Safehaven Manager

NHS Scotland; Bothwell; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 48,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS Pension Scheme

Generous annual leave

Employee counselling

Occupational health services

Job summary

NHS Lanarkshire is seeking a highly experienced manager to lead the specialist team responsible for UNPACS and Non-Contracted Activity referrals across the UK. You will co-ordinate out-of-area treatment requests, ensure safety and cost-effectiveness, and act as authorised signatory for payments for highly specialised care.

You will build strong networks across NHS Boards, provide expert advice to Medical Directors, and support local and national planning and service design, with a focus on

Qualifications

• Educated to degree level or equivalent, plus significant experience of working within Health, Planning and Financial environments within NHS.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, are essential to all components of this role, both verbal and written.
• Must have the ability to develop and maintain good working relationships across all staffing levels and areas within Public and Private Health Sector in U.K. and Ireland.
• It is essential to have a high level of influencing and negotiating skills and ability to deal confidently, and with discretion with all levels of staff and when dealing with difficult people and management of anger and aggression.
• An understanding of cultural differences between national and international organisations.
• Ability to forge positive working relationships and work effectively with Senior Managers across a range of internal and external organisations.
• Essential to have organisational and prioritising skills and ability to ensure that work timescales and deadlines are met.

Responsibilities

• Lead, co-ordinate and deliver an efficient out of area referral service that reflects the values of the organisation.
• Has sole responsibility for commissioning highly specialised healthcare for NHS Lanarkshire residents that is not available within NHS Scotland.
• Manages all out of area unplanned activity treatment requests (UNPACS), and Emergency Non Contracted Activity (NCA), ensuring that the UNPAC process is equitable and transparent.
• The post holder is also the authorised signatory for the payment of these highly specialised treatments.
• The post holder is NHS Lanarkshire’s Local and National co-ordinator for information, guidance, and funding approval for the European Cross Border Healthcare Directive and will manage and authorise Cross Border European Healthcare Directive and S2 treatment abroad requests and healthcare reimbursements to patients.
• To fulfil this role the post holder must develop and maintain extensive communication networks and have excellent relationships with a wide range of key individuals and have the ability to deal with, negotiate, and influence round highly complex sensitive and often contentious information.
• This includes providing specialist advice and recommendations to NHS Lanarkshire’s Medical Director, Divisional Medical Director for Acute Services, and Medical Directors for North & South Health & Social Care Partnership in all areas of out of area treatment requests.
• The Service provided by the post holder has direct, and immediate impact on the continuity of patient care.
• To provide support to the Senior Planning & Development Manager over a wide range of local and regional planning, service design, and clinical Services.
• Have you always wanted to work with NHS Lanarkshire? Then this might be the opportunity for you to join Team Lanarkshire!
• Here at NHS Lanarkshire, we put the patient at the heart of everything we do. Each colleague within the organisation plays a key role in how we deliver our healthcare services.

Skills

Interpersonal communication

Negotiation

Influencing

Leadership

Strategic planning

Education

Degree level or equivalent

Job description

The Role

To manage the specialist team with specific responsibility for the management of Unplanned Activity Treatments Requests (UNPACS), and Non-Contracted Activity (NCA) i.e. highly confidential patient referrals for elective and emergency treatments and services commissioned for NHS Lanarkshire residents but provided by other Health Boards/Trusts and private/external contractors across the UK.

NHS Lanarkshire has a responsibility to provide or make service arrangements for the provision of a comprehensive range of health services for its population. It does this by providing a comprehensive range of services locally within Lanarkshire; though Service Level Agreements with other NHS Boards in Scotland for the provision of other services; and commissioning out of area highly specialised care that is not available locally or within NHS Scotland.

Responsibilities

• Will lead, co-ordinate and deliver an efficient out of area referral service that reflects the values of the organisation.
• Has sole responsibility for commissioning highly specialised healthcare for NHS Lanarkshire residents that is not available within NHS Scotland.
• Manages all out of area unplanned activity treatment requests (UNPACS), and Emergency Non Contracted Activity (NCA), ensuring that the UNPAC process is equitable and transparent. This necessitates consideration being given to all out of area treatment requests for highly specialised care, ensuring these funding requests are assessed for safety, clinical, and cost effectiveness.
• The post holder is also the authorised signatory for the payment of these highly specialised treatments.
• The post holder is NHS Lanarkshire’s Local and National co-ordinator for information, guidance, and funding approval for the European Cross Border Healthcare Directive and will manage and authorise Cross Border European Healthcare Directive and S2 treatment abroad requests and healthcare reimbursements to patients.

