Contract Information Manager - Community & MH - B8aNHS

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Contract Information Manager - Community and Mental Health to join the ICB.

This role forms a key part of our planning and productivity hub for the exciting developments in train as we deliver the ambitions of the 10-year Health Plan, including multi-year planning for revenue and capital. We have a significant productivity and efficiency agenda within the NHS right now and the team has a pivotal role to play in new ways of thinking and delivering over longer time planning horizon. They provide the insights to our collective cost base and behaviours as well as benchmarking opportunities and productivity metrics to produce insights to empower, short, medium and long-term thinking for future shifts and sustainability across health care in Essex.

You will play a pivotal role in safely securing value for money and high-quality services, the insights you will be able to deliver in respect of Activity Planning and monitoring will support the ICBs capacity planning and demand management.

Main duties of the job

You will

• Implement policy and / or service developments related to activity reporting and contracts, interpret requirements from NHS strategies, including the ICB strategy and the 10-Year Health Plan
• Ensure compliance with relevant ICB policies
• Use research and innovation to inform service improvements or performance management
• Support the organisations understanding of activity, agreeing methods of validation, monitoring and reporting.
• Turn analysis into useful insights that can be used to inform decision making
• Present highly complex data, information and insights, including qualitative and quantitative data, through clear and simple written and verbal briefings
• Use complex health data sets, including those relating to performance across activity, finance and quality to inform decision making
• Analyse complex qualitative and quantitative data relating to activity
• Use Population Health Management methodologies and tools to inform projects and programmes that will improve outcomes for patients and sustainability of health services
• Provide expert technical and business knowledge, analytical support and clear presentation of activity information to clinical and non-clinical colleagues

You should have

• A knowledge of national tariff and payment mechanisms and the arrangements required to support the change to new arrangements.
• Deep understanding of the payment mechanism and funding flows being able to expertly advice commissioners where appropriate

Job description

ROLE PURPOSE / SUMMARY

The Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) is a new organisation formed through the consolidation of three ICB areas in response to the NHSs ambition to deliver a more streamlined, strategic and cost-effective model of health commissioning. The ICB will oversee the commissioning of care for the approximately 2 million people who live in Essex. Operating within a reduced running cost envelope and aligned to the new requirements of ICBs in England, the ICB will focus on improving population health outcomes, health equity and smarter resource allocation.

By establishing clear and transparent funding arrangements, triangulated with activity and workforce within our system we aim to support our collective understanding of how resources are allocated across the system for both revenue and capital.

This role forms a key part of our planning and productivity hub for the exciting developments in train as we deliver the ambitions of the 10-year Health Plan, including multi-year planning for revenue and capital. We have a significant productivity and efficiency agenda within the NHS right now. The team has a pivotal role to play in new ways of thinking and delivering over longer time planning horizon. They provide the insights to our collective cost base and behaviours as well as benchmarking opportunities and productivity metrics to produce insights to empower, short, medium and long-term thinking for future shifts and sustainability across health care in Essex.

The Contracting Information Manager plays a pivotal role in safely securing value for money and high-quality services, the insights they will be able to deliver in respect of Activity Planning and monitoring will support the ICBs capacity planning and demand management.

As the ICB transitions to become a leaner, more focused strategic commissioning organisation the post holder will be expected to support the directorate in delivering on the three fundamental shifts set out in the NHS 10-year plan:

• From Treatment to Prevention: Embedding preventative, personalised and population based approaches to commissioning.
• From Hospital to Community: Championing care model redesign that supports community and neighbourhood health.
• From Analogue to Digital: Enabling clinically driven transformation through digital innovation, data analytics and evidence based improvement.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

To deliver on the job description set out above, the job holder will be expected to deliver on the requirements set out below:

Policy and service development

• Implement policy and / or service developments related to activity reporting and contracts, interpreting requirements from NHS strategies, including the ICB strategy and the 10 Year Health Plan
• Ensure compliance with relevant ICB policies
• Use research and innovation to inform service improvements or performance management
• Support the organisations understanding of activity, agreeing methods of validation, monitoring and reporting.
• The post holder will need to have a knowledge of national tariff and payment mechanisms and the arrangements required to support the change to new arrangements.

