Advertised role location: ROYAL VICTORIA HOSPITAL
Official document: Band 8a Community Discharge Hubs Job Description Personnel Spec (docx)
Assistant Service Manager -Community Discharge Service
Assistant Service Manager -Community Discharge Service

JOB DESCRIPTION


JOB TITLE

Assistant Service Manager, Community Discharge Service 

BAND

DIRECTORATE

INITIAL LOCATION

8A

Adult Community and Older People’s Services 

Across Belfast Health and Social Care Trust facilities 

REPORTS TO

Service Manager, Intermediate Care Services 

ACCOUNTABLE TO

Co-Director, Adult Social Work, Community Nursing and Intermediate Care Services 



JOB SUMMARY
The Assistant Service Manager will provide strategic and operational leadership for the Community Discharge Service, including the Community Discharge Hubs across Belfast Trust acute sites. The post holder will ensure that services support timely, safe and effective discharge, optimise patient flow and promote improved outcomes and experience for patients, service users and carers. 
The post holder will lead multidisciplinary teams and work across acute, community and partner organisations to embed a discharge-to-assess approach, strengthen pathways and reduce avoidable delay. They will be accountable for service performance, governance, workforce, delegated resources, continuous improvement and the delivery of agreed objectives and standards. 
The role requires visible and compassionate leadership, effective partnership working and the use of reliable information to monitor quality, outcomes, risk, demand, capacity and financial performance.

Flexible working, including extended hours, on-call arrangements and seven-day working, may be required to meet operational need. 
KEY DUTIES / RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Direction and Collaborative Working
Lead the development and delivery of the Community Discharge Service in line with Trust, Directorate, divisional and regional priorities.

Work with patients, service users, carers, staff and partner organisations to co-design and improve discharge pathways and service models.

Build effective relationships across acute and community services, other HSC Trusts, primary care, the independent sector and relevant commissioning partners.

Promote integrated working across professional and organisational boundaries and address barriers affecting patient flow or outcomes.

Operational Delivery
Provide day-to-day operational leadership and management for the Community Discharge Service and associated multidisciplinary teams.

Ensure patients are supported to access the most appropriate discharge pathway at the earliest safe opportunity, with clear escalation of delay, risk or capacity constraints.

Maintain robust and transparent systems that provide assurance on safety, quality, access, activity, capacity, outcomes and delivery against agreed standards and targets.

Lead business continuity and operational resilience arrangements within the area of responsibility.

Information and Performance Management
Prepare service delivery plans, performance reports, dashboards and briefings for the Service Manager and relevant governance forums.

Monitor key performance indicators and outcomes, identify variance and risk, and implement timely corrective or improvement action.

Use qualitative and quantitative information to understand demand, capacity, flow, quality and experience and support transparent decision-making.

Work with business support, finance, information and operational colleagues to ensure data is accurate, timely and used appropriately.

Quality, Safety and Governance
Embed an integrated governance and assurance framework consistent with Trust policy, professional standards and statutory and regulatory requirements.

Maintain effective systems for risk identification, assessment, escalation, mitigation and review, including contribution to relevant risk registers.
Coordinate or oversee the investigation of complaints, incidents and claims, ensuring timely responses, shared learning and completion of agreed actions.

Support inspection, audit and review activity, including implementation and monitoring of resulting action plans.

Ensure records and information are managed in line with confidentiality, information governance and records management requirements.

Modernisation and Service Improvement
Lead and support quality improvement, service redesign and transformation programmes that improve outcomes, experience, productivity and flow.

Promote a learning culture in which staff test, evaluate and sustain evidence-based improvements.

Benchmark services against relevant regional and national practice and support the spread of effective approaches.

Use digital and information-enabled solutions appropriately to support delivery, oversight and improvement.

Financial and Resource Management
Manage delegated budgets and resources in accordance with the Trust’s Standing Financial Instructions and agreed financial controls.

Monitor expenditure, identify cost pressures and variances, and develop and deliver financial action plans as required.

Ensure value for money through effective deployment of staffing, beds, equipment and non-pay resources.

Contribute to contract, service level and commissioning discussions and support business cases and capital proposals where required.

People Management and Professional Leadership
Provide clear, fair, inclusive and compassionate leadership, modelling HSC Values and expected standards of conduct.

Directly manage designated staff and ensure effective supervision, appraisal, attendance management, performance management and professional development.

Lead workforce planning, recruitment, retention, succession planning and workforce modernisation.

Work with Professional Leads to address education, training, competence, supervision and registration requirements.
Manage employee relations matters in accordance with Trust policies and seek appropriate HR or professional advice.

Promote staff wellbeing, equality of opportunity, effective teamworking and open communication.

Key Working Relationships
Act as a visible, accessible and credible senior leader across the discharge system.

