Operational Planning Analyst
Job summary
The King's Operational Planning Team sits within the Trust's Business Intelligence Unit (BIU) and has responsibility for activity planning, performance forecasting and demand and capacity modelling. The team provides the forward-looking part of the Trust's data function and works closely with clinical teams and other corporate functions within King's, as well as local and national commissioners to deliver this.
We are currently looking for a talented analyst to join the team to support the ongoing delivery of our existing portfolio and develop new modelling and analytical tools to help King's respond effectively to emerging challenges and the evolving NHS operational landscape.
We are looking for an analyst with strong excel and SQL skills and experience of using Power BI. Experience working in an analytical role and an understanding of how to process data, identify patterns in the data and use relevant contextual data to explain these patterns are the key skills required for the role. The team is looking to expand its use of more advanced statistical methods within the next iteration of planning, forecasting and modelling tools, so experience with open-source software such as R and Python will be of value.
King's BIU provides a flexible working environment with a mix of home and office-based working, with offices in Orpington and King's Denmark Hill site. This post will be primarily based at Denmark Hill.
Main duties of the job
The team has three primary responsibilities:
1) Developing the Trust's annual activity plan
2) Leading on demand vs capacity modelling across the Trust
3) Leading on all forms of performance forecasting across the Trust
The post holder will be expected to contribute to all three of the above departmental responsibilities.
The post-holder's primary role will be to use their analytical and SQL skills to provide detailed analytical support to the Operational Planning Managers in the development and maintenance of:
- The Trust's annual activity planning model and the associated outputs. This is site / specialty / patient type / HRG level weekly activity forecasting model for the whole of King's College Hospital.
- The Trust's demand vs capacity models. These are dynamic capacity planning tools which enable key decision makers to understand capacity requirements for different site / specialty combinations.
- The Trust's performance forecasting and benchmarking tools.
The team receives regular requests for quick-turnaround pieces of ad-hoc modelling in relation to demand vs capacity modelling and performance forecasting, which the post-holder will be expected to support.
The ideal post-holder would have detailed knowledge of demand, capacity and performance modelling in the NHS. They will use this knowledge to support the development of sophisticated data models that demonstrate the short- and long-term Trust capacity and performance requirements.
About us
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1.8 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King's to another level.
We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.
King's is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone's contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust's carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Analytical & Judgemental Skills
Expert analytical and SQL skills
Analyse, investigate and resolve complex issues and problems which arise during the development of the Trusts annual activity plan.
Identify any unusual data trends in the model which may be used to highlight errors in analysis / reporting.
Ensure that there are insightful outputs from the analysis which can be presented to operational leads in a structured and meaningful way
Support Operational Planning Managers with input analysis required for the Trusts suite of performance forecasting tools. For example, this may involve conducting trend analysis on referrals to understand likely trajectories for non-admitted RTT pathway additions.
Support the Operational Planning Managers with input analytics required for internal / external performance benchmarking
Contribute to the development of a growing and imaginative portfolio of business intelligence and service development tools.
Planning & Organisational Skills
Required to work on a range of different analytical / modelling areas, including: activity planning, performance forecasting and demand vs capacity modelling. Accordingly, the post-holder will be adept at planning their time and resources and will need to formulate and adjust their plans to meet business need.
Mental Effort
The role is very mentally challenging. The post-holder will be expected to concentrate for long periods when analysing data and developing models. Developing accurate outputs is critical to this role and the post-holder will need to check and verify their analysis thoroughly.
The post-holder should expect a rapidly changing work plan and expect to be responsive to answer regular queries from colleagues.
Communication & Relationship Skills
Work closely with operational colleagues to develop a detailed understanding of the expected activity impact of upcoming service changes and then use complex analytics to translate this operational understanding into an activity plan.
Provide and receive highly complex information. Present complex analytical outputs colleagues within and beyond the operational planning team / business intelligence unit.
With the support of the Operational Planning Managers, interpret the outputs from demand vs capacity models and communicate planning model outputs which can be complex and multi-stranded. This will involve providing clear direction to operational colleagues on what outputs mean in terms of operational reality.
Support with regular exec level / Care Group management requests for bespoke pieces of demand vs capacity analysis. For example, this may be a request from a Care Group lead to understand if there is sufficient bed capacity available to support a new service or a request to understand the capacity requirements of a new unit.
Signpost operational colleagues to existing sources of business intelligence and provide feedback to the Business Intelligence Unit on any potential improvements to dashboards / reporting suite.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
- Education to degree level in a numerate discipline or equivalent
- Masters/MBA or equivalent experience
Knowledge and Experience
- Exceptionally high level of numeracy and numerical reasoning
- Ability to receive complex information and use advanced analytical skills and modelling ability to develop insightful conclusions
- Able to take responsibility for setting the direction of pieces of work without having over-reliance on task-setting by managers
- A strategic thinker with highly developed communication skills
- In depth specialist knowledge of data and using data to develop analysis used to support critical decisions in healthcare or another sector
- Significant relevant experience within an informatics or performance / planning setting
Skills and Competencies
- A proven ability to obtain and consistently achieve results and targets
- Proven ability to process wide ranging data and information and take appropriate decisions from it
- A proven ability to come up with flexible and creative solutions to difficult problems
- Excellent collaborative working skills and able to build strong relationships with clinical leaders and professional staff groups
- Ability to provide and receive highly complex and sensitive information and data
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.
Employer details
Employer name
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Address
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Denmark Hill
London
SE5 9RS
Employer's website
https://www.kch.nhs.uk/
- Company
- King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Location
- London, United Kingdom SE5 9RS
- Employment Type
- Permanent
- Salary
- £54320.00 - £60981.00 a year
- Posted
- Company
- King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Location
- London, United Kingdom SE5 9RS
- Employment Type
- Permanent
- Salary
- £54320.00 - £60981.00 a year
- Posted