Strategy and analysis

• Use of complex health data sets, including those relating to performance across activity, finance and quality to inform decision making
• Analysis of complex qualitative and quantitative data relating to activity
• Turning analysis into useful insights that can be used to inform decision making
• Present highly complex data, information and insights, including qualitative and quantitative data, through clear and simple written and verbal briefings
• Use of Population Health Management methodologies and tools to inform projects and programmes that will improve outcomes for patients and sustainability of health services
• Deep understanding of the payment mechanism and funding flows being able to expertly advise commissioners where appropriate.
• To provide expert technical and business knowledge, analytical support and clear presentation of activity information to clinical and non-clinical colleagues.

Planning and organisation

• Support the preparation of relevant business cases and ensure they have an objective method of measuring activity impacts leading to a systematic approach to reporting and supporting delivery expected benefits.
• Manage delivery against agreed project plan, ensuring appropriate governance, risk management, escalations and reporting
• Identify service opportunities, by developing an excellent understanding of the activity within care settings.

Communications and Partnerships

• Work collaboratively, modelling inclusive, respectful and compassionate leadership
• Listen effectively to a broad range of perspectives, including staff, patients and the public, to inform decision making
• Present information and training to large groups
• Build strong, trust-based relationships across the ICB, with NHS providers, local government, VCFSE partners and communities as needed
• Effective engagement with patients and the public as required
• Work effectively in multi-disciplinary teams to enable the collective ownership and delivery of projects that are seeking to improve outcomes, reduce inequalities and deliver a sustainable health and care system
• Share complex and challenging information which may relate to service performance or staffing
• Manage conflict, find compromise and build consensus where needed to drive progress in delivery

Financial and resource management

• Supports procurement of relevant services

Team management and capability building

• The Value, productivity and planning team will have financial support and may have apprentices in training. This role will be expected to support the line management of these individuals.
• Support staff through ICB transition, including the development of teams to deliver on new ICB portfolios as agreed through transition
• Support the effective transition of relevant functions to new portfolios within or beyond the ICB to support the new NHS operating model, in line with the requirements of the Model ICB Blueprint
• Work collaboratively with system partners to facilitate transitional arrangements
• Maintain a focus on quality, safety and affordability during transition
• Supporting effective Information Asset Management for the team

Other

• Use initiative and work with independency to deliver on requirements of the role
• Primarily desk-based work that requires use of visual display units, focused concentration and frequent participation in on-line or in person meetings
• Expected to be physically on site at least 2 days a week (From April 2026), this may be in the ICB office, or in a partner location as required
• Able to use software required to develop report, including ability to deliver high quality documents through Microsoft suite (word, power point, excel)

Flexibility and evolving responsibilities

As the ICB continues to evolve, portfolios may be subject to change to reflect the needs of the organization, the health and care system and national policy direction. This may include adjustments to areas of responsibility or realignment of reporting structures.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

The post holder will need to build constructive relationships with partners from across the health and care system. Key relationships will be with:

• ICB senior leadership
• Information Governance team
• Health & Wellbeing Board officers
• Local Authority partners
• NHS Providers
• NHSEI regional partners
• VCFSE sector, local health entrepreneurs, campaigns groups and social media influencers and local employers

About us

NHS Essex ICB is a statutory organisation responsible for the planning and funding of NHS services for around 1.9 million people across Essex. Our role as an ICB is to bring health and care services together, improve the health and wellbeing of our population and ensure equitable access to services and outcome for everyone. The organisations headquarters is Seax House, Chelmsford, and we operate a hybrid working model (2 office-based days) that includes working across Essex and from home. Essex ICB currently has offices in Brentwood, Harlow and Colchester, in addition to the Chelmsford HQ.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that values diversity. We know that different experiences, ideas and perspectives help create a stronger and more innovative organisation that delivers better outcomes for patients. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, including people of all ages, disabilities, sex, gender identity or expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or personal circumstances. Our policies ensure all applicants are treated fairly and consistently throughout the recruitment process, including consideration of reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants.

Please note that the organisation does not hold a sponsorship licence.