Assistant General Manager, Band 6 (12 month fixed term)

Job overview

The Assistant General Manager will work alongside the General Manager and other Assistant General Manager within the service line, to support the day-to-day operational management of Anaesthetic services to include Anaesthetics, Critical Care, Pain and Pre-Operative Assessment.

Roles and responsibilities will include the line management of administration and clerical staff; providing cohesive and compassionate leadership in order to support the effective and efficient organisation and delivery of services for the benefit of our patients and service users.

The post holder will work under the direction of, and with support from, the General Manager, alongside other managers, clinical leads and teams.  There is opportunity to support operational and strategic planning of services and to lead on specific service improvements and projects.

Currently the two Assistant General Managers within the anaesthetic service take key responsibility for either Anaesthetics and Pain Management or Pre-Operative Assessment and Critical Care.  This post will focus upon Pre-operative Assessment and Critical Care, whilst maintaining some fluidity and oversight across the entire service.  This arrangement may be subject to change depending upon focus and the sharing of workloads.

The proposed interview date is: 28th January

Main duties of the job

Take responsibility for supporting the day-to-day operational management of defined clinical areas and departments, under the direction of, and with support from, the General Manager for Anaesthetic services.

Provide management and leadership of the administration and clerical staff within the Anaesthetic, Critical Care, Pain and Pre-Operative Assessment services, as agreed and jointly shared with the other AGM for anaesthetics.

Work collaboratively and cohesively with management, admin and clinical teams, within own and other specialties in order to deliver an effective and responsive service.

Work in close partnership with relevant stakeholders to drive improvement, embed change and standardise processes, based on local requirements and best practice.

Work alongside the General Manager and service leads to define, develop and continuously embed service line business planning and delivery within resource.

Provide leadership and support in a complex and rapidly changing environment, ensuring that governance and escalation processes and systems are adhered to.

*Currently the two Assistant General Managers within the anaesthetic service take key responsibility for either Anaesthetics and Pain Management or Pre-Operative Assessment and Critical Care.  This post will focus upon Pre-operative Assessment and Critical Care, whilst maintaining some fluidity and oversight across the entire service.  This arrangement may be subject to change depending upon focus and workloads.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key roles and responsibilities

- Assist the General Manager in the day-to-day operational management of services, managing escalated issues and supporting service developments.

- Work cohesively and collaboratively with members of the Pre-Operative Assessment, Critical Care, Anaesthetic and Pain Management teams to ensure that the service is managed efficiently and effectively for the benefit of service users and staff

- Take an active role in waiting list management and referral processes for the pre-operative assessment and also for the pain service if required.  Support actions to improve the local and national recovery of patient waiting times.

- Take an active lead in clinic utilisation within out-patient services, supporting and working with the specialty services to follow effective referral processes.

- Support the Critical Care team with patient flow and management of demand, liaising with the site team, duty managers and other operational leads within escalation processes when required.

- Develop business proposals and assist the General Manager in the implementation of business plans, operational strategies and delivery of Trust objectives.

- Manage and lead the administrative and clerical staff within the service, to include direct line management;

Oversee appraisals and mandatory training, ensuring compliance with Trust targets

Identify any training needs and assist with implementing and delivering training / workshops as required

Monitor performance and sickness absence and take appropriate action when necessary

Lead the administration / clerical teams through any planned changes and support them to deliver a high-quality service

- Participate in a wide range of meetings and represent the General Manager as requested.

- Contribute to the redesign, development and implementation of new processes within the speciality to improve patient pathways, access and quality of care.

- Assist with the investigation of incidents and complaints relating to defined clinical areas and departments. Take appropriate action, formulating action plans to support any required improve.

- Analyse complex and conflicting data from multiple sources.

- Demonstrate own activities / tasks to new or less experienced members of staff.

- Take a leading role within the recruitment and retention of administration and clerical staff within service.

- Maintain own e-learning and mandatory training.

- Work without direct supervision, liaising and communicating with various disciplines as appropriate.

- Participate in the Surgical Duty Manager rota, managing escalations and supporting patient flow through the acute Hospitals.

The post holder will be required to undertake any other appropriate duties according to the needs of the service.  This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of activities, but rather an outline of the main areas of responsibility.  Any reasonable changes will be discussed and agreed with the post holder before variations to the job description are made.

Communications and Working Relationships

- General Managers, Deputy and Assistant General Managers.

- Members of clinical staff – ie; nurses, consultants, trainee doctors, Allied Health Professionals.

- Secretarial and administration staff.

- Patients, relatives and carers.

- Procurement and Creditors.

- Payroll and finance staff.

- Conference providers and training leads.

- Systems management teams.

- Operational General Managers for clinical and support areas (including admin & clerical, health records, booking services, procurement, information, contracting).

- General Practitioners, PCT Service Development team

- Medical staffing, Information Analysts, Finance and Human Resources.

- Booking offices, admission teams, medical secretaries.

- Complaints, PALS, Risk & Clinical Governance Teams.

Most challenging part of the job;

- Requirement to work within a busy environment with frequent interruptions.

- Assisting the management of, and reacting to, an unpredictable workload with constantly changing priorities, whilst being involved in longer term strategic planning, change and development.

- Management of demands from clinical teams to provide adequate management and administration support within limited resources.

- Working flexibly across sites and providing visibility to team members.

- Sometimes managing issues of staff conflict, disagreements and underperformance

- Being an intermediary between the Trust’s need to deliver its financial and service plans, and the clinicians need to put patient priorities and the quality of care first.

- Complexity of issues within and between departments, across sites and the health community.

- Assisting the management of a large diverse group of personnel, breaking down the barriers to communication and developing new ways of working.

- To develop innovative, practical and responsive services which ensure processes are modernised and developed in line with national priorities and the needs of local people.

Physical, mental and emotional effort and working conditions

- The post holder is required to work cohesively with colleagues and to use their own initiative to analyse, make decisions and implement, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of their contribution to the anaesthetic service to ensure the best outcome for excellent service delivery.

- Expected to sit predominantly at a desk but have frequent interruptions, with the need to move around the department and to other departments when required.

- Use of VDU on a daily basis

- High levels of concentration are required in an environment with frequent interruptions either by telephone or face to face contacts

- A requirement to plan own work, between hospital sites, and to balance changing and sometimes conflicting priorities.

- A requirement for light physical effort for short periods such as lifting and handling stationery, files and office equipment

- Dealing with sensitive and confidential information, that may sometimes be distressing.

- Personal duty of care in relation to safe usage of equipment

- Responsibility for financial transactions in a position of trust and responsibility.