Associate Non-Executive Member Application Pack

We value and promote diversity and are committed to equality of opportunity for all.  We believe that the best boards are those that reflect the communities they serve. 

We prioritise Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, team health and wellbeing and the principles of kind leadership in our ‘ways of working’.  All postholders will have a key role in nurturing this culture.

Appointment will be made on merit after a fair and open process so that the best people, from the widest possible pool of applicants, are appointed.

1. The opportunity

Integrated care systems (ICSs) are partnerships of health and care organisations, local government, and the voluntary sector.  They exist to improve population health, tackle health inequalities, enhance productivity and help the NHS support broader social and economic development.  They have taken on statutory form following the implementation of proposed legislation from July 2022 and comprise an Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Integrated Care Partnership. The Integrated Care Board has taken on the CCGs’ functions and broader strategic responsibility for overseeing healthcare strategies for the system.  We are looking for candidates who will work with the chair of ICB, as an Associate non-executive member of the ICB. The role(s) will not be full members of the unitary Board but will attend as necessary in respect of the role and committee responsibilities as agreed with the chair of the ICB.

Mid and South Essex ICB is looking for suitably qualified individuals to join our Audit Committee and potentially one or more of the following committees:

  • Primary Care Commissioning
  • Finance & Investment
  • Quality
  • In addition, we are seeing an Associate NEM to lead and champion our work on Inequalities and Equality and Diversity.

All roles will be expected to hold the ICB to account in its decision making and will play a key role in the governance of the organisation to ensure that decision making around workforce, population and also financial resources is robust, stands up to scrutiny and is in the best interests of the 1.2 million local population.

The key priorities for the roles will be to:

  • Establish effective working relationships with ICB Board members
  • Establish clear terms of reference and governance processes for each committee
  • Establish strategic priorities and key milestones for reporting requirements
  • Ensure that the ICB is effectively fulfilling its statutory requirements in terms of reporting and delivery
  • Ensure that the population voice is effectively captured and used to inform the priorities and strategies of the ICB
  • Ensure that the theme of inclusion and reducing inequalities runs through the work of the ICB at every level

The ICS needs diverse, inclusive and compassionate leaders who not only reflect the community they serve and the staff employed, but have the leadership style and breadth of perspective to make good collective decisions.

There is emphatic evidence that diverse boards make the best decisions. We want to increase the diversity of NHS board teams. In non-executive roles nationally, it is known that women, people from the local Black Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, LGBT communities, younger people and those with lived experience of disability are all under-represented.  We want a change.

We are really interested in receiving applications from people with different backgrounds, skills and experience.

2. About us

Background – What is an Integrated Care System?

  • The Department of Health and Social Care published a White Paper, which set out legislative proposals for a health and care bill. The Health and Care Bill received Royal Assent on the 28th April 2022 which led to the following
  • Establishment of ICSs as statutory bodies across England.
  • A statutory ICS is led by two related entities operating at system level
  • – an ‘ICB NHS body’ and
  • – an ‘ICP Integrated Care Partnership’
  • Together, these will be referred to as the ICS.

Why we need a Partnership:

Access to, and quality of, clinical care contributes just 20% to the wider determinants of health, and that’s why we need to work together…

Our ambitions

Through working in partnership at every level, we aim to reduce inequalities through:

  • Creating opportunities – education, employment, housing, growth
  • Supporting health and wellbeing – healthy lifestyles and behaviours, focus on prevention and self-care
  • Bringing care closer to home – where safe and possible
  • Improving and transforming our services – integrating care for and with our residents

The vision for our ICS

We want our integrated care system to be:

  • Distinctive – to do things that others can’t
  • Attractive – to bring the best staff to our system
  • Successful – in any given area

3. Role priorities and accountabilities

Priorities

The Associate non-executive member will:

  • Work collaboratively to shape the long-term, viable plan for the delivery of the functions, duties and objectives of the ICB and for the stewardship of public money.
  • Ensure that the Board and its committees is effective in all aspects of its role and appropriately focused on the four core purposes, to: improve outcomes in population health and healthcare; tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience and access; enhance productivity and value for money and help the NHS support broader social and economic development.
  • Be champions of new governance arrangements (including with the ICP), collaborative leadership and effective partnership working, including with local government, NHS bodies and the voluntary sector.
  • Support the Chair and the wider Board on issues that impact organisations and workforce across the ICS, such as integration, the People agenda, Digital transformation, Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) and Covid-19 challenges.
  • Play a key role in establishing new statutory arrangements for the ICS to ensure that the ICB meets its statutory duties, building strong partnerships and governance arrangements with system partners, including the ability to take on commissioning functions from CCGs and NHS England.

