carer experience is central
• Accountable for the recruitment, retention and development of care services staff and volunteers, ensuring effective workforce planning, when required lead on and chair disciplinary panels
• Foster a culture of respect and consideration between all members of Butterwick Hospice Care.
• Work across departments at Butterwick Hospice Care, supporting excellent communication and collaborative working as ‘one team’.
• Support fundraising, marketing, communications and community engagement in order to increase the reach of Butterwick Hospice Care across Stockton, Bishop Auckland and surrounding areas.
• Working closely with the Director of Finance and Business Services, be accountable for setting and monitoring the Care budgets, ensuring the services operate within agreed budgetary parameters, identifying areas of efficiency.
• Motivate staff in an empathetic manner to ensure excellent levels of staff morale, strong internal communication and practices ensuring a program of continuous improvement e.g. staff meetings, internal memos, regular site visits.
• Define Key FM Performance Indicators for areas of responsibility, ensuring their effective implementation and develop performance benchmarks for services
• Provide leadership, coaching and expertise to managers to ensure competence in undertaking duties and that robust operational improvement plans are in place and delivered
• Maintain personal and professional competencies and development. Make changes to own practice where required and offer suggestions for improving services where appropriate.
• Respond to any emergency out of hours/on call issues as they arise.

All Staff Responsibilities

All staff must safeguard the integrity, confidentiality and availability of sensitive information at all times, this includes information relating to patients, individual staff records, colleagues and contracts.  Employees of the Organisation are required to comply with the Organisation’s Principles of Data Protection and Quality.

All staff are required to understand and comply with all relevant policies both Organisation-wide and departmental and to carry out duties in accordance with Butterwick Hospice Care Code of Conduct, NMC, CQC, fundraising information and financial standards and current legislation

All staff are required to take responsibility for attending statutory and mandatory training, and identify their training and development needs.

All staff must take responsibility for managing their own health, safety and wellbeing in accordance with departmental policy and legislation.

All staff will adhere to, and follow good infection control practices and other related policies and guidelines.

All staff have a statutory duty to safeguard children and vulnerable adults during the course of their duties and promote the welfare of children and young people.  Employees must be aware of what to do if they have any concerns.

All staff will undergo an annual performance assessment and agree a personal development plan which will ensure that the objectives of the employee, department and organisation are achieved

All staff are personally accountable for improving and maintaining own knowledge and competence.

All staff will be aware of and support the working practices of any volunteers assisting with daily workload

Standards of Business Conduct

The post holder will be required to comply with the Company’s Standing Orders and Standing Financial Instructions and, at all times, deal honestly with Butterwick Hospice Care, with colleagues and all those who have dealing with the Company including clients, patients, service users and other suppliers and stakeholders.