Welcome

Dear Applicant

Thank you for your interest in this challenging and invigorating role of Director of Finance, which also covers managing procurement and informatics across our health economy.

I joined the Trust last year, during a time of great change and I am immensely proud of the progress which my team and Trust staff have achieved in a very short space of time.  Working with our new Chair, new high profile and commercial non-executive team and invigorated new executive team, we have been able to turnaround the fortunes of the Trust. Successes achieved in the past 12 months include: returning the Trust to financial good health; agreeing the biggest investment in West Cumbria for the past 50 years of £100million that will develop contemporary new healthcare facilities; achieved an excellent rating for care quality from the Care Quality Commission and; we are now ranked amongst the country’s top 40 highest performing hospitals in the CKHS Top Hospital Awards for 2009. 

We are committed to achieving Foundation Trust status next year and are looking to enter the evaluation phase at the beginning of the new financial year.  During the past 12 months the Board has been renewed and strengthened significantly in readiness for FT application and to achieve some of our more pressing objectives which will deliver streamlined services closer to home for our local people.  Balancing the need to deliver care closer to home whilst ensuring our sustainability is key to our future and I am pleased with the progress we have made in working with our commissioners to achieve our common goals.  You will play a crucial role in developing these plans, which will test your entrepreneurialism, creativity, negotiation and influencing skills.

For me and the Trust, this is a crucial appointment. As Director of Finance, Information & Procurement you will play an enviable role in shaping and guiding the Trust to achieve our business plan and corporate goals. You will inherit a talented finance team of 25 staff and have responsibility for all financial reporting to the board.  Procurement and health informatics are also in your remit, adding variety and external and commercial dimensions to the role as we provide these services across our health economy.

In summary, the setting is right for you to join a dynamically motivated, high quality, demanding and professionally skilled Board that provides the rigour and challenge to make this no ordinary role.  Alongside having the perfect job, consider how living in some of the country’s most idyllic countryside in the Lake District, or Cumbria, could change your life.  We offer a life changing experience, not just a career opportunity.

Should you require further information, please contact our advisor, Simon Potts at Hays Executive on 07770 786 933 E simon.potts@hays.com. In the meantime, I look forward to reviewing your application in due course.

Carole Heatly
Chief Executive