NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT) - Non-Executive Director

Oct 282020

Non-Executive Director - NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT)

Body: NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT)
Appointing Department: Department of Health
Sector: Health
Location: London
Number of Vacancies: 2
Remuneration: The NHSBT NEDs are remunerated at the standard rate of £7,883 per annum
Time Requirements: There is a time commitment of two to three days per month
Closed for Applications: 13/11/2020 at 12:00

Vacancy Description

Ministers are seeking to make two appointments to the board of NHSBT.

Role and Responsibilities of a Non-Executive Director

As a Non-Executive Director, you will work with the Chair (Millie Banerjee); six other non-executives; and the Chief Executive and her Executive team to govern the activities of NHSBT. With them you will share the corporate responsibility for the decisions of the Board and the performance of the organisation. In particular you will:

contribute to the development of strategy, agreeing the goals, business plans and objectives of the organisation, taking into account the policies of the various UK health departments as necessary
monitor and review performance; ensuring that financial controls and systems of risk management are robust and effective
help shape a positive and powerful culture in NHSBT through engaging with and providing ideas and guidance to the NHSBT team
demonstrate a commitment to patient safety and to patients and staff being able to properly raise concerns
represent the Board, as required, at official occasions and visits to NHSBT sites.

Qualities required for the role

The Department of Health and Social Care values and promotes diversity and encourages applications from all sections of the community. The boards of public bodies should reflect the population they are there to serve. Boards also benefit from fresh perspectives, and we are always keen to encourage candidates with private sector experience to consider applying for our roles.

To be considered for appointment, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience to meet all the essential criteria.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience to meet all the essential criteria for appointment.

experience of supporting effective delivery of substantial transformation in a private or public sector organisation
ability to operate effectively on the board of a large and complex national organisation, contributing to challenging debate and working with others to reach decisions based on evidence and consensus
ability to develop and deliver robust governance arrangements, including performance, financial and risk management
an understanding of the broad role of NHSBT with an ability to articulate some of its key challenges
have a significant senior career record of achievement in one or more of the following areas:
People/Human Resources: bringing experience in areas such as organisational development, talent development, and diversity and inclusion strategy
Communications/Marketing/Public affairs: bringing experience of working collaboratively with others to deliver large programmes

Additional Information

NHS Blood & Transplant role and responsibilities

NHS Blood and Transplant is a Special Health Authority dedicated to saving and improving lives. We are an essential part of the NHS providing a wide range of services making the most of absolutely every donation – from blood and organs to tissues and stem cells.

We were formed in 2005 by bringing together the National Blood Service and UK Transplant. We are now one of the largest and most effective organisations of its type in the world.

We employ over 5,400 people across the UK, with total revenue of over £427 million, delivering blood, and blood-based therapies across England; Diagnostic and Therapeutic services globally; and organ donation and supply services for the whole of the UK.

We stand for helping ordinary people do something extraordinary, saving and improving the lives of others with their valuable donations.

To achieve this, we:

collect and process over 1.57 million units of blood and platelets annually to ensure a constant supply of blood to hospitals from 5,500 donors giving blood every day;
make possible some 9,300 organ and cornea transplants every year;
retrieve and store other tissues like skin and bone ready for patient use;
manufacture a range of specialist therapeutic blood products;
provide a number of related services such as solid organ tissue typing and cord blood banking;
provide apheresis services directly to patients;
manage the NHS Organ Donor Register (which currently has nearly 25 million names) and the British Bone Marrow Registry;
support a significant research and development programme operated in partnership with a number of the UK’s leading universities; and
provide expert advice to other NHS organisations, the Department of Health, Ministers and devolved administrations.

In performing this essential activity, we engage with millions of people throughout the country and connect directly with more people on a daily basis than any other single part of the NHS. In addition to supplying the lifesaving products that are needed by NHS patients we are immensely proud that our activities support the incredible altruism and generosity of donors and bring communities together across the country.

To find out more, please click here to go to our website to view videos which explore the journey of donors.

You can view our full annual reports and accounts here at: https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/who–weare/transparency/accounts/

You can view our full Strategic Plan 2017-2022 on our public website at: https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco–assets–corp/4481/nhsbt–strategic–plan–2017–2022.pdf

Diversity & Inclusion

There is real commitment from NHSBT’s Board to ensure we are delivering on our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) objectives towards making NHSBT an organisation where all colleagues feel they belong and that they can progress, regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and/or other differences. Testament to this is that one of the five personal objectives for our CEO, agreed with our Board is to improve the diversity of our workforce.