Accountabilities

The Associate non-executive members:

  • Are accountable to the ICB Chair.
  • Have designated areas of responsibilities as agreed with the ICB Chair.
  • Have a collective responsibility with the other members of the ICB to ensure corporate accountability for the performance of the organisation, ensuring its functions are effectively and efficiently discharged and its financial obligations are met.

4. Role responsibilities and competencies

You will work alongside the Chair, other non-executives, executive directors and partner members and as equal members of a unitary board.  You will be responsible for specific areas relating to board governance and oversight:

  • Bringing independent and respectful challenge to the plans, aims and priorities of the ICB;
  • Promoting open and transparent decision-making that facilitates consensus aimed to deliver exceptional outcomes for the population.

Personally, you will bring a range of professional expertise as well as community understanding and experience to the work of the Board. We are interested in your life experience and personal motivations that will add valuable personal insights such as: being a patient, carer or service user; experience of gender and women’s issues; engaging with diverse social, economic and cultural groups and communities; experiences and challenges of younger people; and those with lived experience of mental health issues and/or living with physical chronic conditions or disability.

As an NHS leader, you will demonstrate a range of leadership competencies outlined below.  Corporately, as members of a unitary board, you will contribute to a wide range of areas, including:

Strategy and transformation

  • Setting the vision, strategy and clear objectives for the ICB in delivering on the four core purposes of the ICS, the triple aim of improved population health, quality of care and cost-control.
  • Aligning partners in transforming the Long Term Plan and the People Plan into real progress

Partnerships and communities

  • Promoting dialogue and consensus with local government and broader partners, to ensure effective joint planning and delivery for system working and mutual accountability.
  • Supporting the establishment of the ICP, developing strong relationships between the ICB Board and the ICP.
  • Supporting the success of the ICP in establishing shared strategic priorities within the NHS, in partnership with local government, to tackle population health challenges and enhance services across health and social care.

Social justice and health equalities

  • Advocating diversity, health equality and social justice to close the gap on health inequalities and achieve the service changes that are needed to improve population health. 
  • Ensuring the ICB is responsive to people and communities and that public, patient and carer voices are embedded in all of the ICB’s plans and activities.
  • Promoting the values of the NHS Constitution and modelling the behaviours embodied in Our People Promise and forthcoming Leadership Way to ensure a collaborative, inclusive and productive approach across the system.

Sustainable outcomes

  • Oversight of purposeful arrangements for effective leadership of clinical and professional care throughout the ICB and the ICS.
  • Fostering a culture of research, innovation, learning and continuous improvement to support the delivery of high quality services for all.
  • Ensuring the NHS plays its part in social and economic development and achieving environmental sustainability, including the Carbon Net Zero commitment.

Governance and assurance

  • Collectively ensuring that the ICB is compliant with its constitution and contractual obligations, holding other members of the ICB and the ICS to account through constructive, independent and respectful challenge.
  • Maintaining oversight of the delivery of ICB plans, ensuring expected outcomes are delivered in a timely manner through the proportionate management of risks.
  • Ensuring that the ICB operates to deliver its functions in line with all of its statutory duties, and that compliance with the expected standards of the regulatory bodies is maintained.
  • Collectively ensuring that the ICB is compliant with its constitution and contractual obligations, holding other members of the ICB and the ICS to account through constructive, independent and respectful challenge.
  • Maintaining oversight of the delivery of ICB plans, ensuring expected outcomes are delivered in a timely manner through the proportionate management of risks.
  • Ensuring that the ICB operates to deliver its functions in line with all of its statutory duties, and that compliance with the expected standards of the regulatory bodies is maintained.

People and culture

  • Supporting the development of other board members to maximise their contribution.
  • Providing visible leadership in developing a healthy and inclusive culture for the organisation, which promotes diversity, encourages and enables system working and which is reflected and modelled in their own and the Board’s behaviour and decision-making.
  • Ensuring the Board acts in accordance with the highest ethical standards of public service and that any conflicts are appropriately resolved.

