Band 7 Assistant Service Manager

Birmingham Community Health Care Nhs Foundation Trust; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in Birmingham seeks an Assistant Service Manager to lead operational support and drive service improvement in the Adult and Specialist Rehabilitation Division. The role involves financial management, stakeholder engagement, and ensuring high standards of patient care. Candidates should possess strong leadership and communication skills, as well as relevant experience in healthcare management. The position offers NHS terms and conditions, along with various benefits.

Benefits

NHS terms and conditions

Relocation support

Staff discounts

Well-being services

Flexible working

Qualifications

• Strong leadership skills to manage teams effectively.
• Excellent communication for stakeholder engagement.
• Proven financial management capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational support in the Adult and Specialist Rehabilitation Division.
• Implement service improvement projects.
• Oversee financial compliance and budget management.

Skills

Leadership

Communication Skills

Financial Management

Operational Management

Stakeholder Engagement

Education

Relevant Degree or Equivalent Experience

Job description

Overview

The Assistant Service Manager will provide high-level operational leadership and strategic support across the Adult and Specialist Rehabilitation Division. This newly established role is integral to ensuring the effective implementation of service transformation, maintaining high standards of patient care, and achieving key performance and quality targets. Working as a key member of the team, the postholder will lead on service improvement initiatives, manage delegated budgets, and oversee operational teams to ensure responsive, innovative, and efficient service delivery. The role includes responsibility for performance monitoring, financial oversight, and stakeholder engagement, as well as deputising for the Service Manager as required. The Assistant Service Manager will play a critical role in supporting clinical teams, resolving operational issues, and driving continuous improvement across the division. This post demands strong leadership, excellent communication skills, and the ability to manage complex service environments to deliver safe, high-quality, and patient-centred care.