More recently, our CEO appointed a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO), demonstrating our commitment to shape our organisation’s approach to D&I. The CDIO is working closely with the CEO as part of the Executive Team to devise and execute a transformative strategy that makes D&I a priority across our workforce, donor base and core business of healthcare.

A key area of focus this year includes how we support the further development of our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) colleagues into senior leadership roles to improve representation across all pay bands and making the workforce representation of our centres more reflective of their geographical regions. With an overall BAME representation of 15% across the organisation, this needs to be better reflected across our senior leadership and front-line facing roles, including operational areas of Blood Donation and Organ Donation and Transplantation.

Regular Board updates and conversations ensure all interventions are monitored and progressed, providing an opportunity to highlight areas that need more focus. We have also established an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Council, with membership from our Executive Team, Staff Networks and Unions to help shape strategy and hold the organisation to account.

The Future

As part of the backbone of the NHS, we reach the public at the most critical stages of their lives. Few organisations have the ability to reach so many, delivering the best possible service to patients, donors and the NHS. The range of our work providing diagnostic and therapeutic services, organ donation & transplantation, and blood supply, demands that our operations are world class, providing a safe, reliable and efficient supply across the UK by working seamlessly with an unparalleled range of stakeholders including government, volunteers, the health sector and academia.

The NHS faces substantial demands which puts further pressure on us to ensure that our service is as efficient as possible while working closely with partner organisations experiencing substantial strain on their staff numbers, facilities and finances. As pressure on these services continues, we must ensure our services maintain efficiency while always focusing on future innovation. We must work at the forefront of volunteer engagement and keeping pace with digital advancements will be critical us as we seek to remain close to and diversify our donor base, without whom we would not exist. More work remains to ensure that we find innovative ways to work with the public and providers to continuously improve services.

Working with our chair Millie Banerjee, our Chief Executive Betsy Bassis and a highly experienced executive team to implement our expansive vision, you will have the opportunity to take us forward beyond our Strategic Plan 2017-2022 to make sure that we are here when people need us most. You will be excited to make your mark on such a critical organisation and will seize the opportunity to push forward our reputation for quality, ensuring existing operations remain fit for the future alongside effective collaboration with our partners.

This role represents a significant opportunity to work in one of the most complex, dispersed, logistics delivery organisations in the world, making a life changing impact to many thousands of patients every year.

The Role of the Board

The Board provides governance for the organisation. Its key duties are to:

Collectively promote the success of NHS Blood and Transplant
Provide strategic direction and set operational objectives
Monitor the achievement of objectives through a framework of effective financial and quality management

Set and maintain the values for the organisation and ensure that its obligation to all stakeholders, including patients, donors, the Secretary of State and Ministers in the Devolved Administrations, are understood and met.

1.3 Letter from the present chair of NHSBT, Millie Banerjee

Dear Applicant

Thank you for your interest in the role of Non-Executive Director for NHS Blood and Transplant. At NHSBT we stand for hope. We stand for life. We stand for helping people do something extraordinary, saving and improving the lives of others. As an essential part of the NHS we take pride in playing our part to make the most of absolutely every donation – from blood and organs to tissues and stem cells. Every day we bring our values of caring, expert and quality to our roles. When we break new scientific ground, when we connect with donors and families, when we help to save a life – it’s because of each and every one of us. The donors who make our work possible do so selflessly, giving life and changing lives for the better. It is because of them, and the people who need their life-saving and life-enhancing donations, that we strive to be the best in all we do.

You will be joining us at an exciting and challenging time. Our Chief Executive, Betsy Bassis, has recently led a review of our Operating Model ensuring that we are set for future success. This builds on NHSBT’s strong record of continuous improvement, quality and efficiency which is essential as the NHS is facing increasing pressure as we respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We are doing fantastic work in developing and delivering at scale and pace a service to provide Convalescent Plasma to hospitals and patients in need of this product.

NHSBT also has a strong past and a bright future.

To achieve in this role, you will be able to develop influential relationships with stakeholders and partners across organisations and sectors. You will be a leader who can engage, motivate and inspire people and who is able to promote a culture of excellence, openness and achievement.

This really is a fantastic role. If you are successful, I can promise you will enjoy your time at NHSBT as much as I enjoy my role as Chair of NHSBT.

