Vacancy -- Chair - Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (UHB) is an organisation with a budget of just over £1 billion. It was established in 2009 as an integrated Local Health Board responsible for planning and delivering a wide range of primary, community and secondary health services to the populations of Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport, and Torfaen. The Health Board also has the responsibility to work with partners to promote and improve the health and well-being of its local population. Taken together with an estimate of the patients living in South Powys and other areas that are served by the UHB for acute services, the patient population served is close to 600,000. The University Health Board commissions a broad range of services secured through a number of contracts and contracting arrangements with English, Welsh and Third Sector Providers.

The University Health Board has three acute hospitals providing a range of inpatient and outpatient services; these are the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport; Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr in Ystrad Mynach and Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny. There are also a range of other hospitals and facilities across Health Board area.

The University Health Board employs 400 General Practitioners and Salaried GPs providing general medical services from 88 General Practices. Supporting these are 214 practice nurses, 145 health care support workers and a number of administrative staff, including practice managers, receptionists, secretaries and IT officers. Around 375 General Dental Practitioners provide general dental services from 79 practices. There are 129 Community Pharmacies and 69 Optometry premises across the University Health Board.

The University Health Board delivers a growing range of community based services in patient’s homes, through community hospitals and through health centres and clinics. There are a number of smaller community hospitals, integrated health and social care centres, and health centres providing important clinical services to our residents closer to home.

The University Health Board also provides comprehensive Mental Health and Learning Disabilities services in both hospital and community settings to the population of Gwent and South Powys.

The role of the Board

The three key roles through which the board of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board demonstrates leadership within its organisation are:-

• Formulating strategy.

• Ensuring accountability by holding the organisation to account for the delivery of the strategy and through seeking assurance that systems of control are robust and reliable

• Shaping a positive culture for the Board and the organisation.

The role of the Board member focuses on four key areas:-

• Strategy – to contribute to strategic development and decision-making

• Performance – to ensure that effective management arrangement and an effective team are in place at the top level of the organisation. To help clarify which decisions are reserved for the Board and then ensure that the rest are clearly delegated and to hold management to account for its performance in meeting agreed goals and objectives through purposeful challenge and scrutiny, and to monitor the reporting of performance

• Risk – to ensure that financial information is accurate and that financial controls and systems of risk management and assurance are robust and defensible

• Behaviour – to live up to the highest ethical standards of integrity and probity and comply fully with the Code of Conduct. Board members should demonstrate through their behaviour that they are focusing on their responsibilities to citizens, the organisations and its stakeholders

The Chair will be accountable to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport for the performance of the Board and its effective governance, upholding the values of the NHS, and promoting the confidence of the public and partners throughout Wales.

The Chair of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board will:-

• Provide strong, effective and visible leadership across the breadth of the Health Board’s responsibilities - internally through the Board and externally through his/her connections with a wide range of stakeholders and partners at community, local authority, Local Health Board and national levels; This includes working nationally alongside other Health Board and Trust Chairs;

• Ensure the Board delivers effectively together the strategic and operational aims of the Health Board through delivery of strategic aims, policy and governance;

• Be responsible for maintaining the highest quality of public health standards and practices, and improving quality and safety of healthcare and outcomes for population and patients;

• Be accountable for the performance of the Health Board at community, local authority, Health Board and national levels through the agreement of an annual delivery plan and the annual evaluation of achievements against the plan in public by the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well- being and Sport.

• Hold the Chief Executive to account across the breadth of his/her responsibilities; ensuring the development of an effective Executive Team focused on delivery and outcomes for the Board;

• Work effectively with partners, in particular with other Local Health Boards, Local Authorities, the Third Sector and Social Partners, and also with primary care contractors, to ensure the planning and delivery of safe, effective services; this means alongside local objectives, working collaboratively and supporting examples of regional and national planning;

• To provide the assurance and governance for the proper stewardship of public money and other resources for which the Board is accountable; working with the Chief Executive;

• To provide the assurance for ensuring that the Health Board is governed effectively within the framework and standards set for the NHS in Wales; working with the Chief Executive and Board;

• Undertake an external ambassador role, delivering in the public spotlight and instilling public confidence.

The Welsh Government acknowledges the importance of developing and growing bilingual capabilities in public appointments in Wales, and welcomes applications from candidates who demonstrate their capability to work in both English and Welsh.  The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the recruiting body of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

The Chair will demonstrate the following qualities:-

Knowledge and Experience

• An understanding of health issues and priorities in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and the ability to understand the role and work of the Board;

• Ability to hold the executives to account for performance whilst maintaining a constructive relationship;

• Ability to provide a knowledgeable, impartial and balanced perspective on a range of sensitive and complex issues;

• A broad understanding of governance issues and how governance applies to the corporate, clinical and information management);

Personal Attributes and Skills

• Ability to lead and inspire staff, to look ahead and identify key issues for the Health Board;

• Strong interpersonal skills with personal impact and credibility to be an effective advocate and ambassador
with strong influencing and negotiating skills;

• Drive and determination, with the ability to instil vision and develop defined strategies to pursue long and short-term goals;

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to be clear and succinct, and to be able to engage with people at all levels;

• Ability to facilitate, understanding of complex issues while demonstrating respect for the views of others;

• Ability to ensure a board works together effectively through their active involvement in a robust and transparent decision making process and to motivate and develop the board to define roles and responsibilities to ensure ownership and accountability.

• Sound judgement, sensitivity and political awareness;

• Capacity to be independent and resilient.

The Chair must also demonstrate:-

A clear understanding and commitment to equality issues.

09/03/2017, 23:55

For further information regarding the role of the Chair please contact Dr Andrew Goodall, NHS Wales Chief Executive, or David Jenkins OBE, Chair of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.

Tel: 029 2080 1182 (Dr Goodall) or 01633 435957 (David Jenkins OBE).

Email: Andrew.Goodall@wales.gsi.gov.uk or David.Jenkins6@wales.nhs.uk

For further information about Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, you may wish to visit the Health Board’s internet web site: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/866/home

To apply for this role, click on the ‘Apply’ button below. The first time you apply for a post, you will need to complete a registration form for the Welsh Government’s online application system.  You will only need to register once, and you will be able to keep yourself updated on the progress of your application, and any other applications you make, via your registered account.

Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to access the application form. To apply you will need to submit two supporting documents. The first, a document answering the questions on page 3 & 4 of the information for candidates document. This document should be no more than 2 sides of A4. Your application may be rejected if you exceed this limit or fail to answer the questions in your supporting document. It will also benefit the selection panel if you can be clear which particular evidence you provide relates to which question. Providing separate paragraphs in relation to each question is common practice. It is against this criteria that the selection panel assess the applications to determine candidates shortlisted to the next stage.

The second document is a full, up to date CV. The two documents should be uploaded to the ‘Reasons for applying’ section of the online application form.

In your application, you will also be asked to provide details of any activities which have helped you to develop skills that would be useful in a public appointment role, and list the organisations for which you undertook these activities.  We also need to know about any political activity that you’ve undertaken over the last 5 years. 

It is recommended that you register for an account and access the application form as soon as possible so that you see how the application form is structured, before starting to prepare your evidence.  You don’t have to complete the application form all in one go.  You can save your responses, and log in and out as required, until you’re ready to submit – just follow the guidance in the application form.

If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact the Welsh Government’s Corporate Shared Service Centre Helpdesk on 029 2082 5454 or SharedServiceHelpdesk@wales.gsi.gov.uk 

For further information about Public Appointments in Wales, please visit www.gov.wales/publicappointments