To fulfil this role the post holder must develop and maintain extensive communication networks and have excellent relationships with a wide range of key individuals and have the ability to deal with, negotiate, and influence round highly complex sensitive and often contentious information. This includes providing specialist advice and recommendations to NHS Lanarkshire’s Medical Director, Divisional Medical Director for Acute Services, and Medical Directors for North & South Health & Social Care Partnership in all areas of out of area treatment requests.

The Service provided by the post holder has direct, and immediate impact on the continuity of patient care.

To provide support to the Senior Planning & Development Manager over a wide range of local and regional planning, service design, and clinical Services.

Have you always wanted to work with NHS Lanarkshire? Then this might be the opportunity for you to join Team Lanarkshire!

Here at NHS Lanarkshire, we put the patient at the heart of everything we do. Each colleague within the organisation plays a key role in how we deliver our healthcare services.

We proudly serve a population of 655,000 across rural and urban communities in both North and South Lanarkshire. NHS Lanarkshire is comprised of Acute Services (which currently provide hospital based services over 3 main sites), Corporate & Property & Support Services, North and South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnerships which provide integrated primary healthcare and social care services to local communities and surrounding areas.

What we’ll need you to bring

• Educated to degree level or equivalent, plus significant experience of working within Health, Planning and Financial environments within NHS. This should include demonstrable experience of operational and strategic management, preferably within NHS including experience/qualification in Health Service Management and Leadership.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, are essential to all components of this role, both verbal and written. Must have the ability to develop and maintain good working relationships across all staffing levels and areas within Public and Private Health Sector in U.K. and Ireland.
• It is essential to have a high level of influencing and negotiating skills and ability to deal confidently, and with discretion with all levels of staff and when dealing with difficult people and management of anger and aggression. Specialist interpersonal and communication skills.
• An understanding of cultural differences between national and international organisations.
• Ability to forge positive working relationships and work effectively with Senior Managers across a range of internal and external organisations.
• Essential to have organisational and prioritising skills and ability to ensure that work timescales and deadlines are met.

Contract type: Permanent. Part Time. 20 Hours. Please note this is a part time post and the salary for this position will be pro-rata.

Location and Working Pattern

This role will be based in Planning and Development within Kirklands - NHSL Headquarters.

The working pattern for this role Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm.

Why NHS Lanarkshire?

• A minimum of 27 days annual leave increasing with length of service.
• A minimum of 8 days of public holidays.
• Membership of NHS Pension Scheme, with life insurance benefits (for more information on the NHS Pension Scheme visit the Scottish Public Pension).
• Paid sick leave increasing with length of service.
• Occupational health services.
• Employee counselling services.
• Work-life Balance policies and procedures.
• NHS Lanarkshire have a range of support services on topics that can impact both on your working and personal life including occupational health, spiritual care and independent counselling. This support can be accessed using the links on this page.

Further Information

For more information on the role, please refer to the Job Description. If you’re looking for more information on the recruitment process, organisation or the services we provide, please refer to our information pack, or our recruitment webpage.

NHS Lanarkshire is dedicated to building a diverse workforce where everyone can thrive, develop, and succeed based on their skills, knowledge, and talent—regardless of race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or care experience* or any other dimension that can be used to differentiate people from one another.

*Care experienced applicants include those who have lived with foster parents, kinship carers, or in residential/secure children’s settings.

Candidates should provide original and authentic responses to all questions within the application form. The use of artificial intelligence (AI), automated tools, or other third-party assistance to generate, draft, or significantly modify responses is strongly discouraged. By submitting your application, you confirm that all answers are your own work, reflect your personal knowledge, skills and experience, and have not been solely produced or altered by AI or similar technologies. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in your application being withdrawn from the application process.

Right to Work within the UK

NHS Lanarkshire has a legal obligation to ensure that it does not employ any worker who has not been granted the relevant permission to work in the UK. We are required to check the entitlement to work in the UK of all prospective employees, regardless of nationality or job category. UK Visas & Immigration rules are available at www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk. Prospective applicants are encouraged to check eligibility in advance of applying for vacancies in NHS Lanarkshire. Please note that all Band 1 and Band 2 posts are not eligible for sponsorship through the Skilled Worker route.