Private and Confidential

Position Specification Chief Financial Officer, NHS

Reference P1807-077L FINAL

Doc#937139

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POSITION SPECIFICATION

Background

The NHS delivers care to thousands of patients every day through primary care, community, mental health, hospital and ambulance services. These services are delivered by NHS organisations, and a wide range of independent and third sector providers. Designing and managing the overall financial environment and shaping NHS strategies to deliver a sustainable, demonstrably efficient and high quality service is vital to ensuring that providers, commissioners and systems deploy scarce resources in the most effective ways and patients are able to receive world class care in the best possible settings. This is a highly visible and influential strategic leadership role working across NHS Improvement and NHS England.

The Chief Financial Officer of the NHS will be accountable for developing financial strategies and related resource allocations which ensure that NHS providers, commissioners and local health systems more broadly have the necessary financial resources available to them, and an appropriate set of financial and operational frameworks and incentives in place to support them in continuously improving the health of the populations they serve. Of paramount importance to this role, the post holder must ensure that the NHS retains and builds its reputation for financial excellence and professionalism by delivering what is asked of it within the available financial resources allocated by Government.

The post holder will be accountable for designing and overseeing the implementation of a new holistic financial and operational oversight framework that positively supports providers, commissioners and systems to deliver the best possible performance and sets a new relationship of collaboration and constructive challenge between those delivering care and the regional NHS teams tasked with overseeing them. The post holder will also be accountable for creating and managing a system of integrated planning and adaptive performance management for the sector which ensures that the NHS continues to improve its ability to anticipate and respond effectively to issues, challenges and opportunities as they emerge.

The post holder will be responsible for adhering to NHS England’s statutory obligations relating to the National Tariff, for complying with the financial reporting obligations of both NHS England and NHS Improvement as prescribed by Parliament and for ensuring that both NHS Improvement and NHS England deploy their resources in the most effective and efficient way, thereby fulfilling the standards set out in HMT Guidance Managing Public Money (2013).

The post holder will provide the necessary leadership and vision to bring together the current NHS England and NHS Improvement finance teams and ensure that they work together effectively as a single team supported by redesigned and integrated business processes. The post holder will also take on a head of profession role for a professional finance community of over 15,000 people across the NHS.

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Role Specification – Core Accountabilities and Deliverables

Strategic Finance

• Negotiate/agree the financial parameters of the NHS commissioner and provider sector with the Department of Health & Social Care and other national bodies, including revenue, capital and cash planning totals and authorisation limits.

• Accountable for setting a clear national financial strategy supported by optimal resource allocations and investment choices.

• Accountable for developing clear policies, frameworks and authorisation processes for providers, commissioners and systems to develop high quality capital related business cases and access nationally available capital resources.

• Responsible for designing and implementing financial incentive programmes for the sector, working with national and local system leaders to ensure that they are fit for purpose and support the overall strategic direction of the NHS.

• Accountable for meeting NHS England’s statutory obligations relating to the National Tariff, working closely with the Chief Provider Strategy Officer of NHS Improvement to ensure that overall Tariff arrangements are efficient and effective.

• Interim responsibility for developing and implementing successful commercial strategies in relation to pharmaceutical supplies to the NHS, including oversight of major negotiations with industry partners.

Planning, Performance and Reporting

• Accountable for ensuring that the NHS lives within its annual budget as determined by Government and delivers value for money through its stewardship of available resources.

• Accountable for designing and overseeing a new holistic performance review, oversight and intervention architecture to be deployed consistently and effectively across the seven regional teams.

• Accountable for creating the national NHS planning guidance, managing the planning cycle and ensuring that aggregated plans fit within the overall resource envelope and deliver the performance requirements set by government through the Mandate.

• Accountable for national aggregated reporting of financial and operational performance, delivering a ‘single version of the truth’, and providing in depth analysis of trends and relevant insights to inform decision making.

• Responsible for preparing all statutory financial accounts as required of NHS England and NHS Improvement in statute.

• Responsible for understanding and managing the cash flow of the NHS, ensuring that the necessary liquidity is in the system so that all financial obligations can be met as they fall due.

• Responsible for advising government ministers and senior DHSC officials of the financial state of play of the sector, providing insights and flagging risks and challenges early.

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• Responsible for providing the necessary support, intelligence and insights to inform productivity improvement work led by the Chief Improvement Officer and regional improvement teams.

Professional Leadership

• Responsible for building and nurturing effective relationships across the whole finance profession in the NHS to ensure that the national finance direction of travel is relevant, credible, well communicated and ‘bought into’ by the finance community.

• Responsible for being head of profession for the finance community across the NHS, working pro-actively with the Chief People Officer, sector finance leaders and external key partners to ensure that finance talent is developed, nurtured and encouraged to step up as needed by the NHS.

• Also, responsible for creating and promulgating the highest standards of finance professionalism within the NHS, including the development of new approaches within the Future-Focussed Finance programme.

• Support Regional Directors, NHS Trusts and STPs with the appointment of senior finance leaders.

