Paul Woods

I have worked in the health and social care field for over 10 years; this includes a few roles within GP surgeries through Shared Care Schemes in Coventry and Birmingham. I used the systems and liaised with the medical and non-medical staff. In the past I have used EMIS and ACCURX, I am very confident in quickly learning new and updated versions or different versions of software as I am highly IT proficient.

In the different roles I have undertaken and including the education I have received I have developed a strong level of communication, whether this is communicating with senior managers, writing performance and quality reports, briefing my team verbally each day, chairing meetings, dealing with irate patients or challenging staff members. It's quite commonplace working in the substance misuse services dealing with agitated, angry and frustrated people!

I'm skilled in motivating people, having developed talking therapy skills such as 'Motivational Interviewing', this is a great skill which was developed for substance misuse treatment and is transferable into all walks of life. I'm also proficient in the use of coaching frameworks such as GROW (Goal, Reality, Option, Will) and OSCAR (Outcome, Situation, Choice, Action, Review) amongst several others which enable me to have really powerful conversations with staff to maximise their motivation and development. In addition, communicating with stakeholders; a stakeholder communication plan is useful.

In terms of organisational skills, I like to employ the Eisenhower Matrix in most situations to ensure I get the jobs that need doing done in a timely manner but also considering the future needs of the business. The matrix enables me to establish quickly when tasks need to be done; I'll use this matrix alongside technology such as Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft to-do to ensure tasks are scheduled, they have reminders and are visible at a glance.

In my current role I have managed a team through the pandemic and subsequent lockdown which was a massive challenge but one I took in my stride. The constantly evolving and unprecedented situation meant that I was having to keep up with changing guidelines and legislation and policy updates.

It was also during this time that I completely redesigned our face-to-face structured group programme to make it accessible for as many people as possible by offering them online via zoom and Microsoft teams. It required streamlining the content to make it succinct and had to be digitally formatted as it was initially all paper based. Our entire group programme was set up and running smoothly online within 2 weeks of the first lockdown. It was alongside this that I was also responsible for the prescribing side of the service which includes prescription security and generation of our weekly batch runs. I developed a programme using Microsoft excel to automate this entire process at the click of a button, whilst ensuring the accuracy of the process. This resulted in savings of thousands of pounds for both the Coventry and Warwickshire services. It was this and the online migration of our groups that led to me winning the Digital Innovation award at Coventry City council's health and well-being awards.

I am a valued contributor to the service and offer my opinions, in management meetings and offer innovative ideas to help further develop the service we offer. I often chair meetings, taking minutes and distribute them to the relevant recipients. I liaise with other services and share as well as take on best practice whilst keeping up with the latest developments in the field like developments in research, health care policy and law changes.

In my current role I manage a group of 12, including substance misuse workers, administration staff, volunteers and prescribing clerks so I am confident in my ability to line manage people within a wide range of roles. At the moment I make use of a tool called the Service Quality Improvement Plan which I use to monitor and evaluate the performance of my team against the objectives of the service ad organisation. The objectives contain the vision of the service and SMART goals for the delivery of them. I use this in team meetings and one to one reviews so that we can review it on a team and an individual level. I also use this to keep my own service manager up to date on the progress of the service. I also work closely with staff in payroll and Human Resources to ensure staff are paid appropriately and any staffing or performance issues are dealt with in the best way. The IT team is a department I work closely with to ensure all staff members have the required equipment and software access to be able to complete their objectives effectively.

In addition to working closely with peers and managers within the service I am also confident liaising with other services and outside agencies. I network with external partners to make mutually beneficial contacts for the future. In my time at CGL I have worked alongside GP practices, The GP Alliance, pharmacies, Coventry and Warwickshire Mind, the police, the rough sleepers team. I have also built up a good working relationship with the liaison teams at the hospital because we have a lot of mutual patients and people who are discharged with controlled drug prescriptions which needs a high level of continuity to ensure patient safety. I also work with contractors such as printers and couriers and have been responsible for the costings of this.

A part of my role is to ensure the day to day running of the service and distribution of staff; do we have enough clinic workers, reception staff, duty workers and prescribers in, how we respond to sickness and other absences. Most of the work around this is done in advance through resource planning but inevitably there are times where it doesn't go to plan and I need to respond accordingly. I assess the situation based on the needs of the business and any risk identified and ensure an equitable plan is put in place quickly.