Please visit our website at http://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/ for more information.

How to Apply

Making an application

Thank you for your interest in the appointment of a NED to the NHS BT.

To make an application please email your CV, a supporting letter and completed monitoring forms to:

[email protected] – please quote ref: VAC-1719 in the subject field.

If you are unable to apply by email, please contact the Appointments Team via the above email address to discuss alternative options.

Applications must be received by midday on 13 November 2020.

In making an application please note the following:

Supporting letter

The supporting letter is your opportunity to demonstrate how you meet each of the criteria set out in the person specification. It will benefit the Advisory Assessment Panel if you can be clear which specific evidence you provide relates to which criteria. Providing separate paragraphs in relation to each criterion is common practice. Please write all acronyms in full first.

Please ensure your full name, the role to which you are applying and the corresponding reference number for the post are clearly noted at the top of your letter.

Please limit your letter to two pages, and type or write clearly in black ink.

Conflicts of interest

If you have any business or personal interests that might be relevant to the work of the NHS BT, and which could lead to a real or perceived conflict of interest if you were to be appointed, please provide details in your Supporting letter.

If appointed, you will also be required to declare these interests on appointment and they will be entered on a register which is available to the public.

Standards in public life and ensuring public confidence
Given the nature of public appointments, it is important that those appointed as members of public bodies maintain the confidence of the public and Government. If there are any issues in your personal or professional history (including any convictions or bankruptcy) that could, if you were appointed, be misconstrued, cause embarrassment to Ministers or NHS BT or cause public confidence in the appointment to be jeopardised, it is important that you bring them to the attention of the Advisory Assessment Panel and provide details of the issue/s in your Supporting letter. In considering whether you wish to declare any issues, you should also reflect on any public statements you have made, including through social media and blogs. Due Diligence may be carried out on any publicly available information and shared with the Advisory Assessment Panel.

The panel may explore any issues you declare with you before they make a recommendation on the appointment.

Failure to disclose such information could result in an appointment being terminated, as those who hold public appointments are expected to demonstrate the highest standards of corporate and personal conduct and are required to subscribe to the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies, as part of agreeing to the terms and conditions of appointment. You can access this document at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/board-members-of-public-bodies-code-of-conduct

There are also circumstances in which individuals may not be considered for appointment, due to them not meeting certain eligibility criteria for appointment. For further information, please refer to Section 2.3: Disqualification from Appointment

If you wish to discuss any queries on conflicts, please see the contacts section.

CV

Please ensure your CV includes:

Your full name, title, home address, personal contact telephone numbers (land line and mobile), personal email address and details of any twitter accounts and LinkedIn accounts including your twitter handle/username.
Similar contact details for two referees who will support your application. One referee should be the person to whom you are/were accountable in your current/most recent appointment or position of employment. Please indicate the relationship of each referee to you. References will be requested for short-listed candidates prior to interview
Brief details of your current or most recent post and the dates you occupied this role. Please identify any past or present Ministerial appointments.

Monitoring form

Please complete the monitoring form. Diversity monitoring information will not be seen by the Advisory Assessment Panel assessing your application.

Political activity information is primarily for monitoring purposes only, however if you are shortlisted for interview, this information will be shared with the selection panel. The reason for this is that it is appreciated that such activities may have given you relevant skills, including experience gained from committee work, collective decision-making, resolving conflict and public speaking. If you have had such experience and you consider it relevant to your application for this post, you should also take the opportunity to include it separately in your supporting statement. If possible, you should not, however, identify the relevant political party in your statement.

If you are appointed to this role, please note that any political activity you declare will be published in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The Department of Health and Social Care operates a Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) for disabled people. The Equality Act 2010 defines a person as disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities. Under the GIS a disabled candidate will be selected for interview if they meet the essential criteria for the post.

If you wish to apply under the GIS please complete the GIS form and return it with your application.

All applications will be acknowledged by email after the closing date.

Contacts

For further information regarding the selection process, please contact

Ryan Lloyd
Appointments Team
Tel: 0113 2545929
Email: [email protected]

For further information regarding the role of the NHS BT and the role of a NED please contact Patricia Grealish, Interim Chief People Officer

Tel: 07990 625362
Email: [email protected]

Please quote reference VAC-1719 on all correspondence.

If you choose to apply, we would like to thank you in advance for your time and effort in making an application.

Attachments

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NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT) - Non-Executive Director