Senior Operations Officer – Quality and Finance

Job id: 085626. Salary: £43,205 - £50,585 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.

Posted: 01 March 2024. Closing date: 31 March 2024.

Business unit: Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. Department: PET Imaging Centre Facility.

Contact details:Giorgio Testanera. [email protected]

Location: St Thomas’ Campus. Category: Professional & Support Services.

The School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences is seeking a highly organised individual to be the part of the senior management team for the administration of the clinical and research imaging services run by the King's College London's (KCL) and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) PET Centre. Our work includes providing a clinical PET imaging service for >8,000 patients per year from across South-East London as well as national referrals from other UK centres. We also support clinical and technical research programs with collaborators from the Hospital, the Medical School and other institutions. In partnership with Imperial College London, we have been selected through open competition by the Medical Research Council (MRC) as one of two initial sites for the UK Total Body PET infrastructure (National Total Body PET Imaging Platform (NPIP, https://npip.org.uk/ ), one in London and one in Scotland. Income to the School directly from provision of these services is in excess of £10m per year via a variety of contracts and service level agreements (SLAs), all of which have stipulated key performance indicators (KPIs) on which payments are dependent. 

The post holder will report to the PET Service Manager and the School Director of Clinical & Research Imaging Operations. They will be responsible for monitoring income and expenditure, processing purchase orders and invoices, and ensuring that all PET-related activity is accounted and charged for correctly in a timely fashion. To do so, they will need to collate and maintain accurate activity and referral data for the PET clinical and research imaging services, and use these as the basis for invoicing. This will need to be done in line with the terms and KPIs specified by the NHSE PET contract, to support billing for other NHS and private provision, and in compliance with funder agreements for research studies. They will be responsible for ensuring all contracts and SLAs are up to date, and will monitor performance against them. They will provide comparable monitoring of contracts, SLAs and purchasing mechanisms for PET’s radiochemistry production facilities. They will also be responsible for providing regular reports of activity, performance against clinical and research quality targets and other KPIs, growth, income and expenditure to the PET Service Manager and School Director of Clinical & Research Imaging Operations, and to alert them of any developing risks.  

To fulfil their duties, the successful candidate will need to deal directly with both GSTT and other NHS hospital and university senior management and finance leads, as well as with a wide variety of clinical and technical teams, and will be required to access patient level details using Trust systems. They will deputise for the PET Service Manager in a variety of performance review meetings with GSTT. They will take on a line management role for other Grade 3-5 administrative staff within the PET Service, and will also liaise closely with School professional services staff who are under the direction of the School Manager. 

Key qualities required for this role are excellent organisational, financial administration and communication skills, close attention to detail and the ability to process, summarise and present complex information. The post-holder will also need to demonstrate commitment to maintaining confidentiality of personal and sensitive data at all times. 

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract.

This is a full-time post, with on-site attendance at St Thomas’ Hospital expected.

• Assist PET Service Manager and the School Director of Clinical & Research Imaging Operations in the administration of strategic and operational objectives in relation to activity, performance, income and expenditure for both clinical and research work  
• Support the PET Service Manager in the development and implementation of the PET Service imaging portfolio, leading and managing systems to track activity, performance, income and expenditure
• Report regularly to PET Senior Team on changes to the imaging services activity, performance, income and expenditure, alerting them to risks and identifying ways these can be managed and mitigated
• Support the PET Service quality improvement agenda by providing high quality data on performance against KPIs and obtaining stakeholder feedback on the quality of services
• Advise and supervise the PET Administrative Team, taking an active role in recruitment, probation and performance management, recognition, capability development and succession planning liaising closely with colleagues to ensure effective processes and procedures 
• Lead the administration of clinical PET imaging operations for the School, creating an inclusive, supportive and empowering environment for staff to reach their potential, embedding a culture of excellence 
• Establish effective systems for monitoring activity, performance, income and expenditure, working closely with the clinical and research teams to ensure data are accurate, and supporting the completion of data returns for performance and funder reviews 
• Support PET scanning and radiochemistry services with issue and monitoring of SLAs, service contracts, tenders and procurement documentation, purchase orders and invoices 
• Work closely with the procurement and finance departments to ensure compliance of PET Centre with KCL and Government regulations. 
• Monitor and analyse income and expenditure on a monthly basis, preparing reports for the School Director of Clinical & Research Imaging Operations and PET Service Manager, as required 
• Ensure the School is compliant with University and external regulations and policies in relation to placing orders, raising purchase orders, invoices, and making overtime payments, seeking expert advice from colleagues when necessary, and interpreting and explaining this to staff as required 
• Work effectively and collegiality with colleagues, establishing effective communications and relationships, and joining professional networks and working groups, to make a wider contribution to the School, Faculty and University 
• Forge relationships with key partners and stakeholders including King’s partnering NHS Trusts and acting as the primary PET contact for internal and external partners in relation to administration of the PET imaging services  
• Maintain a good working knowledge of Trust IT systems, including EPIC, and PET admin governance practices, providing expert advice to admin team. 
• Facilitate an inclusive culture and ethos across the School teams, ensuring that Professional Services staff work in partnership with academic staff in departments/institutes and Professional Services colleagues in the Faculty team and functional networks. 
• Have a strong relationship with different PET Teams (Imaging, Clinical e.g.) to contribute at smooth running of clinical operations, providing Administrative support when needed and facilitating problem solving in operational emergencies. 

Essential criteria

Desirable criteria

• Selection process to include a Panel Interview  
• Candidates with an existing NHS Pension may choose to remain in that scheme if they wish to do so. Further information is available via our HR Department. 

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service.