Job Description

IN DETAIL. JOB DESCRIPTION

JOB TITLE: Non-executive director BAND: £13,000

TIME COMMITMENT:

Three days per month (although the working pattern is flexible across the year based on Trust activity).

LOCATION: Trust Headquarters, V7 Building, Kings Business Park, Prescot, L34 1PJ

RESPONSIBLE TO: Trust chairman

ACCOUNTABLE TO: Council of governors

ROLE SUMMARY

Non-executive directors are responsible for providing an independent perspective, governance and leadership to Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. They have a duty to uphold the highest standards of integrity and probity and to foster good relations in the Boardroom. They have a responsibility to constructively challenge executive directors during Board discussions and help develop proposals on priorities, risk mitigation, values, standards and strategy. Non-executive directors have a particular role in engaging with and giving account to the council of governors.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support the chair, chief executive and executive directors in promoting

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust’s values and behaviours

Support a positive culture throughout the Trust and adopt behaviours in the boardroom and elsewhere that exemplify the corporate culture Participate fully as a member of committees of the board of directors and take the role of committee chair when so appointed Periodically meet with the chair of the Trust in the absence of executive directors to discuss issues of interest or concern

Participate in the appraisal and objective setting for the executive directors, fellow non-executive directors and the chair

Help develop proposals on priorities, risk mitigation, values and standards Contribute to the development of the strategy of the Trust Participate in the appointment of the chief executive and executive directors

Contribute to the determination of appropriate levels of remuneration for executive directors

Ensure that financial information is accurate and that financial controls and risk management systems are robust and defensible and that the Board is kept fully informed through timely and relevant information

Bring independent judgement and experience from outside the Trust and apply this to the benefit of the Trust, its stakeholders and its wider community As a member of the Board participate, where necessary, in removing executive directors

Assist with succession planning for key executive posts.

COUNCIL OF GOVERNORS

• Engage with the council of governors and in particular give account to the governors so that they can hold the non-executive directors to account for the performance of the Board

Attend meetings with the council of governors to gain the views of the governors on key strategic and performance issues facing the Trust

Take into account the views of governors and other members to gain a different perspective on the Trust and its performance

Communicate progress made in delivering strategic objectives and high level financial and operational performance of the Trust to the council of governors

Receive feedback from the council of governors regarding performance and ensure that the board of directors is aware of the feedback.

SPECIFIC ROLE DUTIES

• Advise the Board on the effective use of research to better understand the needs of our communities

Inform the Board of methodologies that will enable to Trust to design services fit for the future and that will reduce health inequalities.

GENERIC RESPONSIBILITIES FOR ALL STAFF

All post holders will agree to:

Commit to the vision of supporting

Mersey Care in becoming a leading organisation in the provision of community services, mental health care, addiction services and learning disability care, and in doing so fully utilise their skills and experience to support the objectives of the Trust

Role model the values of the Trust –

Continuous Improvement, Accountability,

Respectfulness, Enthusiasm and Support – in all activities and interactions with employees, service users and other stakeholders

Challenge the stigma associated with mental health and learning difficulties Comply with the Duty of Candour, defined by Francis as: ‘The volunteering of all relevant information to persons who have or may have been harmed by the provision of services, whether or not the information has been requested and whether or not a complaint or a report about that provision has been made’

Work across professional and organisational boundaries to improve services for all

Maintain their specific knowledge base and develop new skills Value the contribution of the patient/ service user voice

Operate within any organisational codes of practice or those from a relevant professional body Respect equality and diversity across all areas of working practice and communications with staff, service users and other stakeholders

Take responsibility for the accurate and timely collection and recording of data and ensuring all personally identifiable information is protected and used only for the purposes for which it was intended Comply with all health and safety legislation and local policies and procedures Adhere to all organisational policies.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TENURE

Non-executive directors are usually appointed for an initial period of three years by the Council of Governors, subject to satisfactory appraisal and subject to the ability of the Council of Governors to remove a non-executive director from post in accordance with the provisions of the Trust’s constitution. Non-executive directors are eligible for re-appointment at the end of their term of office, subject to the approval of the Council of Governors, but where their total term in office would exceed six years, any such term in office in excess of six years must be subject to annual review and re-appointment by the Council. Non-executive directors would not ordinarily be permitted to serve a term in office for more than nine years. The applicant must be a member of the public constituency or service user/carer constituency of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust’s membership. Membership of neither constituency, or being a member of the staff constituency, will disqualify any applicant. The Trust’s constitution also sets out further disqualification criteria applicable to all directors of the Trust.

Additional terms will be considered, but only in accordance with the Constitution and subject to approval by the Council of Governors, subject to annual reappointment to a maximum of nine years.

DISQUALIFICATION AND ‘FIT AND PROPER’

An “unfit person” is defined as:

a. an individual who:

has been adjudged bankrupt or whose estate has been sequestrated and (in either case) has not been discharged; or b. has made a composition or arrangement with, or granted a trust deed for, his creditors and has not been discharged in respect of it; or within the preceding five years has been convicted in the British Islands of any offence and a sentence of imprisonment (whether suspended or not) for a period of not less than three months (without the option of a fine) was imposed on him; or who is subject to an unexpired disqualification order made under the Company Directors’ Disqualification Act 1986; or a body corporate, or a body corporate with a parent body corporate: where one or more of the directors of the body corporate or of its parent body corporate is an unfit person under the provisions of sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph, or in relation to which a voluntary arrangement is proposed under section 1 of the Insolvency Act 1986, or which has a receiver (including an administrative receiver within the meaning of section 29(2) of the 1986 Act) appointed for the whole or any material part of its assets or undertaking, or

which has an administrator appointed to manage its affairs, business and property in accordance with Schedule

B1 to the 1986 Act, or which passes any resolution for winding up, or which becomes subject to an order of a

Court for winding up. As referred to above, there are certain criteria, set out within the Trust’s constitution, that disqualify an applicant from holding a non-executive director post. If shortlisted for interview, you will be asked to sign a declaration form to confirm that you are not disqualified from being a non-executive director under any of the constitution’s provisions. There is also a requirement imposed by regulations that the directors of the Trust are ‘fit and proper persons’. An applicant who is deemed by the Trust to be ‘unfit’ in accordance with the regulations cannot be appointed. If shortlisted for interview, the Trust will need to obtain certain information from you and about you in order to determine whether you are deemed ‘fit and proper’. You will be asked to sign a declaration form to confirm that you are not aware of anything that may cause you to be considered ‘unfit’ in accordance with the criteria set out in the regulations.