Communicate complex, sensitive or contentious information clearly and respectfully, adapting the approach to the audience and circumstances.

Provide advice, challenge and escalation to the Service Manager and senior leaders on operational, quality, workforce and financial issues.

Represent the service at Trust, regional and partnership forums as required.



HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES

The Organisation supports and promotes a culture of collective leadership where those who have responsibility for managing other staff:

Establish and promote a supportive, fair and open culture that encourages and enables all parts of the team to have clearly aligned goals and objectives, to meet the required performance standards and to achieve continuous improvement in the services they deliver.

Ensure access to skills and personal development through appropriate training and support.

Promote a culture of openness and honesty to enable shared learning.

Encourage and empower others in their team to achieve their goals and reach their full potential through regular supportive conversation and shared decision making.

Adhere to and promote Organisational policy and procedure in all staffing matters, participating as appropriate in a way which underpins The Organisation’s values.

RAISING CONCERNS - RESPONSIBILITIES
The post holder will promote and support effective team working, fostering a culture of openness and transparency.

The post holder will ensure that they take all concerns raised with them seriously and act in accordance with the Trust’s ‘Your Right to Raise a Concern (Whistleblowing)’ policy and their professional code of conduct, where applicable.

The post holder will, in the event of a concern being raised with them, ensure that it is managed correctly under the Trust’s ‘Your Right to Raise a Concern (Whistleblowing)’ policy and ensure feedback/learning is communicated at individual, team and organisational level.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The post holder will be required to:

Assist the organisation in fulfilling its statutory duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to promote equality of opportunity and good relations and under the Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. Staff are also required to support the organisation in complying with its obligations under Human Rights Legislation.

Ensure the Organisation’s policy on equality of opportunity is promoted through his/her own actions and those of any staff for whom he/she has responsibility.

Co-operate fully with the implementation of The Organisation's Health and Safety arrangements, reporting any accidents/incidents/equipment defects to his/her manager, and maintaining a clean, uncluttered and safe environment for patients/clients, members of the public and staff.

Adhere at all times to all Trust policies/codes of conduct, including for example:
Smoke Free policy
IT Security Policy and Code of Conduct
standards of attendance, appearance and behaviour

Contribute to ensuring the highest standards of environmental cleanliness within your designated area of work.

Co-operate fully with regard to Trust policies and procedures relating to infection prevention and control.

Take responsibility to minimise the Trust’s environmental impact wherever possible. This will include recycling, switching off lights, computers, monitors and equipment when not in use. Helping to reduce paper waste by minimising printing/copying and reducing water usage, reporting faults and heating/cooling concerns promptly and minimising travel.

All employees of the Organisation are legally responsible for all records held, created or used as part of their business within the [org name] including patients/clients, corporate and administrative records whether paper-based or electronic and also including emails. All such records are public records and are accessible to the general public, with limited exceptions, under the Freedom of Information act 2000 the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Employees are required to be conversant with the [org name] policy and procedures on records management and to seek advice if in doubt.

Take responsibility for his/her own ongoing learning and development, in order to maximise his/her potential and continue to meet the demands of the post.

Represent The Organisation’s commitment to providing the highest possible standard of service to patients/clients and members of the public, by treating all those with whom he/she comes into contact in the course of work, in a pleasant, courteous and respectful manner.

This Job Description will be subject to review in the light of changing circumstances and is not intended to be rigid and inflexible but should be regarded as providing guidelines within which the individual works. Other duties of a similar nature and appropriate to the grade may be assigned from time to time.

It is a standard condition that all Trust staff may be required to serve at any location within The Organisation's area, as needs of the service demand.

September 2026



PERSONNEL SPECIFICATION

JOB TITLE AND BAND
Assistant Service Manager, Community Discharge Service, Band 8A 

DEPARTMENT / DIRECTORATE
Intermediate Care; Adult Community and Older People’s Services 

SALARY
Agenda for Change Band 8A 

HOURS
37.5 hours per week. Flexible working requests will be considered in line with organisational policy and service requirements


Notes to applicants:
You must clearly demonstrate on your application form under each question, how you meet the required criteria as failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted. You should clearly demonstrate this for both the essential and desirable criteria.
Shortlisting will be carried out on the basis of the essential criteria set out in Section 1 below, using the information provided by you on your application form. Please note The Organisation reserves the right to use any desirable criteria outlined in Section 3 at shortlisting. You must clearly demonstrate on your application form how you meet the desirable criteria.
Proof of qualifications and/or professional registration will be required if an offer of employment is made – if you are unable to provide this, the offer may be withdrawn.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA


SECTION 1: The following are ESSENTIAL criteria which will initially be measured at shortlisting stage although may also be further explored during the interview/selection stage. You should therefore make it clear on your application form whether or not you meet these criteria. Failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted. The stage in the process when the criteria will be measured is stated below.

