North of Scotland Placements

North of Scotland Region is looking for one General Management Trainee for the 2025 Cohort.

North of Scotland Region

Information about the North of Scotland

The summary highlights common challenges faced by healthcare services, particularly in rural and remote areas:

Resource Constraints: There is a lack of resources across regions, requiring healthcare providers to do more with less, which impacts the quality of services and leads to financial challenges.

Recruitment Issues: Difficulty in recruiting to vacant or specialist posts is widespread. While the nursing pipeline is currently stable, future recruitment may be affected, particularly in regions like the Highlands and Islands.

Staff Retention: Lower motivation, job satisfaction, and early retirements are becoming more common, exacerbating staffing issues.

Geographical Challenges: Remote and rural locations, such as the Western Isles and Orkney, face additional challenges due to high travel costs, lack of housing, and the expense of accessing mainland Scotland, which further complicates staff recruitment and retention.

Financial Climate: The bleak financial situation is similar to other NHS boards, with ongoing work focused on addressing recruitment and resource allocation, though this remains a work in progress.

Local Infrastructure: Travel difficulties, high costs of living, and childcare access are local challenges that further hinder recruitment and service delivery in rural areas.

Overall, financial pressures, recruitment difficulties, and geographical constraints are creating significant challenges for delivering healthcare services in these regions. The Trainee would experience the challenges that all boards in Scotland are currently facing and the exciting work that Boards are undertaking to tackle these challenges. The Trainee has an opportunity to influence change, build relationships between the Boards and have a positive impact on healthcare delivery.

Currently all Health Boards are in the process of creating a Talent Management Strategy that will incorporate Succession Planning, this will be a key priority and having a trainee will fully support nurturing talent in our Boards.

With the current challenge all NHS Boards are experiencing, and the Annual Delivery Plan for each of the Regions to address these challenges, this will have the opportunity for cross border working and an opportunity to contribute to national work. The Trainee will be exposed to different teams, departments, directorates, boards and cultures.

Regional arrangements

Lead Board: NHS Tayside

A designated host Board. Provides a Placement Coordinator, who is the key point of contact for the trainee in the region, working closely with the national Scheme Manager.

Other Participating Board(s) providing placement opportunities for the trainee during the Scheme: NHS Grampian; NHS Highland; NHS Orkney; NHS Shetland; NHS Western Isles

Induction

The 3-month Leadership & Management Induction Programme will be within the People and Culture Directorate in NHS Tayside. This will cover:

The organisation Values and Culture

People and Culture Directorate

Introduction to the Annual Delivery Plan (ADP)

Introduction to the North Region Boards and the key contacts

Leadership and Management Induction programme

Regional Projects aligned with the ADP

The Trainee will gain:

Exposure to NHS Tayside ADP

Exposure to Regional Projects aligned with the ADP

Introduction to key contacts including Placement Coordinator, Buddy, Mentor, Sponsor, line manager and Regional partners involved in the MTS

North of Scotland Planning

Mandatory/Statutory Training

Learning Opportunities such as Leadership and Management Programmes

Management Trainee posts

We offer distinct characteristics and opportunities for the Trainee across various NHS Boards in North of Scotland, who will be based in the People and Culture Directorate in NHS Tayside.

The Year 1 experience includes three months in each of the selected Boards. This provides the Trainee an opportunity to work across the North Region, with an exposure to different Directorates and roles, regarding National Projects linking the Annual Delivery Plan for the North Region:

NHS Tayside: Serving both city and rural populations with areas of affluence and deprivation, Tayside offers a wide range of healthcare experiences. It operates three Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) in Dundee, Angus, and Perth and is a teaching hospital, providing exposure to diverse healthcare settings.

NHS Grampian: Like Tayside, Grampian covers both urban and rural areas with varied socioeconomic populations. It includes three distinct HSCPs and serves as both, a teaching hospital and a tertiary centre. Additionally, Grampian provides services to Orkney and Shetland and collaborates with NHS Highland on cross-board services.

NHS Western Isles: A remote and rural setting, offering unique opportunities for candidates to work across the island chain’s healthcare settings and HSCPs. The islands also provide a positive work-life balance.

NHS Shetland: As a remote and rural location, Shetland offers candidates the chance to gain broad experience across diverse professional activities. Its small size promotes integrated and multidisciplinary working within the NHS and across local authorities and third-sector partners.