Other (including Internal)

• Accountable for the provision of expert finance and business advice to the Boards of NHS England and NHS Improvement and fellow national and regional directors.

• Responsible for ensuring that NHS England and NHS Improvement deploy their internal resources in the most effective and efficient way through robust internal budget setting, timely management reporting and ‘best in class’ financial controls.

• Responsible for successfully creating and leading a single finance team for the two organisations and ensuring that new ways of working are developed that best meet the needs of the whole NHS sector.

• Responsible for leading other national programmes and projects at the request of the Chief Executives.

• Participate fully as a voting member in the wider work of both NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Boards.

• Member of the joint NHS England / NHS Improvement national leadership team, sharing collective responsibility for developing national priorities, managing the overall performance of the NHS and supporting transformation in quality of care, health outcomes and efficiency.

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Person Specification – Essential Attributes

Qualifications, Professional Registrations and Skills

• Educated to Masters level or equivalent with current membership of a recognised professional accountancy body with an unblemished record and evidence of Continued Professional Development.

Skills and Experience

• Significant experience of operating at board level as a CFO and a substantial track record of delivering results in a very complex high-profile environment.

• A high level of relevant professional, technical skills, including knowledge and experience of financial risk management and of value-based investment appraisal. and knowledge of estates, procurement, and support services.

• Proven track record as a financial improvement leader delivering significant productivity savings in a large-scale, complex fast moving organisation.

• Strategic thought leader bringing analytical rigour coupled with pragmatic problem-solving in addressing complex financial and operational situations. High capacity to drive innovative approaches that can be implemented in the NHS.

• Champion and natural leader of a large and widely distributed finance professional community.

• Demonstrable understanding of the UK political environment as it affects the NHS.

Leadership

• First in class leadership skills from a breadth of disciplines, a visionary and strategic thinker.

• Highly developed negotiation and political skills and awareness and significant experience of operating at Board level in a politically sensitive environment or organisation.

• Natural communicator and leader of change, comfortable in the media spotlight.

• Proven experience at a senior leadership level in delivering strategic transformational change.

• Ability to demonstrate, at a senior level, a range of leadership styles, influencing skills, sound judgement and flexibility to secure results.

• A role model, demonstrating a high level of integrity and the ability to motivate and inspire others.

• Personally values diversity and difference, operates with integrity and openness and as an inclusive leader.

• Clear integrity and a commitment to maintaining the highest personal and professional standards, appropriate to the responsibilities attached to holding a senior position within a public body.

• Excellent stakeholder relationship management at Board/Executive Director level.

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Stakeholder Management

• Ability to build, nurture and set direction through complex matrix stakeholder relationships across national and regional dimensions.

• The ability to influence to the most senior level, a high level of gravitas, impact and the ability to persuade and change the views of others.

• Outstanding negotiator with highly developed influencing skills to support and facilitate agreements amongst a disparate range of stakeholders to complex, multi-dimensional challenges often with no single ‘right’ solution.

• Consensus builder with the ability to work constructively with, and advise, national CEOs, Department of Health & Social Care and the Treasury to set a collective strategic direction.

People Skills

• A highly effective leader who role models leadership skills and sets the highest standards, motivates and develops staff and stakeholders and promotes personal, organisational and cultural development.

• Track record in leading and managing complex relationships with a variety of stakeholders with different reporting relationships to achieve the best results.

Decision-Making

• Pragmatic but courageous and willing to take bold and innovative decisions in the face of opposition. Self-aware and resilient with political/emotional intelligence to understand drivers.

• Ability to make timely and sound judgements and decisions to secure the effective delivery and sustainability of services, within a complex and demanding environment.

• Proven financial risk management skills and ability to balance competing demands for resources and understand the financial implications and trade-offs of investments in competing demands.

Creative Thinking and Innovation

• A willingness and ability both to draw on established evidence and best practice and to challenge themselves and others to think creatively and seek out and spread innovation to generate new solutions to current and future challenges.

• An understanding of innovative approaches to achieve long-term sustainability from NHS or other industries.

Emotional Demands

• Track record in promoting and improving diversity and inclusion and outstanding working relationships.

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Equality and Diversity

• Self-awareness in terms of emotional intelligence, biases and personal triggers with cultural sensitivity and awareness.

Person Specification – Desirable Attributes

• Proven track record in driving improvements in quality of care, health outcomes and use of resources across local health systems.

• Experience of leading financial policy development at a national level.

• Proven track record of developing and implementing complex solutions at scale in healthcare.

• Proven track record of system leadership within the NHS and experience of turning around poor performance in relation to quality of care, use of resources and operational performance.

• Demonstrable technical understanding of NHS providers, commissioners and systems, the financial processes they require for success, and the regulatory/control environment, in which they operate.

• In depth knowledge of NHS financial, performance management and accountability frameworks.

• Proven track record in working with local health systems and with national and local government to improve configuration of services in the best interests of local communities.

• Proven track record in driving improvements in quality of care, health outcomes and use of resources across local health systems.

The NHS is committed to appointing diverse, talented and high-performing individuals and welcomes candidates irrespective of their background.

