Vacancy -- Appointment of Vice Chair - Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board

Vacancy details

Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board
Board meetings are held bi-monthly with bi-monthly Board workshops/Developments sessions at various locations across North Wales. The Health Board also has various committees. The frequency of these meetings vary and can be monthly, bimonthly or quarterly.
£56,316 per annum
13
month

Function of body

Background 
 
Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board is the largest health organisation in Wales and is responsible for improving the health and wellbeing to a population of around 678,000 people across the six counties of North Wales (Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham).  This encompasses prevention of ill health as well as treating illness and providing excellent healthcare services.
 
The Health Board is responsible for the provision of primary, community and mental health as well as acute hospital services.  It operates three main hospitals (Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan and Wrexham Maelor Hospital) along with a network of community hospitals, health centres, clinics, mental health units and community team bases.
 
The Health Board also coordinates the work of 105 GP practices, and NHS services provided by dentists, opticians and pharmacists in North Wales.
 
In 2018/19 the Health Board had a revenue income of £1.54 billion and employed approximately 18,000 people (15,500 whole time equivalents).
 
 
The role of the Board member focuses on four key areas:- 
 
1. Strategy – to contribute to strategic development and decision-making 

2. Performance – to ensure that effective management arrangements 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;

3. Risk – to ensure that financial information is accurate and that financial controls and systems of risk management and assurance are robust and defensible;  

4. 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.

Role description

This is a great opportunity to use your skills and experience to make a difference to the lives of people and communities served by Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board.  The Vice-Chair will be a member of the Board and will deputise for the Chair in the latter’s absence. 
 
The Vice-Chair will:- 

  • Be required to play a full and active role  in the governance of the Health Board, both clinical and corporate, and are expected to bring to the Board an independent judgement on issues of performance, key appointments, looking ahead and accountability;  
  • Contribute to the work of the Board based upon their independence, their past experience and knowledge, and their ability to stand back from the day to day operational management;   
  • Contribute and accept corporate decisions to ensure a joined up, robust and transparent decision making process by the Board;  
  • Be expected, in time, to fully understand the business through active involvement to enable the effective performance of the Health Board; 
  • Work closely with other public, private and voluntary organisations and will make sure that the views of patients, carers and families are fully involved in helping to shape, develop and improve services. 

 
In addition to his / her corporate role across the breadth of the Health Board’s responsibilities, the Vice-Chair will have a specific brief to oversee the UHB’s primary, community and mental health and learning disability services ensuring a balanced care model to meet the needs of the UHB’s population. 

The Vice-Chair will: 

  • Provide strong, effective and visible leadership, across primary, community, mental health and learning disability services; internally through the board and its committees, and externally through his/her connections with a wide range of stakeholders and partners within the wider community levels and nationally; 
  • Chair the Mental Health Act Committee of the Board which oversees compliance with mental health legislation and associated codes of practice;
  • Be responsible for scrutinising the governance arrangements for primary, community, mental health and learning disability services. Working within the Health Board’s governance framework, to provide Board assurance as to the effective delivery of whole-system working based on integrated care pathways; 
  • Work effectively with community partners, particularly in their sphere of responsibility and more widely supporting the Chair to ensure that the organisational culture and working practices are based upon a spirit of open, meaningful and sustainable partnerships. The Vice-Chair will have excellent communication skills and will, through effective scrutiny, assure the Board that the organisational structures give equal weight to primary, community and mental health services as to other services and provide opportunities for contractor services to fully engage in the design of services;
  • Support the Health Board’s performance management processes, to ensure integrated performance management and improvement; 
  • Help build and sustain a direct relationship with primary care contractor professionals, ensuring their full engagement in the work of the Health Board;  
  • Undertake an external ambassador role, delivering in the public spotlight and instilling public confidence.

Welsh language skills

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.
Desirable

Person specification

The Vice-Chair will demonstrate the following qualities:
 
Knowledge & Experience

  • Experience of leading and developing a successful private, public or third sector organisation, with the ability to look ahead and provide strategic leadership;
  • The ability to contribute effectively at Board level; 
  • Experience of understanding the relationship between resource allocation and management and delivery of service priorities within a framework of robust governance; 
  • Ability to analyse complex information and contribute to sound decision making; 
  • Ability to work with the executives to ensure the Board leads the organisation effectively. Where necessarily you will demonstrate skills that will enable you to hold the executives to account for performance whilst maintaining a constructive relationship; 
  • Ability to contribute to the governance of the Health Board, ensuring it is open and honest in its work by contributing fully in the decision making process; 
  • Experience of working within communities and multi-disciplinary teams and with key local government stakeholders; and
  • A commitment to advancing equality and diversity and the ability to demonstrate and champion inclusive leadership.

 
Personal Attributes & Skills

  • You will need to be able to demonstrate the following:
  • Ability to lead and inspire staff, to look ahead and identify key issues for the organisation; 
  • 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; 
  • Sound judgement, sensitivity and political awareness; 
  • Capacity to be independent and resilient; and
  • Ability to discharge the Vice-Chair role in the context of the broader statutory and corporate responsibilities of the Board and the roles of the Chair and Chief Executive.

Candidates must also demonstrate:

  • A clear understanding and commitment to equality and diversity; and
  • A clear understanding and commitment to Nolan’s ‘Seven Principles of Public Life’.

Welsh Language

  • Welsh language skills are desirable for this appointment. All candidates will be expected to display empathy towards the language and demonstrate leadership to strengthen bilingual service provision within the NHS in Wales. 

 

Interview dates

25 November 2019
29 November 2019

Closing date

25/10/2019, 16:00

Additional information

Contacts:
 
 
For further information regarding the selection process, please contact: Public Appointments Team Email:  Publicappointments@gov.wales 
 
For further information regarding the role of the Independent Member, please contact Mark Polin OBE QPM, Chair of Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board. Tel: 01248 384290, Email: Mark.Polin@wales.nhs.uk  

For further information about Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board, you may wish to visit the Health Board’s internet web site: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/861/home   
 
If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact the Public Appointments Team on Publicappointments@gov.wales 
 
For further information about Public Appointments in Wales, please visit www.gov.wales/publicappointments 
 

How to apply

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 outlining how your knowledge, skills and experiences meet the criteria for the role as outlined in the information for candidates.  This document should be no more than 2 sides of A4.  Your application may be rejected if you exceed this limit.  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’d like to apply for this opportunity in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact the Welsh Government’s Public Appointments Team on  PublicAppointments@gov.wales.

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

Commissioner for Public Appointments logo

This vacancy is closed to applications.