NHS Highland: Its remote, rural, and island geography provides unique opportunities, including working across board boundaries with NHS Grampian or Western Isles. NHS Highland also offers experience in managing significant change programs and navigating different styles of HSCPs.

NHS Orkney: Like other island regions, Orkney’s remote and rural setting presents unique healthcare opportunities for candidates.

In all Boards, candidates can gain varied experiences across healthcare settings, work on cross-board initiatives, and enjoy a strong work-life balance.

Year 2 will give an opportunity for a three-month elective with key partners, such as HSCPs or other public sector organisations that have key objectives against the Annual Delivery Plan. This will ensure that the training programme covers both Health and Social Care.

The Annual Delivery Plan (ADP) for all Boards in the North Region is a comprehensive programme of change aimed at implementing our Health and Care Delivery Plan 2024-2027 and supporting the long-term Strategy for each Board.

Key aspects of ADP include:

Whole System Working: This initiative addresses challenges posed by Scotland's aging population by reallocating resources towards community-based and preventative care, emphasising care at home or in a homely setting.

Integration Authorities (IAs): Mandated by the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014, facilitate collaboration between councils and NHS Boards to integrate services effectively, ensuring timely and appropriate care delivery.

Portfolio Approach: ADP integrates pathways of care, moving away from segregated acute and primary care activities. This approach provides exposure across various healthcare settings, including urban, rural, affluent, and deprived areas, encompassing acute, primary care, and Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) activities.

Priority Areas: The programme focuses on Effective Partnership, Shifting Balance of Care, Urgent and Unscheduled Care, and Preventative and Proactive Care as core priorities.

Project Focus: Projects under ADP may involve digital initiatives, clinical governance, or workforce initiatives, tailored to complement the formal ADP activities and agreed upon collaboratively by individuals, placement managers, and local leads.

Overall, ADP aims to enhance healthcare delivery through collaborative reform, ensuring that services are integrated, accessible, and responsive to community needs.

Our thinking is that the Trainee will have an opportunity in Year 1 to experience a selection of boards in the North Region with NHS Tayside being the host board. In Year 2 the trainee will have an opportunity to work with our HSCP partners, deciding where best to place themselves due to the nature of the work and the national projects around the Annual Delivery Plan.

Trainee support

NHS Tayside will provide an Executive Sponsor: Director of People and Culture; Placement Co-ordinator: Organisational Development Lead Leadership and Management; Placement Line Manager: Associate Director Culture, Development and Talent Management; Mentor: Talent, Learning and Development Lead; and a Buddy.

The learning and development opportunities would be determined by the line manager, Placement Coordinator, and the lead from each of the specific areas. Trainee will have development needs identified, and a plan put in place.

The summary outlines development opportunities across NHS regions, focusing on leadership and management growth:

Needs-Led Approach: Development opportunities will be tailored to complement formal Annual Delivery Plan (ADP) or Management Development Plan (MDP) activities. These will be determined in collaboration between the individual, their placement manager, and the local lead.

Leadership and Management Development: NHS Tayside and NHS Highland are currently reviewing their leadership and management development frameworks, with a focus on creating courses for first-time or frontline managers. This review also includes succession planning and identifying high-potential candidates.

70:20:10 Approach: Development is likely to follow the 70:20:10 model, where 70% of learning comes from hands-on experience, 20% from mentoring and feedback, and 10% from formal courses. This approach emphasises gaining wider exposure across the healthcare system, rather than relying solely on formal training.

Operational Leadership and Executive Exposure: Where possible, individuals may gain experience in operational leadership roles and have opportunities to attend executive director decision-making meetings.
The local and Regional Programmes to support the Trainee's development against the leadership Capabilities include:

o Self-management

o Inspiring

o Collaboration

o Team Building

o Empowerment

o Change Management

o Decision Making

o HR

o Wellbeing

o Peer Support

· Business Coaching

· Mentoring

Overall, development opportunities will focus on practical, system-wide exposure and leadership training, with formal frameworks currently under review.

Year 3

A substantive 12-month post in the North of Scotland Region.

The Health Board options include Grampian, Highlands, Shetland, and Tayside – choice depending on the Trainee preference. The recommendation is that they would have either 6-month placements in two participating Health Boards or 4-month placements in three participating Health Boards. The length of the placements would be guided by the project requirements at the time.