Director of Commercial and Contracting

Band 9 - £91,170 - £109,169 (inclusive of London weighting)

Department: Finance

Accountable to: Chief Financial Officer

Job Summary

This role will provide Commercial leadership to drive sustainable and best value delivery of high quality health and care, and ensure that the total income of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from whatever source (clinical, research, educational, commercial or other) is planned, negotiated and contracted for and then billed and reported to the highest professional standards. They will have corporate responsibility for the Commercial and Contracting team.

The post holder will take lead contracting responsibility for all clinical activity commissioned by NHSE, clinical commissioning groups and local authorities. This will include taking the lead in contract and income planning and contract negotiations and having lead responsibility for the monitoring and reporting of in year contract performance.

In collaboration with the Business Intelligence Unit, the post holder will be responsible for the further development of the contracting strategy and ensuring directorates’ clinical and non-clinical plans reflect the contracts agreed.

The post holder will be expected to influence DHSC/NHSE/NHSI policy on contract developments and to keep abreast of and influence proposed funding changes such as population or capitation funding, personalised budgets or network funding proposals.

The post holder will propose and make changes to Trust policy as appropriate, ensuring that Trust policies and procedures are developed and implemented in line with any contractual requirements and obligations.

They will be expected to present commercial, contracting and business information to large groups, such as the whole Finance function as well as clinical and non-clinical colleagues from outside of Finance.

The post holder will have line management responsibility for the 4 members of staff . This takes into account all aspects of staff development, training, appraisals, 1:1s, support and coaching.

In providing specialist financial expertise and leadership to the business there is an almost constant requirement for the post holder to exercise intense concentration and sustained mental effort in order to analyse, understand, retain and convey information. There is a frequent need for the post holder to prioritise and re-prioritise workloads according to the demands of stakeholders and to meet financial deadlines.

Key Working Relationships

KWR

Internal:

Executive team
Board members
Senior Finance Staff
Senior Clinicians
Divisional/Directorate Management
Budget Holders
Information / BIU Team
Financial Recovery Team
Finance Business Partners
KIFM

External:

NHS Improvement
Commissioning Bodies
Legal and other professional advisors
Department of Health and Social Care
NHS England
Other Foundation Trusts and NHS Trusts
Auditors
Joint ventures
Subsidiaries
Third party providers
Private sector & commercial partner

Structure

Organisational Structure

Duties

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Negotiating Contracts

To establish strong working relationships with commissioners.
To evaluate the implications of changing national policy on Trust contracting strategy and income and inform the Trust negotiating response.
To ensure the Trust income is maximised through pro-active and effective contract management ensuring proposals, negotiations, agreement, documentation, monitoring and feedback are all undertaken to the highest professional standards.
To minimise financial risk by negotiating contractual clauses that allow the Trust to protect income flows.
To lead negotiations of the baseline activity with commissioners to ensure realistic levels of activity are commissioned.
To negotiate the detail of KPIs with commissioners, minimising and loss or fines to the Trust.
To lead the negotiation of CQUINs and other quality initiatives.
Responsible for the review of contracts, the negotiation of amendments and checks and recommend all contracts to the Finance Director and Chief Executive for signature.
To lead the submission of cases to conciliation, arbitration or legal contract disputes.
To ensure suitable contract documentation to meet audit requirements.

Contract monitoring

To attend and lead the contract monitoring meetings with commissioners (both NHS and Non-NHS).
Responsible for the monitoring of performance on contracts both internally, attending performance review meetings, to ensure directorates are delivering to contract targets and with commissioners externally to ensure income recovery.
To ensure accurate reporting of the contractual position to commissioners on a timely basis within the national timetable and provide reconciliations between national and local systems where needed.
To ensure routine monitoring of contractual KPI’s minimising and loss or fines to the Trust.
To drive contract performance identifying early signs of variation and agreeing remedial steps to mitigate risk.
To provide forecasts of contract performance and act as the expert point of contact on Trust income.
To coordinate communication and intervention between the Trust and commissioners.

Commercial Activities, Business Cases and Market Testing

To provide professional financial advice and assessment of bids throughout the Trust in relation to market testing.
To provide professional financial advice in relation to new and existing commercial activities of the Trust

Financial responsibilities

The post holder will be accountable for ensuring all trust income is covered by legally binding contracts and that, together with procurement and commercial representatives, appropriate registers of these contracts are kept up to date.
The post holder will be accountable, together with Operations Support for ensuring all trust income is invoiced and received and is collected as quickly as possible and that any contractual queries are logged and resolved.

People Management and Performance

Lead, coach and manage the performance of the team in line with good people management practices. Ensuring excellence is recognised and underperformance is addressed.
Participate in regular performance appraisal meetings and ensure each member of the team has a clear set of objectives and development plans.
Ensure the team is compliance with all statutory, mandatory training together with any professional training requirements, ensuring they are up to date and fully compliant.
Manage team absences including sickness in line with Trust policy ensuring the appropriate return to work meetings occur, e-roster is updated and productivity is at keep to the highest possible level.
Identify and fill any vacancies that arise within the team in line with the Trust’s recruitment policy and process.
Identify talent and support the internal talent management process in order attract and retain and succession plan for your people.
Review skills mix at regular intervals in order to identify any potential opportunities to maximise resource utilisation / allocation, ensuring job descriptions are kept up to date.
Ensure overall wellbeing of the team is maintained. Continuously support in improving the morale of the team and implementing a culture of zero-tolerance for bullying and harassment.

