Healthcare Lawyer

at  NHS England

We are looking for a Healthcare Lawyer to join the Legal Team. The Legal Team is a part of NHS England’s Delivery Directorate and provides legal advice, support and expertise to the whole organisation to promote good decision making, controls and accountability to Parliament and to deliver better outcomes for patients. We provide an accessible, high quality legal service that enables NHS England to comply with the law, manage legal risk, make effective decisions and demonstrate itself as being a well-run leader of the NHS. The team is made up of a number of sub/mini teams known as Domains, each specialising in a particular area of law. This role sits within one of the Public Law domains.
The Healthcare Lawyer is a key member of the Corporate & Medicines domain, reporting into the Head of Public Law: Corporate & Medicines.
The role of the Healthcare Lawyer is to support the Team in ensuring NHS England is a legally compliant organisation to advise upon and manage all aspects of legal risk and to make sure NHS England makes the most effective use of its legal powers for the benefit of patients.
You will provide advice on the underpinning legislation for NHS England and other applicable law, including advice to senior decision makers often personally and at pace, as well as maintaining and improving an agile advice service for others in the organisation. This frequently means having a fast, solutions focus, the ability to articulate risk and the provision of advice that facilitates informed and efficient decision making.
Candidates will also need a high degree of resilience, the ability to work on sensitive matters with diplomacy and discretion and highly developed communication skills that enable the delivery of accurate, concise and facilitative advice to the organisation. The abilities to prioritise effectively, despite multiple competing deadlines and to work without supervision analysing facts, applying the law and conveying advice in a concise and accessible way are key skills required for this role. You will need to build good relationships with others in the team, the rest of the organisation and external lawyers, working with the rest of the Domains to ensure the team is joined up and risks are escalated appropriately.
The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, we will achieve this purpose by:
Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
Delivering value for money.
If you would like to know more or require further information, please visit https://www.england.nhs.uk/.
Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.
The NHS is committed to building an inclusive personal, fair and diverse health and care system and a workplace where belonging, equity, diversity and inclusion are treasured. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds.
The main duties and responsibilities of the role are set out in the Job Description which includes the required and desirable criteria for the role. Please familiarise yourself with this document before applying.
Candidates for the role must have significant experience of advising in or for the public sector across one or more relevant areas of legal practice, including public law, and evidence of post qualifying and continuing professional development.
The post holder will need the ability to advise on public law in a health setting and to provide senior decision makers with pragmatic, facilitative advice at pace in the context of NHS England’s legal landscape. The Public Law domains advise on public and health care law, including the exercise of NHS England statutory functions and duties, across a range of different areas. In particular, the Public Law: Corporate & Medicines Domain undertakes a wide range of legal work in relation to NHS England’s internal governance, its general statutory functions, finance (including the NHS Payment Scheme), Emergency Preparedness (EPRR) functions and advice to the Medicines Value and Access (MVA) team which facilitates the purchasing of medicines across the NHS. Candidates will need to demonstrate they have, or are able to develop rapidly, an understanding of the legal framework within which NHS England operates and an understanding of more than one of the domain’s areas of work [FP1] . In addition to public law experience, some knowledge and experience of contracts and public procurement would be an advantage (but not essential) as we support MVA medicines procurement.
The large volume and breadth of legal advice provided by the Legal Team means the postholder will need to work dynamically and at pace, delivering against competing priorities and deadlines, ensuring the Head of domain is kept informed of new, key or high-risk matters. The post holder will need to maintain high levels of accuracy whilst working to tight and often changing timescales, and plan and deliver legal projects and services on time.
The post holder will have oversight of their portfolio of work within the domain and be responsible for: outsourcing as well as providing legal advice personally; managing external legal advice and firms; meeting domain reporting requirements; securing the collation of domain data via our case management system to ensure quality and value for money legal advice.
The post holder will support the Head of Public Law: Corporate & Medicines to lead the domain and work with them to assure the Deputy Director of Legal of the smooth running of the domain, escalating legal risk and domain issues swiftly and effectively and supporting the Head to deliver domain and wider team objectives and deliverables.
The post holder will need to work well with, and learn from, others in the domain, the wider team, the wider organisation, external firms and others outside the organisation who we work with. The post holder will be a positive, supportive member of the domain and wider team, contributing to wider team projects and deliverables as required. The post holder will have a commitment to quality and the promotion of high standards in all they do. They will demonstrate self-awareness and consistently look to improve their work, seek and welcome constructive feedback and actively develop themselves with the support of their line manager

Please refer the Job description for details