Alternative Futures Group is the North West’s largest Mental Health and Learning Disability charity.
With a strong track record over 30 years, we work locally in the community and through our Treatment and Recovery Centres to provide a wide range of innovative and bespoke care services.
We have a vision to create a world where people control their lives. Here at AFG, we pride ourselves on helping the people we support to design, develop and ‘own’ the support they receive by planning this with them; we support people to make informed choices and increase their own independence; and we support people to maintain their own health, wellbeing and living environment. These principles are really important to us.
As a ‘values based’ employer, the people that work for us genuinely care about the people they support, and we are seeking likeminded people to join our AFG family. If you are passionate about working in Health and Social Care and have a real desire to make a positive difference to the lives of the people we support then we would love to hear from you.
At AFG we also recognise the contribution and value that our staff make. We would not be able to provide the life changing support that we do without people like you!
In return for your contribution we will support you throughout your career and we provide a wide range of employee benefits, career development and lifestyle support services to ensure that you too feel supported, fulfilled and valued from day one of your employment with us.
Job Title: Service Development Manager LD
Reports to: Director of Operations
Job Purpose
The purpose of the role is to lead the development and rollout of services across the organisation.
Developing new, high-quality services as well as promoting the continuous improvement of existing services. The role will develop a strategic approach to how we engage with healthcare professionals and organisations to improve and increase the services we offer. This will include the continued development of existing services and analysis of the need for further services in local areas.
Principal Accountabilities
- Develop business cases for service development and improvements where identified, responding to unmet needs.
- Deliver effective implementation and rollout of new services, producing operating guidelines and project management tools to assist in the delivery.
- Ensure that the people we support, their families, representatives and all key stakeholders are involved in service development and design where possible.
- Work with the Business Development Team where applicable, to further develop opportunities, providing narrative and support.
- Contribute to the development of plans, including the mapping of opportunities, stakeholders, unmet needs and priorities, including a plan for managing the transition into new areas.
- Ensure any new services development is based on reliable evidence.
- Work with the Heads of Operations to stay abreast of developments in commissioning, key health forums and policy changes which may have an impact on the delivery of services.
- Work with the Communications team to ensure that marketing of services is considered during the development stage.
- Ensure that services are operating and adhering to good information and clinical governance.
- Working with the Director of Quality, ensure that monitoring systems are in place to carry out effective evaluation of services.
- Explore and implement creative and innovative approaches to evaluating services, including an evaluation of impact.
- Ensure key learning from projects and service development is shared across the organisation, presenting findings when appropriate.
- Provide effective support to the Managers, evaluating their role during the development stages of new services.
- Support Area Managers in the delivery of local services and support.
- Support Area Managers with their engagement with healthcare professionals, building good working relationships to understand priorities and work in partnership when delivering local services.
- Identify partnership opportunities with local, regional and national organisations which may contribute to our services, investigating new ways of delivery with potential partners.
- Working with the Director of Quality ensure that our services comply with information governance, data protection, safeguarding and regulatory requirements and that quality assurance mechanisms are in place.
- Develop and maintain excellent working relationships with CQC, Social Services Departments, Commissioners, and any other external regulatory body/stakeholders.
Person Specification - Essential Requirements:
Experience:
- 5 years’ experience of developing new services, service redesign or process improvement, and experience of implementation, preferably in multiple locations.
- 3-year experience of delivering training / professional development ideally in a health or related service.
- Introducing innovative ideas that impact on the Organisation’s strategic plan.
- Ability to assess Risk to business and create strategies to minimise and drive business forward.
- Working collaboratively with sector managers as well as support function managers to align and develop business ideas.
- Good understanding of contract lifecycles.
- Strong understanding of commissioning structures.
- 3 years’ experience of working with senior managers to assist in the development of their local business plan – challenging them not to accept the status quo.
- Experience of working with senior managers to develop their business plan implementation strategy, setting stages, KPIs, target dates and identifying resources.
- Using data attained from Market and Competitor Analyst to drive business planning and direction of the organisation
- Working knowledge of the commissioning process within Social Care sector
- Working closely with the tender team to ensure that any activity is aligned to the overall business plan and to local business plans.
- Writing complex reports.
- Strong understanding of the financial as well as operational objectives of each business, and impact on AFG as a whole to deliver.
Skills and Knowledge:
- Working knowledge of the commissioning process within Social Care sector
- Working closely with the tender team to ensure that any activity is aligned to the overall business plan and to local business plans.
- Writing complex reports.
- Strong understanding of the financial as well as operational objectives of each business, and impact on AFG as a whole to deliver.
Values and Attitudes:
- Embraces change, viewing it as an opportunity to learn and develop.
- Confident to lead the way - is able to inspire others with their passion and enthusiasm.
- Is solution focused and has a “can do attitude”.
- Is people focused, has strong interpersonal skills and encourages others to speak up.
- Takes personal responsibility and holds others to account.
- Ability to move between details and the bigger picture.
- Ability to work independently and autonomously.
- To be accurate and methodical in approach to work.
Qualifications & Training:
- Educated to degree level in a business qualification or equivalent.
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
- Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Office365
This role is home based within the north west of England.
This role is Band III as per our structure.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to
Disability Confident.