Each month I review staff expenses through an online system; I also review our service credit expenditure monthly and ensure it remains in line with the target. I monitor our petty cash daily, ensuring adequate supply and appropriate usage. I have systems in place to ensure this is done effectively and all is recorded accurately. In addition, I review agency worker timesheets and upload information for payment to ensure we are paying accurately and in a timely manner. I review invoices for the services from suppliers or couriers and ensure these are submitted to payroll for payment in a timely manner. I order the service stationary and ensure it's in line with monthly budgets; we currently use a set supplier for stationary which is dictated by head office, but I always look for cheaper alternatives using places like Amazon.

I've had previous experience with cashflow in my role as a deputy manager for Currys & PC World; I would reconcile all tills every night (which contained thousands or pounds) and ensure this was all recorded, bagged and secured into our safe. I liaised with financial collection services to ensure this was collected in a timely manner to minimise any risk of loss in the event of a break-in or fire. I also managed our profit and loss report on a weekly basis, this included any losses or additions in a weekly stock take which would need individually investigating to establish the reasoning and then tightening of security protocols if necessary. It would also mean investigating any discrepancies in cashflow or reviewing any abnormalities such as large sudden expenses or peaks and troughs in staff payments. The end goal of the profit and loss statement was to make a profit by minimising any expenses (negotiating down or finding alternative stationary costings, fixtures costings, courier etc…) and maximising profits (promoting higher margin products for sale or increasing revenue streams by encouraging suppliers to rent space).

In my current role maximising revenue streams by seeking out grants for the service delivery, to expand into other areas or hone particular parts. A recent example of a grant I was successful in paid for the supplies for an Art Group, as well as another one which paid for bicycles which were given to service users. Maximising revenues also and most importantly means hitting targets; for instance the percentage of service users with successful outcomes, the amount of numbers in treatment and representations. These are our main targets which have different levels of ‘payment by results' set for them; achieve the highest target and get the most money. We also have more specific targets like micro-elimination of Hepatitis C, which involves ensuring that all our service users have been tested and treated, and then retested within a year. There are lots of projects we currently work towards to deliver extra revenue for the service.

I would also reconcile timesheets for all staff and ensure the accurate recording of holidays, sickness and other absences.

I oversee the recruitment of my own team at CGL; this involves identifying the need for the role and having this signed off by our Service Manager and Director. Once this has been completed, I will ensure we have an accurate job description, if we do not, I develop one in conjunction with our HR officer who signs off on the job description. We'll then go out to advert for a set period with pre-agreed interview panel and dates. I'll shortlist the suitable candidates and offer interviews, and once we've offered a position, we will ensure they have the right to work, DBS checks and references are completed to ensure the future employee is fit and proper.

I'll then start the onboarding process; ensuring a suitable induction has been developed, equipment is in place, any reasonable adjustments have been considered and implemented where necessary. I'll also ensure the access rights to any necessary programmes have been setup (computer logins) and any training needs have been organised prior to the start date to ensure a robust induction. We'll review and monitor the initial performance in weekly meetings throughout the induction period too ensuring all requirements are being completed in a timely manner and on track with the plan.

There are lots of different processes within my service and these are regularly reviewed during monthly governance meetings and incident panels where any learning has been identified. Once any updates or changes have been discussed, they will be signed off by the service manager.

As part of my daily tasks I am responsible for Health and Safety. This means ensuring all health and safety checks are completed; for example the emergency lighting, legionella checks on the taps, fire safety, safety signage is clear (first aiders and fire wardens or emergency evacuation plans) and COSHH standards are maintained. I use a daily, weekly and monthly check to ensure all points are maintained as appropriate. The daily check will be simple things like windows and doors are closed and locked, safe has been locked and any entry has been recorded and witnessed. The weekly checks will look out for issues such as the emergency lighting, the fire alarm and panic alarms are functioning correctly and ensure that action is taken to rectify any of these issues. We'll also review fridge temperatures for our Hepatitis & Flu Vaccinations as well as our Naloxone supply. I've been in a position before where we almost had to cancel a vaccination event due to the fridge failing overnight, I sourced resources from other local services quickly to ensure this wasn't cancelled though. As part of the health and safety we'll also have a contingency plan in the event of any issues happening (bad weather protocols, skeleton staffing procedure, no prescribers procedure) which will include what specific actions need to be taken, contact details for anyone who may need to be contacted (including all staff), this will always be in an accessible place for all staff. The daily checks will also include the review and maintenance of medical equipment such as blood pressure monitors, breathalysers, blood sugar monitors, ECG machines and others.