5. Person specification

Setting strategy and delivering long-term transformation:

  • Knowledge of health, care, local government landscape and/ or the voluntary sector
  •  A capacity to thrive in a complex and politically charged environment of change and uncertainty
  • Experience leading change at a senior level to bring together disparate stakeholder interests

Building trusted relationships with partners and communities:

  • An understanding of different sectors, groups, networks and the needs of diverse populations
  • Exceptional communication skills and comfortable presenting in a variety of contexts
  • Highly developed interpersonal and influencing skills, able to lead in a creative environment which enables people to thrive and collaborate
  • Experience working collaboratively across agency and professional boundaries

Leading for Social Justice and health equality:

  • An awareness and appreciation of social justice and how it might apply within an ICS
  • Record of promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in leadership roles
  • Life experience and personal motivation that will add valuable personal insights

Driving high quality, sustainable outcomes:

  • Problem solving skills and the ability to identify issues and areas of risk, leading stakeholders to effective resolutions and decisions

Providing robust governance and assurance:

  • An understanding of good corporate governance
  • Ability to remain neutral to provide independent and unbiased leadership with a high degree of personal integrity
  • Experience contributing effectively in complex professional meetings at a very senior level

Creating a compassionate and inclusive culture for out people:

  • Models respect and a compassionate and inclusive leadership style with a demonstrable commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in respect of boards, patients and staff
  • Creates and lives the values of openness and transparency embodied by the principles-of-public-life and in Our People Promise

6. Eligibility

You will be able to demonstrate that you meet the requirements of the fit and proper person test and that you have no substantial conflicts of interests that would interfere with your ability to be independent and offer an impartial perspective.

The successful applicants will not have an ongoing leadership role (hold positions or offices) at an organisation within the same ICS footprint. You will need to stand down from such a role if appointed to the ICB independent non-executive member role.

Elected officials including MPs and members of councils are excluded from the ICB independent non-executive member role. 

Applicants ideally should have strong connections or understanding of the area served by the ICS.

Given the significant public profile and responsibility members of NHS boards hold, it is vital that those appointed inspire confidence of the public, patients and NHS staff at all times. We will undertake a number of specific background checks to ensure that those we appoint are “fit and proper” people to hold these important roles. More information can be found on the website.

Applications will be assessed on merit, as part of a fair and open process, from the widest possible pool of candidates. The information provided by applicants will be relied on to assess whether sufficient personal responsibility and competence have been demonstrated in previous/other roles, to satisfy the experience, skills and values being sought.

We value and promote diversity and are committed to equality of opportunity for all.  We believe that the best boards are those that reflect the communities they serve. 

  • 50% of the working age population and 77% of the NHS workforce are women
  • 14% of the working age population and 23% of the NHS workforce are from ethnic minorities
  • 16% of working age population and 5% of the NHS workforce are disabled
  • 2% of the population over 16 and 3% of the NHS workforce identify as LGBT
  • 82% of working age adults and 79% of the NHS workforce are under 55[1]  

We want to increase the diversity of our NHS leadership and encourage applications from groups we know are all under-represented in these important roles.  We prioritise Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, team health and wellbeing and the principles of kind leadership in our ‘ways of working’.  The successful applicants will have a key role in nurturing this culture.

7. Terms of appointment

This section may be subject to change due to development of the legislation.

  • The remuneration: £13,000 – £16,000
  • You will have considerable flexibility to decide how you manage the time needed to undertake this role.  On average, it will require a minimum 2 – 3 days a month, including preparation time, the occasional evening engagement and events designed to support your continuous development.
  • You will be supported within the role by Non-Executive Colleagues as well as the Chair of the ICS
  • All NHS board members are required to comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life and meet the Fit and Proper Persons requirements.

8. More information

For more information, you can get in touch with:

•           Ruth Jackson, Chief People Officer : ruth.jackson20@nhs.net |  07515578487

•           Mike Thompson, Chief of Staff : mike.thompson6@nhs.net 07815 658826

If you wish to be considered for one of the ICB Associate independent non-executive member roles, please provide the following to hayley.ingall@nhs.net

  • skills and experience and allows insights on your values and motivations for applying for the role. You should outline your personal responsibility and achievement within previous roles that demonstrates you have the knowledge, skills and competencies to deliver this role, as outlined in the person specification
  • senior stakeholders), and cover your most recent roles and employer, any regulated health or social care activity or where roles involved children or vulnerable adults.  Your references will be taken prior to interview and may be shared with the selection panel
  • A completed self-declaration form confirming that you do not meet any of the criteria that would disqualify you from appointment
  • Any dates when you will not be available for the selection process
  • A completed monitoring information form which accompanies this pack – this should be sent to mseicb-me.essexhr-recruitment@nhs.net

Shortlisting: the selection panel will use the information provided by the applicants and feedback from any preliminary assessment to agree applicants invited to interview.  Assessment will be based on merit against the competencies experience, skills and values outlined in the person specification.