Other

To be a key member of the team setting the long-term incoming planning assumptions and targets for the Trust.
To interpret changes in Government policy and assess the financial impact of these changes on Trust Income.
To propose and develop changes to Trust policy;
To present commercial, contracting and business information to a variety of stakeholder groups
From time to time, to provide support to the rest of the department undertaking other duties as required, which are consistent with the grade and nature of the post. The role includes work on special projects as they arise.

General

The post holder has a general duty of care for their own health, safety and wellbeing and that of work colleagues, visitors and patients within the hospital, in addition to any specific risk management or clinical governance accountabilities associated with this post.
To observe the rules, policies, procedures and standards of King's College Hospital NHS Trust together with all relevant statutory and professional obligations.
To live and role model the King’s Values of:
- Understanding you
- Inspiring confidence in our care
- Working together
- Always aiming higher
- Making a difference in our community

To observe and maintain strict confidentiality of personal information relating to patients and staff.
To be responsible, with management support, for their own personal development and to actively contribute to the development of colleagues.
The post holder has an important responsibility for and contribution to infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene requirements of this role.
These requirements are set out in the National Code of Practice on Infection Control and in local policies and procedures which will be made clear during your induction and subsequent refresher training. These standards must be strictly complied with at all times.
This job description is intended as a guide to the general scope of duties and is not intended to be definitive or restrictive. It is expected that some of the duties will change over time and this description will be subject to review in consultation with the post holder.

Safe Guarding

The Trust takes the issues of Safeguarding Children, Adults and addressing Domestic Abuse very seriously. All employees have a responsibility to support the organisation in our duties by;

attending mandatory training on safeguarding children and adults
familiarising themselves with the Trust's processes for reporting concerns
reporting any safeguarding child or adult concerns appropriately

Infection Control Statement

The post holder has an important responsibility for and contribution to infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene procedures and requirements when in clinical areas.

The post holder has an important responsibility for and contribution to make to infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene requirements of this role.

These requirements are set out in the National Code of Practice on Infection Control and in local policies and procedures which will be made clear during your induction and subsequent refresher training. These standards must be strictly complied with at all times.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential

Educated to degree level.
Expert specialist knowledge of the NHS Contract and NHS Contract Management.
Significant evidence of continued professional development.
CCAB fully qualified / Professional chartered accountancy qualification.

Experience

Essential

Significant management experience at senior level in the NHS or other public healthcare related industry.
Experience of healthcare contracts management – acute, community and Local Authority.
Significantly experienced negotiator.
Experience of managing complex commercial contract arrangements.
Extensive leadership and management skills developed at a senior level in a large and complex organisation.
Experience of working across multidisciplinary functions.
A track record of demonstrable leadership including experience of influencing and motivating others to form positive relationships at all levels to achieve continuous improvement and transformational change.
Experience of managing significant financial resources within the NHS with strong appreciation of relevant regulatory frameworks/NHS operating framework.
Experience of leading and motivating teams to deliver to a high standard whilst under.
Experience in identifying issues and structuring problems, leading quantitative and qualitative analysis, synthesising and developing recommendations – leading to action.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

Financial acumen including experience of effective budget management and control, coupled with a detailed understanding of cost improvement methodology.
Leadership skills with the ability to enthuse, motivate and involve individuals and teams, and have them understand the Trust’s and your performance expectations.
Excellent inter-personal, communications and influencing skills, both oral and written.
Ability to prepare and produce concise and insightful written communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required.
Ability to drive towards and proven ability to achieve challenging delivery targets.
Ability to manage and deliver to deadlines and within resources.
Ability to develop a small team of skilled professionals, and build the capability of individual team members over time.
Ability to analyse highly complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources.
Ability to collaborate constructively with internal and external partners to create the conditions for successful partnership working.

Desireable

Understanding of the changing NHS environment and its implications for service delivery

Personal Qualities

Essential

Has the drive and energy to make things happen; frequently goes "above and beyond" the call of duty.
Has resilience, patience, authority, gravitas, and an ability to influence widely.
Demonstrable commitment to and focus on quality, promotes high standards to consistently improve patient outcomes.
Able to work at flexible hours.
Demonstrably involves patients and the public in their work.
Demonstrable commitment to partnership working with a range of external organisations.
Works across boundaries, looks for collective success, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others.
Actively develops themselves and others.
Uses evidence to make improvements, seeks out innovation.
Self-awareness in terms of emotional intelligence, biases and personal triggers with cultural sensitivity and awareness.
Values diversity and difference, operates with integrity and openness.

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