Job outline

The Clinical Director will have responsibility for ensuring the best quality care and outcomes are delivered by the services in their division for the local population served within the resources available and in partnership with others.

The Clinical Director will have clinical leadership of the division, ensuring the clinical care pathways are enabled to deliver the national and local strategies and for the achievement of high-quality performance and clinical outcomes.

The postholder will play a key part in the leadership of the Trust, and has responsibilities across the organisation as well as the specific division. They will work as part of a close team with the Divisional Managing Director and Divisional Director of Nursing and Quality. There is a recognition that clinical and strategic leadership needs to cross the Division directorate structures to ensure that there is pathway standardisation, consistency of clinical standards, practices and outcomes. The Clinical Director will work with other Divisions and corporate leadership to achieve this goal.

There is strong national and local commitment to developing place based ‘systems of care’ whereby providers work together to improve health and care for the populations they serve. Our Sussex ICS Strategy clearly lays out the ambition that ‘…health and care organisations will work in a more joined-up way and within communities to better understand and respond to their specific needs. Support and services will be shaped around local people, rather than expecting them to fit into the ‘system’. When we say communities, we mean both the local area people live in and also the communities that we know people identify with, such as those with the same interests, beliefs or way of life’.

Alongside the managerial Clinical Director role, it is expected that postholder will undertake 2 sessions (1 day per week) of a clinical role in line with their professional qualifications and seniority in their area of clinical specialty. It is highly likely that this clinical role will be in the services of their Division

Scope and Responsibilities

• To provide clinical leadership to all professionals and managers in the Division – including regular reviews and appraisals of their roles
• To appoint and manage the Clinical Leads and/or Lead Psychiatrists within the Division and to develop clinical leadership across all the services.
• To supervise the Clinical Leads and/or Lead psychiatrists in the delivery of line management of consultant psychiatrists, medical job planning and recruitment.
• To provide the clinical leadership and support the development of long-term strategic plans for the division based upon interpretation of national mental health policy and strategy and considering the Trust aims and objectives and projected needs of the client group.
• To provide clinical leadership and support to the Managing Director and Divisional director for Nursing and Quality for the Division in overseeing the financial position and ensuring that services are provided within the agreed financial envelope whilst maintaining appropriate clinical standards.
• To provide clinical leadership and perspectives on service change programmes that delivers CIP savings as well as improvements in quality and patient care.
• To provide clinical leadership in building a culture of continuous improvement of services as demonstrated by Quality Improvement, clinical audit and other forms of benchmarking. Proactively ensuring that the learning from serious incidents, near misses and complaints is acted upon and communicated effectively throughout the trust, this includes facilitating sessions to promote learning.
• To provide leadership in building and embedding a Just and Learning Culture within the Division, this includes openness and responsibilities under Duty of Candour.
• To provide clinical leadership in developing excellent relationships with GPs, Clinical Commissioning Groups, Acute Hospitals and the Sustainability & Transformation Partnerships
• To represent the Trust when appropriate in handling media, CCG or NCB enquiries, or in communicating complex or contentious information to staff around service developments, serious incidents or homicides.
• To act as an ambassador for the Trust in key clinical commissioning forums, including the Sussex Clinical Senate and the ICB
• To lead on the development of the research and audit strategies and implementation plans within services as agreed by the Service and Trust. This includes making the final decision on the appropriateness of any clinical research studies that are being proposed within the division.
• To undertake face to face clinical work within the division as appropriate and by agreement
• To communicate in a highly skilled and sensitive manner, information concerning the assessment, formulation and treatment plans of clients under their care and to monitor and evaluate progress during the course of both uni- and multi-disciplinary care. This may include teaching or public seeking requiring periods of intense concentration.
• To promote and display via personal actions support for the Trust’s key policies on Equality and Diversity, Exemplar Employer and use of the recovery orientated approach for people 4 with longer term problems.
• Work clinically in line with professional qualifications, seniority and speciality in a clinical service within the Division. Given the seniority of the post-holder, this is likely to include complex case management, assessment, risk management and care planning and delivery of specific therapeutic interventions. The post-holder will be required to maintain their CPD, their professional licence (if applicable) and work within the clinical services providing clinical leadership to their team.

Key Result Areas:

1. Corporate As a senior clinical leader contribute to the business of the Trust as a team member, lead on specific areas of work and act as an ambassador for the organisation in all interactions. Maintain a visible presence within the Division, with the immediate team, corporate business partners and with the wider Trust.
2. Culture Lead and role model a culture which inspires effort and supports others to be the best they can. Enable an environment in which staff are able to contribute and influence decision making, exercise professional judgement and expect to be held to account for their practice. Demonstrate the value of strengths over deficits and promote learning. To value constructive challenge and be a role model for positive local dispute resolution.
3. Service Specific To ensure that the Division is fully aware of its external environment, aspiring to, examining and implementing best practice and contributing to the national evidence base. Have a clear understanding of how resources are employed and the expectations of commissioners and people using services, enabling staff and service users to play a role in service development. To influence the development of pathways of care across the wider trust that maximise flow and put patient experience first.
4. Strategic Cultivate and maintain an outward-facing role. Be future focused and confident about pushing boundaries to develop services that are sustainable. Work in partnership with corporate business partners to translate strategic aims into actions for services. Provide advice on relevant data and research supporting contract negotiation if required. Foster relationships with CCGs, partners and other key stakeholders.
5. Quality Assurance and Governance In partnership with the Division’s Managing Director and Director of Nursing and Quality, develop, implement and manage systems and processes within the care group across all professional groups and disciplines including medical, nursing, psychological therapies, other therapies and social care.
6. Actively promote evidence-based practice and ensure that all treatments are delivered in accordance with NICE Guidelines or best practice guidance. Ensure that relevant clinical risk and outcome measures are developed / used and analysed for improving quality of direct care and for service planning. Ensure service audit and evaluation takes place across the care group and that clinical staff are routinely involved. Contribute to ensuring that staff maintain clinical records safely and to a high standard.
7. Education, Training and Supervision Work with the Managing Director and Director of Nursing and Quality to ensure learning and development leads lead programmes that meet workforce needs and that staff are appropriately supervised. Provide mentoring in some circumstances and ensure that clinical leaders are appropriately supervised and have access to mentoring/coaching resource and a PDP that is suitably challenging and consistent with their role.
8. Workforce Work with Managing Director and Director of Nursing and Quality to shape the design of the Division’s workforce. Lead and provide training in clinical skills across all disciplines as required. Support the appraisal of all doctors and that appropriate systems are in place for job planning for all professional groups.
9. Performance Ensure services are organised and delivered in a way that maximises performance and are based on sound local data and national evidence and that:

• All aspects of Safeguarding are adhered to and that policies and procedures are followed at all times.
• Appropriate professional and clinical involvement into the investigation of complaints including advice on professional standards.
• Provisions for the effective management of risk of infection are fully complied with and communicated in the care group.
• At all times ensuring that resources are effectively deployed.

Policy and Service Development

• To propose and implement policy and service development changes in relation to the Divisional services.
• Leading on the development of long-term strategic plans for the Division based upon interpretation of national mental health policy and strategy, considering the Trust aims and objectives and projected needs of the client group.
• A major requirement of the job is to initiate, lead and carry out, audit, research and training programmes and to propose and implement policy and service development changes within the care group.
• To ensure that services are consistent with major developments in national policy.