Band 5 Commissioning Officer (Primary Care)

We are seeking to recruit someone to join our dynamic and friendly team responsible for supporting the 7 Integrated Care Boards across the South West with commissioning and contract management of Community Pharmacy services. You will be part of the South West Collaborative Commissioning Hub, and the purpose of this role is to support the management of projects alongside providing wider support to the Community Pharmacy contracting team. You will need to be willing and able to learn quickly in this fast-paced role.
The role will principally be to support the Community Pharmacy contracting team and will involve a variety of tasks including:
Help support in projects such as the Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF)
Logging and analysing Core and Supplementary applications received.
Logging and analysing Unplanned Closures received.
Producing analysis in the form of reports
Responding to contractor queries on a vast range of subjects
Help support with the management of Clinical waste.
Updating and maintaining the Pharmaceutical Lists following changes.
Supporting meetings
Creation of Purchase Orders / coding of invoices.
Supporting the management of generic inboxes - responding to Community Pharmacy contractor queries.
We offer flexible working from your first day of employment and have an agile approach to home/office-based working. Elements of the role may require you to travel to locations across the South West to attend in-person meetings and meet the needs of the service. Please consider this before applying.
This post is designed to support commissioning activities for pharmacy and optometry as part of the NHS South West Collaborative Commissioning Hub team, including providing administrative and project support. The purpose of this role is to ensure that appropriate systems and processes are in place to support the management, commissioning, and development of primary care contracts.
The post holder will:
Provide high-quality project and administrative support, using knowledge and understanding of primary care procedures, protocols, and functions.
Provide project support with the use of Excel and other Microsoft functions.
Maintain and keep up to date team dashboards and project plans.
Support management of Clinical waste contracts.
Ensure that the Integrated Care Boards' Primary Care regulatory responsibilities are met.
Undertake reporting and analysis of information to support the management of contracts and delivery of transformation programmes.
Co-ordinate and support contractor visits.
Maintain Primary Care Contracts and Service Level Agreements in accordance with Standard Operating Procedures.
Investigate complaints.
Collate information in response to Freedom of Information requests.
Develop and maintain excellent communication with Primary Care Contractors.
The NHS South West Collaborative Commissioning Hub Team is responsible for supporting the 7 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) across the South West with commissioning and contract management of:
Primary and Secondary Care Dental Services
Community Pharmacy
Dispensing Practices
Community Opticians
This includes engaging with key local system stakeholders to ensure commissioned services are responsive to evidenced local need and are in line with national commissioning guides. The team also provides expert advice and support to ICBs regarding Delegated Commissioning of Primary Care Services.
Alongside this work, the team is responsible for supporting the 7 ICBs regarding the transformation of the primary care services listed above.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ROLE:
The post holder is a key member of the team whose overarching goal is to enable, promote, and support the effective use of data, information, knowledge, and technology to improve, inform, and support a portfolio of projects, services, and initiatives.
Project Management:
Undertake information/project analysis.
Participate in relevant internal and external working groups/projects to provide information/analyst advice and support and to maintain data collection systems for its effective use by the team.
Analyse and report on data and monitor the processing of data and information.
Provide information to project lead on project and statistical information matters.
Financial and Physical Resources:
Support and inform the requirement and targeting of resources, monitoring spend, implementing and evaluating jobs and delivery of financial recovery/savings plans by providing high-quality information and analysis.
Contribute to the financial delivery of the agreed portfolio ensuring it is delivered on time.
Maintain systems and processes effectively to ensure timely primary care contract payments.
Policy and Service Development:
Propose changes to own project, service, and initiative work, informing policy and making recommendations for more effective delivery.
Contribute to the review and development of existing project information management systems and contribute to the development of an integrated approach to project management.
Freedom to Act:
Use your own initiative and act independently regarding management of diaries, travel arrangements, and make appropriate decisions taking financial and logistical considerations into account.
Take forward specific project issues and actions.
Assess and evaluate priorities to meet changes in demand.
Work unsupervised and without direction on occasion, whilst recognising the need to refer to others for support/guidance when required.
Working Conditions / Effort:
Extensive VDU use.
Will have periods of intense concentration, particularly when transcribing minutes. Must be able to manage frequent interruptions.
Occasionally required to have difficult conversations with peers in external organisations.
Person Specification:
Personal Statement / Motivation for Applying:
Please use this section to explain how you meet the additional criteria in the Personal Specification including your reasons and motivation for applying.
Skills for communication on complex information and administrative matters, requiring developed interpersonal and oral/written communication skills.
Ability to pull together comprehensive draft reports, data, and letters.
Negotiating, networking, and persuasive skills.
Excellent time management skills with the ability to re-prioritise.
Project management skills.
Skills for manipulating information.
Advanced keyboard skills, use of a range of software.
Ability to work without supervision. Able to work on own initiative, organising and prioritising own and others workloads to changing and often tight deadlines.
Knowledge of administrative procedures, project management, or information analysis.
Knowledge of project principles.
Commitment to continuing professional development.
Desirable:
Knowledge of Primary Care Commissioning/Contracting.
Previously worked in a similar position within the public sector.
Educated to Degree level in a relevant subject or equivalent level of qualification or significant equivalent previous proven experience.
Communication:
Essential:
Ability to communicate effectively and build good relationships with a wide range of stakeholders face to face, by telephone and email.
Capable of constructing and delivering clear information/instructions to staff and service users, requiring developed interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
Negotiation and diplomacy skills to arrange meetings across organisations with those at a high level.
Desirable:
Demonstrable experience in dealing with the public and dealing with sensitive and confidential information.
Ability to develop good working relationships with other administrators working in other organisations to develop an effective communication network.
NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB), known as NHS Somerset, is the statutory NHS organisation responsible for implementing a health and care strategy developed by the Integrated Care Partnership.
NHS Somerset consists of approx. 360 staff, across 8 directorates, with multiple teams within each directorate. We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and welcome applications from underrepresented groups. When recruiting, we are committed to equality of opportunity for all. We believe that the best organisations are those that reflect the communities they serve.

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