Appointments are made in keeping with NHS’s commitment to value diversity and promote equality in that there should be equal opportunities for all and no discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation, providing individuals meet the required criteria.

Remuneration

A competitive package is offered.

Location

London.

This position specification is not exhaustive. There will be other accountabilities not specified here that would be expected from the Chief Financial Officer for the NHS.

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SELECTION AND APPLICATION PROCESS

Selection Process

Russell Reynolds Associates has been appointed to assist with this recruitment.

The Selection Panel for this role will assess applications on merit and will employ open and transparent processes in determining the candidate considered most suitable for this appointment.

Candidates for final interview may be offered the opportunity of an informal discussion with key stakeholders before Final Interview.

The NHS employer reserves the right to make any offer of appointment conditional on references and satisfactory conclusion of security enquiries.

Composition of the Selection Panel will follow.

Below is an indicative Appointment Timetable and subject to change.

Close advertisement Noon, 8 October 2018

RRA interviews Target Mid-October

Final Interviews Target Late October/Early November

For further information about this role, please contact one of the following:

Patrick Johnson

Suzanne Bose-Mallick

Email: fiona.birkmire@russellreynolds.com

Email: Suzanne.bose-mallick@russellreynolds.com

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Application Instructions

The closing date for applications is Noon, 8 October 2018.

All applications must include the following:

▪ The reference number P1807-077L in the subject line.

▪ A short covering letter of not more than two A4 sized pages explaining why this appointment interests you, your suitability for the role outlining and how you meet the appointment criteria and competencies as detailed in the person specification.

▪ A current CV with educational and professional qualifications and full employment history, explaining any gaps in your employment history, giving details where applicable, of budgets and numbers of people managed, highlighting relevant achievements in recent posts, together with reasons for absence within the last two years.

▪ The names of at least two referees who may be contacted at short list stage, i.e. before final interview, describing in what capacity and over what period of time they have known you. Referees will not be contacted without your consent.

▪ Confirmation from you that you are happy for Russell Reynolds Associates or its client to undertake any necessary background checks, including career, regulated health or social care activity where roles involved children or vulnerable adults, credit and qualifications, or similar, post short list stage.

▪ Notification of any dates you are unable to accommodate within the indicative timetable set out in the previous section.

▪ The willingness and ability to confirm that you are a fit and proper person. For further details, please see: http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/regulation-5-fit-and-proper-persons-directors

▪ The completed Appendix 1 giving your preferred contact details which will be used for all correspondence between us.

▪ The completed questionnaire contained in Appendix 2.

Please submit your full application by email to Responses@RussellReynolds.com.

If you need assistance regarding your application, please email Fiona.Birkmire@RussellReynolds.com

Page 1 Appendices

APPENDICES for NHS CFO

Appendix 1: Personal Details

Surname:

Forename(s):

Title:

Address for correspondence:

Postcode:

Contact Telephone Number (including national

or international dial codes):

Mobile Telephone Number:

E-mail address:

Page 2 Appendices This form will not be disclosed to anyone involved in assessing your application.

Appendix 2: Diversity Monitoring Questionnaire

Name (BLOCK CAPITALS)

Our client is committed to pursuing equality of opportunity.

This section of your submission will be detached from your application. The information collected will only be used for monitoring purposes in an anonymised format and will help the organisation analyse the profile and make up of applicants and appointees to jobs in support of their equal opportunities policies. Your answers will be treated confidentially and will not affect your job application in any way. We thank you in advance for your co-operation.

Part A: Gender

Male

Female

Part B: Age

Under 25 45-49 Do not wish to answer

25-29 50-54

30-34 55-59

35-39 60-64

40-44 65+

Part C: National Identity

What do you consider your nationality to be?

British

English

Irish

Scottish

Welsh

Other (please specify if you wish)

Do not wish to answer

Part D: Ethnic Background What is your ethnic background?

Asian Mixed ethnic background

Bangladeshi

Indian

Pakistani

Other Asian background (specify below if you wish)

Asian and White

Black African and White

Black Caribbean and White

Other mixed ethnic background (specify below if you wish)

Page 3 Appendices

This form will not be disclosed to anyone involved in assessing your application.

Black White

African

Caribbean

Other Black background (specify below if you wish)

Any White background (specify below if you wish)

Other ethnic background Any other ethnic background (specify below if you

wish) Chinese

Any Chinese background (specify below if you wish)

Do not wish to answer

Other information you wish to specify

Part E: Disability monitoring The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) defines a disabled person as someone with a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect of at least one year on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Do you consider yourself to be disabled as defined in the Disability Discrimination Act?

Yes

No

If you are selected for interview will you require any additional arrangements at interview? If so please specify below:

Part F: Sexual orientation Which of the following best describes how you think of yourself?

Bisexual

A gay man

A gay woman / lesbian

Heterosexual

Other (please specify)

Do not wish to answer

Part G: Religion What is your religion?

No Religion Jewish

Buddhist Muslim

Christian Sikh

Hindu Do not wish to answer

Any other religion (please specify)?