UHN Head of Occupational Health

Job overview

The UHN Head of Occupational Health Service (OH) is a key position within the University Hospitals Northamptonshire NHS Group (which is comprised of Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (KGH) and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust (NGH), providing managerial, clinical and professional leadership in the Occupational Health Service. They are accountable for the delivery of services to staff as its service users, to the UHN Group and to its external clients, in accordance with agreed objectives, targets, quality standards, controls and resource constraints as agreed with the UHN Group Head of Health and Wellbeing and the UHN Senior People Team.

The UHN Head of OH Service will be a member of the UHN Senior People Team and UHN Group Health and Wellbeing Service Senior Leads Team (SLT).

The Occupational Health function provides a full range of occupational health services to employees of NHS and non-NHS organisations in order to promote their health and protect them from risks arising from their work and working environment.

This includes services to UHN and commercial clients including the University of Northampton, private individuals, and private businesses. This role is also responsible for third party suppliers to the service and the staff Physiotherapy service within OH.

The post holder will be prepared to work at both Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals or other locations owned by, or served by the Trusts according to the demands of the service.

Main duties of the job

Supporting Clinical Excellence

The postholder will act as the overall Clinical Lead for Occupational Health for UHN, working with the Consultant OH Physicians and Senior Nursing and leadership team to provide high quality OH Services.

The postholder will ensure an equitable clinical service is provided to both UHN hospital sites, setting out service standards, resource allocation, benchmarking, and audit processes. Please see Job Description for further details

The post holder will be called upon to participate in national initiatives and contribute to national policy via links within Occupational Health Professional forums, Society of Occupational Medicine, NHS Health at Work Network to provide a continuous cycle of service improvement.

Ensure that all services are delivered in line with agreed internal and external clinical governance standards and speciality recommendations (such as SEQOHS, Growing OH), Trust-wide policies and processes and best practice requirements.

Ensure that processes and systems comply fully with agreed departmental and Trust policies, monitoring compliance with these processes with good audit systems and ensuring that incidents of non-compliance are reported as needed and rectified.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• The postholder will act as the overall Clinical Lead for Occupational Health for UHN, working with the Consultant OH Physicians and Senior Nursing and leadership team to provide high quality OH Services.
• The postholder will ensure an equitable clinical service is provided to both UHN hospital sites, setting out service standards, resource allocation, benchmarking, and audit processes.
• The post holder will be called upon to participate in national initiatives and contribute to national policy via links within Occupational Health Professional forums, Society of Occupational Medicine, NHS Health at Work Network to provide a continuous cycle of service improvement.
• Ensure that all services are delivered in line with agreed internal and external clinical governance standards and speciality recommendations (such as SEQOHS, Growing OH), Trust-wide policies and processes and best practice requirements.
• Ensure that processes and systems comply fully with agreed departmental and Trust policies, monitoring compliance with these processes with good audit systems and ensuring that incidents of non-compliance are reported as needed and rectified
• Ensure that service guidelines and policies are kept updated, remain evidence based and benchmarked against relevant national policies and standards e.g. NICE, UKHSA
• Collaborate with relevant public and private partner organisations to ensure appropriate clinical service quality and improvements identify potential threats and ways to respond to them
• Ensure that root cause and trend analyses of all complaints and adverse incidents are actively managed and resolved according to Trust policies and processes
• Manage the resolution of complaints and issues from staff (patient/service users), managers, external businesses, and their employees (clients) and partner organisations in a timely and appropriate manner in line with Trust policy, procedures and service delivery values and priorities
• Act as the Data Controller for UHN OH Service take ownership of clinical records and ensuring service compliance with relevant data protection laws
• Ensure appropriate stakeholders’ involvement in assessing service quality and improvements
• The postholder will work with the Group Head of Health and Wellbeing to develop the Group OH strategy to facilitate local initiatives and promote a healthy workforce.
• As a Specialist Nurse you will provide knowledge skills and support to any area in the organisation at any time; this may include direct visits to areas that may be clinical or non-clinical, be distressing or exposed to a variety of risks such as body fluids, dust, fumes, noise, or biological matter.

Supporting Patient Excellence

• To ensure that all agreed outputs for the Service are delivered.
• Deploy resources and maintaining standards in an effective way so as to deliver agreed outputs as set out in an annual business plan and UHN H&WB Service deliverables.
• Lead the UHN OH Team and holding the team to account for delivery against their and the Service’s objectives through regular performance review meetings
• Ensure effective action is taken where performance is at risk of falling below expected levels by coaching the UHN OH team, setting remedial plans, auditing and evaluating outcomes
• Engage and work with national specialist OH research programmes, planning, assessing and auditing outcomes to improve service provision.
• Provide training to UHN stakeholders on Occupational Health Specialist topics to support the management of, and development of a culture of high quality internal occupational health and safety at work.

People/Management Excellence

• The postholder will manage the services on both UHN sites and be accountable for all staffing matters including the processes for appraisal, objective setting, disciplinary matters and recruitment.
• Represent the OH Service at Trust Meetings/forums including, Health and Safety, Infection Prevention and Control, Senior People Team, External Service Business, Third Party Supplier, UHL Occupational Health Consultant Physician Services, National OH Conferences, Regional ICB meetings as clinically appropriate.
• Ensure that all staff within the OHS are effectively managed and developed within Trust-wide policies and procedures
• Providing compassionate and strategic leadership to the multi-disciplinary team across the Service including clinical and non-clinical UHN OH Teams.
• Ensure that all staff within the UHN OH team are effectively managed and developed within Trust wide policies and procedures
• Promote and lead on data driven service and use of IT and technology to demonstrate the effectivity of the service.
• Support the CPD, education and training for all professions within the service.
• Work with the Group Head of Health and Wellbeing and Senior People Team to set the strategic direction of the OH service, identifying both improvements and new opportunities within the service arising from changes in the external environment or internal innovation.
• Assist in developing business cases for OH service initiatives and support the strategic delivery of the UHN Health and Wellbeing Group model with the UHN Head of Health and Wellbeing.
• Deputise for the UHN Group Head of Health and Wellbeing when necessary, at internal UHN and external events and meetings.

Supporting Financial Excellence

• Responsible as budget holder across UHN for OH services.
• Ensure that all services are delivered to meet all financial targets (internal and external) for capital and revenue budgets, as agreed with the Finance Team.
• Accountable for income generation work, developing new contracts and income streams.
• Develop a robust business model that does not impact on the service provided to internal service users
• Develop Tender documents for third party suppliers with the procurement team, engage with suppliers and make decisions as to appropriate Tender awards.
• Be accountable and manage OH related third party, externally tendered contracts including their quality, outcomes and relationship management.
• Ensure that all OH staff comply with the Trust’s standing financial instructions.
• Ensure that the service improvement projects are delivered within agreed timeframes and financial targets
• Ensure contribution to Trust-wide service improvement projects where appropriate
• Develop robust financial invoicing systems with the Business Support Administration Manager and Service Accountant

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.