Responsibilities

• Operational Leadership: Provide effective operational support across the Adult and Specialist Rehabilitation Division, ensuring high standards and responsiveness.
• Service Improvement: Lead and implement service improvement projects aligned with divisional and organisational goals.
• Performance Monitoring: Ensure achievement of performance and quality targets, including national access standards and KPIs.
• Financial Oversight: Manage delegated budgets, monitor expenditure, and ensure financial compliance across the service.
• Staff Management: Directly manage the admin members of the team.
• Service Planning: Contribute to strategic planning, business case development, and service redesign initiatives.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Maintain effective communication with internal teams and external partners, representing the service at strategic meetings.
• Clinical Support: Support clinical teams with day-to-day operational issues and ensure timely resolution.
• Compliance and Governance: Monitor waiting lists, RTT pathways, and ensure adherence to national and local guidelines.
• Communication and Culture: Foster a positive work environment, promote staff well-being, and ensure clear communication across all levels.
• Develops a Services Delivery Plan: Develop a Services Delivery Plan (in partnership and by agreement with the Adult and Specialist Rehabilitation Division Senior Management Team) to meet service needs and contribute to the annual planning process of the Trust in line with agreed corporate objectives and priorities.
• Plan and Manage Projects: Plan and manage the implementation of projects to improve service delivery and Divisional performance against KPI's thereby ensuring delivery of organisational and service plans.
• Financial Performance: Ensure strong financial service performance against plans through identification of problems at an early stage and the initiation of corrective action.
• Communication Channels: Develops effective communication channels between staff, clinicians and management using a range of approaches including formal meetings/presentations to individual discussions to gain commitment and support and ensure effective understanding to highly complex situations, for example multiple options appraisals using capacity and demand principles within nationally managed KPIs.
• Professional Knowledge: Utilises highly developed specialist professional knowledge and experience to assess, plan, evaluate and implement interventions across specialties within the Division.
• NHS Changes Awareness: Maintain knowledge of changes in the NHS to provide advice to the service on how to respond to changing requirements whilst maintaining best practice.
• Strategy and Policy: Contributes to the development of business plans and strategy, working to broad policy and guidance to implement the effective delivery of care to achieve targets.
• Team Development: Uses management skills to develop teams, to ensure services are responsive to corporate and patient needs.
• Staff Management and Performance: Manage designated staff. Implements and manages initiatives designed to develop and improve team performance, including remedial action such as staff development, performance management or disciplinary action as appropriate.
• Waiting Lists and RTT: To support compliance with national, commissioning and local waiting list/Referral To Treatment (RTT) targets, monitor on a daily/weekly/monthly basis the service Waiting lists and RTT pathways to ensure accurate effective waiting lists and timely escalation processes are in place across the service to reduce/avoid breaches in targets.
• Performance Framework: Support the Trust's performance management framework for Adult and Specialist Rehabilitation Division and be accountable for performance against all key dimensions within the framework, including the achievement of national access targets, taking corrective action as required for lead areas.
• Operational Issue Response: Support clinical teams within the service by responding to operational issues on a day-to-day basis and ensuring issues are swiftly resolved.
• Communication Adaptability: Be able to recognise the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome various levels of understanding, cultural background, and preferred ways of communicating particularly when the information can be highly complex.
• Service Production KPIs: Work with the workshop to ensure delivery productions KPI's are monitored and adhered to.
• Expenditure and Guidelines: Monitor expenditure for the service and ensuring that prescription guidelines are being adhered to and escalating if required.
• Conflict Resolution: Effectively utilise exceptional communication skills, understanding where the distress may originate from and de-escalate potentially challenging situations.
• Long-Term Solutions: To implement longer term solutions to issues raised as and when required, ranging from basic administration issues to more complex approaches requiring the support and agreement of large teams of people and management of projects that deliver change.
• Strategic Direction: Contribute to the development of the strategic direction and annual business planning of the service and to assist in the determination of policy and strategy with the Senior Management Team and Clinical Heads of Service.
• Service Delivery Quality: Work with service leads to develop and deliver high quality, responsive and cost-effective services in line with organisational objectives.
• Culture and Well-Being: Provide and develop a working environment and open culture which fosters high morale and commitment among all staff and promotes their well-being and personal development.
• Local and Regional Provision Knowledge: Develop a strong understanding of the local and regional provision of Community Services outside the Trust and work with the Clinical Leads to react to changes in that provision to secure strong services and market share at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust.
• Stakeholder Relationships: Ensure the establishment and maintenance of good relationships and communication with key stakeholders throughout Adult and Specialist Rehabilitation Division, and with other services in BCHC, promoting a culture where clinical and other staff are actively involved in decisions on how services are provided and targets delivered.
• External Collaboration: Deal directly with key external stakeholders including local Trusts, other external agencies and contractors as required. To contribute to and administratively support any clinical/service-related networks associated with Adult and Specialist Rehabilitation Division.
• Information and Representation: Assist with the production of accurate information for Adult and Specialist Rehabilitation Division on the Trust's website and intranet. Represent the Service at Strategic and Trust meetings as required.
• Project Facilitation: In collaboration with the Senior Management Team, Clinical Heads of Service and Service Managers, facilitate specific projects within the Service.
• Team Inspiration and Development: Inspire and develop a multidisciplinary team, ensuring a positive and cohesive work environment. To work with administrative and clinical staff to achieve sustained improvements within patient access, clinic utilisation, clinical quality, patient satisfaction, mandatory training and appraisal compliance, reducing unoutcomed clinic appointments, Medical Device assurance, and capturing of patient and staff demographic data.
• Service Improvement Monitoring: Monitor the service improvement programme and associated work streams ensuring collaborative partnership working with other Trusts and partners across the health economy.
• Trust-wide Initiatives: Participate in and contribute to Trust wide initiatives and projects as appropriate and as directed.

Policy and Inclusion

UK Home Office Visa Sponsorship requirements: In accordance with UK Home Office requirements, Band 2 clinical and non-clinical roles and Band 3 Non-Clinical roles are not eligible for sponsorship. Most non-clinical roles (Agenda for Change Band 3 - 6) will not meet the minimum requirements to sponsor candidates. All non-clinical roles (Agenda for Change Bands 7 - 9) that meet the prescribed skill level (RQF 6) and salary threshold will be eligible for sponsorship. The Trust will accept applications from candidates who can evidence their right to work in the UK or via alternative visa routes.

Disability Confident Employer and Guaranteed Interview Scheme: BCHC offers a guaranteed interview to any candidate who is Disabled, Neurodiverse, has a hidden or long term health condition as recognised under the Equality Act 2010, providing they meet the essential criteria of the job role, as set out in the person specification. We encourage applicants to submit their applications and to request any reasonable adjustments where required.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: We are committed to being a Great Place to Work and support a workplace culture that is inclusive and equitable for all staff, patients and service users. We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds and experiences and are dedicated to supporting career progression for colleagues from underrepresented backgrounds.

Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC) has more than 5000 staff and delivers a wide range of services across the West Midlands. The Trust is committed to flexible working where possible and to NHS terms and conditions. The Trust recognizes the use of AI tools in the application process and provides information on acceptable use on its website.

Benefits of working for BCHC include: full NHS terms and conditions with enhancements, relocation support, staff discounts, dedicated well-being services, and flexible working where possible.