Assistant Cost Accountant

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust; Winwick; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Job summary

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a costing professional to support the maintenance and development of PLICS, ensuring robust costing data to underpin Deconstructing the Block, productivity benchmarking and service redesign. The role will provide timely costing advice, contribute to national submissions and respond to costing queries across clinical divisions and corporate departments.

The post holder will be involved in enhancing costing methodologies, data quality improvements and

Qualifications

• Experience in maintaining and developing PLICS systems and costing data.
• Ability to support benchmarking, service redesign and decision-making with costing insights.
• Familiarity with national costing guidance and Service Line Reporting.

Responsibilities

• Support maintenance and development of PLICS and costing data.
• Provide costing insights including unit costs and cost drivers to support decision-making.
• Assist with national costing submissions, SLR and the Trust Costing Manual.

Skills

Costing data analysis

PLICS knowledge

Financial modelling

Tools

PLICs system

Excel

Job description

To support the delivery of a high-quality costing service, recognising the increasing strategic importance of accurate patient-level costing data in delivering the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, productivity and efficiency improvements, and the move towards more activity and outcome-focused funding arrangements.

The post holder will support the maintenance and development of PLICS, ensuring costing data is robust, accurate and capable of supporting Deconstructing the Block, productivity and efficiency analysis, benchmarking, service redesign, financial modelling and decision-making. The role will help clinical divisions and corporate directorates understand the relationship between activity, resource utilisation and cost, enabling the identification of unwarranted variation and opportunities to improve value.

The post holder will also provide timely advice on costing methodology, support improvements in costing and activity data quality, liaise with system suppliers and peer NHS trusts, and assist the Cost and SLR Accountant in developing meaningful costing intelligence for operational and strategic decision-making.

All interviews will be held face to face (we are unable to accommodate virtual interviews)

A short excel assessment will take place prior to the interview. Assessment details - excel test on patient level activity and costs

The post holder will support the effective collection, processing, validation and maintenance of costing data, including PLICS, national costing submissions, Service Line Reporting and the Trust Costing Manual. They will help ensure compliance with national costing guidance, support benchmarking and service reviews, develop appropriate costing and apportionment methodologies, and respond to costing queries from clinical divisions and corporate departments. Recognising the increasing importance of robust costing and activity data in supporting Deconstructing the Block, productivity and efficiency, the post holder will provide meaningful costing insight, including unit costs, cost drivers and analysis of variation, to help services understand resource utilisation, identify opportunities for improvement and support evidence-based decision-making across the Trust.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

The post holder will support the effective collection, processing and maintenance of costing data, including the PLICS system, national costing submissions, Service Line Reporting and the Trust costing manual. They will help ensure compliance with national costing guidance, support benchmarking and service reviews, develop costing and apportionment approaches, respond to queries from divisions and corporate departments, and provide costing insight, including unit costs and cost driver analysis, to support decision-making across the Trust.