Factor
Essential Criteria
Number
Criteria
Ideally no more than 6-8 criteria in this section

Please insert additional rows / Delete as required
Method of Assessment

Qualifications/ Registration
E1
A relevant health or social care professional qualification and current registration with the appropriate professional regulatory body.
Shortlisting by Application Form

Experience
E2
At least five years’ post-qualifying experience within health or social care, including a minimum of three years in a Band 7 management or supervisory role, or equivalent.
Shortlisting by Application Form

Experience

E3
Evidence, gained for a minimum of two years within the last five years, of delivering challenging performance or improvement programmes, meeting key targets and achieving measurable service improvement
Shortlisting by Application Form

Experience

E4
Experience of leading and managing multidisciplinary or multi-professional services in an acute or community setting, including responsibility for people management and governance.
Shortlisting by Application Form

Experience

E5
Experience of working with a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes for patients, service users or carers.
Shortlisting by Application Form

Experience

E6
Experience of financial management, resource management or budgetary control in a complex organisation. 
Shortlisting by Application Form

Other
E7
Hold a current full driving licence which is valid for use in the UK and have access to a car on appointment. This criteria will be waived in the case of applicants whose disability prohibits driving but who have access to a form of transport approved by The Organisation which will permit them to carry out the duties of the post.
Shortlisting by Application Form

SECTION 2: The following are ESSENTIAL criteria which will be measured during the interview/ selection stage:

Skills / Abilities
E8
Demonstrate effective, compassionate and inclusive leadership, including the ability to lead staff through complex change.
Interview / Test

Skills / Abilities
E9
Demonstrate high-level written, verbal, presentational and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex or sensitive information.
Interview / Test

Skills / Abilities
E10
Demonstrate the ability to analyse complex performance, quality, workforce, risk and financial information and make sound judgements. 
Interview / Test

Skills / Abilities

E11
Demonstrate effective planning, prioritisation and decision-making across competing operational demands. 
Interview / Test

Skills / Abilities
E12
Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary and multi-agency environments and to influence outcomes without direct authority. 
Interview / Test

Knowledge
E13
Demonstrate knowledge of relevant health and social care policy, legislation, regulation and professional standards affecting discharge, intermediate care and community services. 
Interview / Test

Knowledge
E14
Demonstrate knowledge of governance, risk management, assurance, continuous quality improvement, patient flow and discharge-to-assess approaches. 
Interview / Test

DESIRABLE CRITERIA


SECTION 3: these will ONLY be used where it is necessary to introduce additional job related criteria to ensure files are manageable. You should therefore make it clear on your application form how you meet these criteria. Failure to do so may result in you not being shortlisted

Factor
Desirable Criteria Number

Criteria
Ideally no more than 6-8 criteria in this section
Method of Assessment

Experience

D 1
Evidence of relevant postgraduate study or continuing professional development in leadership, management, quality improvement or service transformation. 
Shortlisting by Application Form

Experience

D 2
Experience of leading services or programmes relating to hospital discharge, patient flow, intermediate care, rehabilitation or reablement. 
Shortlisting by Application Form






Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will need to demonstrate at interview that they have the required competencies to be effective in this demanding leadership role. The competencies concerned are set out in the NHS Healthcare Leadership Model, details of which can be found at http://www.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk/resources/healthcare-leadership-model. Particular attention will be given to the following dimensions:

Inspiring shared purpose
Leading with care
Evaluating information
Connecting our service
Sharing the vision
Engaging the team
Holding to account
Developing capability
Influencing for results.

As part of the Recruitment & Selection process it may be necessary for The Organisation to carry out an Enhanced Disclosure Check through Access NI before any appointment to this post can be confirmed.

THE ORGANISATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYER

Successful applicants:
may be required to attend for a Health Assessment
can expect to be placed at the minimum point of the pay scale, although a higher starting salary, within the range  of the pay band may be available if the person appointed has experience relevant & equivalent to the post.  If the successful candidate is an existing HSC employee moving to a higher band, AfC Pay on Promotion will apply.
are able to request Flexible Working from the 1st day of their employment. A number of flexible working provisions are offered by all HSC Organisations including Full-time working, Fixed working patterns, Part-time working, Flexi-time, Compressed/elongated hours, Average hours working patterns, Term-time working, Job-share or Homeworking for some or all of the working pattern, depending on the role being undertaken. Successful applicants are encouraged to discuss with their manager what Flexible Working provisions may be available in the role they are taking up, prior to commencing employment, to help them achieve a positive Work/Life Balance.

All staff are expected to display the HSC Values at all times
All staff are expected to display the HSC Values at all times