Our Organisation
The NHS is building a culture that is positive, compassionate and inclusive – and we all have our part to play.
As employers we are committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution and supports us to be an Employer of Choice, while helping our colleagues to deliver high quality services for our patients and communities.
As a flexible employer, we want to support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern. In addition, although the role advertised may have a ‘home’ office base indicated, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
We are an accredited Living Wage Employer which means that every colleague working for our organisation and third-party contractors will earn a real Living Wage. We are one of over 15,000 organisations, who voluntarily chose to pay the real Living Wage.
Job overview
The NHS Cancer Programme sets the agenda for cancer services in England. Working with patients, clinicians, charities and across the public sector, our aim is to reduce preventable cancers, diagnose cancer earlier, increase survival and improve the quality of life and experience for cancer patients. We develop national policy and strategy, and work with our Cancer Alliances across the country to transform services for patients.
This is an exciting time for the NHS Cancer Programme. Our work to implement the recommendations from the NHS Long Term Plan has already started to transform the experience of cancer patients across England. You will be instrumental in delivering on our ambition to diagnose three in four cancers at an early stage to that even more people survive cancer in the future.
As a Transformation Lead for Earlier Diagnosis, you will lead a large team as part of the National Cancer Programme to diagnose more cancers at an early stage.
This will include overseeing project delivery nationally and working with and through Cancer Alliances to effect service transformations for patients.
Main duties of the job
This will involve:
o Overseeing rollout and implementation of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme across the country. This will involve oversight of funding flows, support to progress large scale procurements, day to day operational oversight and planning towards national rollout.
o Leading our Early Diagnosis Programmes (Bowel Cancer) team to effectively implement ColoFIT and to facilitate the roll out of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme to a lower threshold of 80ug/gm.
o Leading our genomics programme to deliver the NHS Jewish BRCA testing programme, the Retrospective Genetic Testing programme and to build a programme of work around Direct to patient testing pathways for cancer susceptibility genes.
· Working closely with partner programmes and organisations including: imaging and diagnostics, screening and vaccinations, DHSC and others to ensure their priorities and deliverables are aligned to the National Cancer Programme’s objectives.
· Engaging extensively with stakeholders such as charities, Royal Colleges, professional associations and patients to ensure they are part of the design and delivery of Cancer Programme projects.
· You will have a detailed understanding of cancer delivery, experience of working at a national level, strong relationships with Cancer Alliances and regional cancer leads, and experience of delivering programmes to diagnose more cancers at an early stage
Working for our organisation
The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, which will inform the detailed design work and we will achieve this purpose by:
- Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
- Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
- Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
- Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
- Delivering value for money.
If you would like to know more or require further information, please visit https://www.england.nhs.uk/.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.
Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.
If you are successful at interview, we will run an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) in the Electronic Staff Record system (ESR). This transfer gathers valuable information from a previous or current NHS employer to support the onboarding process, including; statutory and mandatory competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement. You will have the opportunity throughout the recruitment process to inform us if you do not consent.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description and Assignment Brief for further details on the role.
If you like what you have read and think you have the skills and experience, we need then don't delay, apply today! We get lots of applications for our roles and so we sometimes have to close our posts early. Don't miss out!
Please note that the reason for the fixed term of this contract is maternity cover.
Secondments
Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in specialist area.
Knowledge and experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of programme management in a large scale organisation, and operating within complex organisational structures.
- Subject matter expertise across a number of key areas relating to public service delivery.
- Must have an understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy and appreciate the implications of this on engagement
Skills and capabilities
Essential criteria
- Ability to build excellent collaborative networks, influence and work through others
- Ability to deal with ambiguity and complexity, whilst working at pace
- Leadership skills and the ability to build, lead, develop and motivate high performing teams, including strong feedback and coaching skills
- Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive and contentious information, negotiate with senior stakeholders on difficult and controversial issues, and present complex and sensitive information to large and influential groups.
Our commitments to you
We are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative work environment that delivers better patient outcomes. We strive to ensure our people feel trusted, valued and empowered. We’re passionate about nurturing and developing people. When you join us, we want you to grow and excel, and we offer many opportunities for you to do that. We welcome your talent and enthusiasm irrespective of age, disability, neuro-divergence, sex, gender identity and gender expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances. We have policies and procedures to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability and/or who are neuro-divergent.
We welcome applications from disabled candidates. If you meet all the essential criteria, you will be guaranteed an interview.
If applying for this role on a secondment basis, please make sure you have obtained prior agreement from your current line manager to apply for this position.
Please note that we currently do not accept applications via recruitment agencies.
To comply with the HM Government Functional Standard GovS 007, and specifically the Personnel Security Standards 2024, individuals employed or contracted by NHS England may be required to undergo a Baseline Personnel Security Standards check, dependent on the role.
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