As part of the more infrequent (monthly/bi-monthly) checks, I'll review things like liability and building insurance to ensure we're up to date and make sure I'm on top of any upcoming updates need; also things like our license to play the radio in the building, or TV licencing requirements.

I'll also review the stock/equipment such as our needle exchange and stationary supplies, to ensure we always have the adequate amounts of the appropriate supplies. I liaise with cleaning companies to ensure the adequate maintenance of the office and the security company who look after the building alarm. I'll also liaise with facilities services to ensure the upkeep of the building and surrounding area.

I currently oversee the repeat prescribing system in our Coventry office which deals with 1500 controlled drug prescriptions on a fortnightly basis. This involves the generation of the prescriptions, the accurate logging of prescriptions and efficient /secure delivery to the pharmacies as we do not have electronic prescriptions. As we use blue FP10 prescriptions mostly we have robust practices in place to ensure the monitoring of them which includes weekly stock checks of the controlled stationary, secure signing in processes and safe management processes.

It's imperative that our service is developed and run in-line with government legislation and guidance; current guidance comes from multiple areas like NHS England, Caroline Black (who has recently supported the funding of the drug services in England), local commissioner targets and expectations.

All our service users go through a registration process which includes the behavioural policy and expectations they can have with the service as well as our expectations of them. We often have aggressive service users present but I've been trained in de-escalation and I'm very confident in defusing any conflict before it becomes a conflict. Most of the time it's a case of listening to the issue with empathy and taking action where possible, keeping the patient at the heart of your decision making, but also ensuring that any clinical decisions are made by the appropriate person.

As part of my role as a Team Leader I've also organised community forums for service users to give feedback on the service (generally these are agenda driven with communications about the service and feedback requested on upcoming changes, I also open the floor up to general feedback). I often target specific areas such as ‘new into service', ‘HEP C positive', ‘frequent flyers' and set agendas specific to them to gather more specific and tailored feedback. In addition I setup simple forms using Microsoft Forms for service users to give us feedback whether they want to do it anonymously or identify themselves, it's up to them. The forms are sent out via text message to all service users periodically, we have posters up in our service with QR Codes where they can scan with their phone and it'll take them to the form and we also use social media to develop a community presence and garner feedback. All of this I have setup in our service.

I'm very experienced in IT; I'm confident in teaching the use of IT applications and supporting staff to develop their IT skills and ensuring any competency issues are reflected in their training plans. I'm confident in staying on top of any new developments that are related to the service I'm in. I'm the marketing and IT lead for our service which means I am the go-to for any technical issues such as printing or computing. I have an interest in graphic and website design and development, as well as general computing outside of my working life, following my studies after leaving school. I'd be more than comfortable not only maintaining websites, but I'd also be keen to develop them to make them more accessible and useful. I'd also be keen to do the same with social media as it's one of the best ways to get local advertisement. I currently manage our local Whitley Juniors U9 football team and have used social media to build a new team from scratch in the last month. I've also used it to develop other areas of the Whitley Juniors Club which has gradually built up over the last month, it shows how quickly social media can develop interest and make a service much more accessible.

I have a good understanding of data security and backup; I'm also confident in liaising with IT services to ensure issues out of my control are sorted promptly.

In my current role as a Team Leader I have a focus on data entry and accuracy; we have a policy of any contact with service users/patients being recorded within 24 hours of the contact. I audit this to ensure this standard has been adhered to using reporting tools. I also take part in regular data cleansing exercises whereby someone may record a service user as a safeguarding risk, when in fact they aren't, so I set the task of the this being rectified with the worker. Other things such as an Opiate user being recorded as an Alcohol user, these little inaccuracies have big impacts on our payments as it doesn't represent accurate numbers in treatment for each cohort of service user.