London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Health & Wellbeing Strategic Lead
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About us
Tower Hamlets is strengthening early intervention and prevention for children, young people and families through Best Start Family Hubs, Children and Family Centres and wider partnership pathways. We are ambitious about improving outcomes, reducing inequalities and ensuring families receive the right support at the right time.
This senior role will bring together Council, Public Health, NHS, education, voluntary and community sector partners around a shared health and wellbeing programme, informed by evidence, population insight and the voices of families and communities.
The role
As the Health and Wellbeing Strategic Lead, you will be the senior strategic lead within Early Intervention and Prevention for improving health and wellbeing outcomes for pregnant women, babies, children, young people and families, and for reducing avoidable health inequalities.
You will translate Council and Public Health priorities into an integrated multi-agency programme. You will hold accountability for the Public Health Service Level Agreement, associated resources, delivery standards, quality, risk, performance, impact and value for money.
You will lead the Baby Feeding & Wellbeing Service and drive UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) accreditation within Children & Family Centres, embedding consistent practice, workforce development and high-quality engagement with parents and communities. A core part of the role is to use public health intelligence and JSNA priorities to shape strategy, translate research into practice, and manage budgets and performance so services meet agreed KPIs and deliver measurable impact.
Operating across organisational and professional boundaries, you will lead strategy, pathway redesign, partnership delivery and service improvement. You will provide managerial leadership to the Baby Feeding and Wellbeing Service through its Service Manager, lead the health and wellbeing contribution to Universal and Universal Plus delivery, and provide clear assurance and recommendations to senior leaders and commissioners.
What you will lead and deliver
- Set the strategic direction for the health and wellbeing portfolio across Early Intervention and Prevention, aligned with Council, Children’s Services, Public Health, Best Start Family Hubs and partnership priorities.
- Lead planning, delivery, performance and continuous improvement of the Public Health Service Level Agreement, including outcomes, milestones, risks, finance and assurance.
- Design and transform integrated prevention pathways across Universal, Universal Plus, Family Hubs, Children and Family Centres and community settings, with clear links to Family Help, Integrated MAST and specialist services.
- Use population health intelligence, Joint Strategic Needs Assessment evidence, service data, research and family insight to identify inequalities, forecast demand, target resources and recommend changes.
- Influence and secure delivery from Council, NHS, education, voluntary and community sector partners and commissioned providers where there is no direct managerial authority.
- Lead co-production and community engagement so that children, young people, parents, carers and communities shape strategy, delivery and evaluation.
- Provide strategic oversight of the Baby Feeding and Wellbeing Service and UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative activity, ensuring quality standards, accreditation requirements and commissioner expectations are met.
- Line manage the Baby Feeding and Wellbeing Service Manager and any other direct reports, and provide matrix leadership across partner and commissioned workstreams.
- Hold delegated accountability for the health and wellbeing service budget and Public Health SLA resources, including forecasting, financial assurance and value for money.
- Establish a clear outcomes and assurance framework covering reach, equity, quality, impact and value for money, supported by strong data quality, audit, evaluation and corrective action.
- Maintain oversight of safeguarding, consent, information sharing, professional boundaries, business continuity, risk and escalation arrangements across the portfolio.
- Provide authoritative briefings, reports and recommendations to senior managers, commissioners and partnership governance, including exception reporting on risk, finance, quality and performance.
- Maintain horizon scanning on legislation, national policy, public health evidence and system reform, and lead the service response to emerging requirements.
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About you
You will bring a strong combination of strategic leadership, public health knowledge, service transformation and partnership influence. You will be able to move confidently between evidence, strategy and delivery, while creating an inclusive, restorative and accountable culture.
- A master’s degree in Public Health or a related field, an equivalent health professional qualification such as RM or SCPHN, or demonstrable substantial experience of working at a senior level for five years or more.
- A good understanding of maternal, infant and early childhood health and wellbeing, Best Start Family Hubs, Universal and Universal Plus, Family Help, and relevant national and local policy.
- In-depth understanding of health inequalities, the wider determinants of health and evidence-based approaches to improving population health.
- Extensive experience of service management, development and integration, including staff leadership, professional oversight, supervision and workforce development.
- Advanced programme and project management skills, including benefits realisation, dependencies, governance, risk, finance, performance reporting and corrective action.
- Experience of using qualitative and quantitative evidence, research, health and social care data and community insight to inform decisions and improve services.
- The ability to influence across organisational boundaries, manage complex relationships and communicate sensitive information clearly and defensibly.
- Excellent written, presentation, engagement, training and mentoring skills, with the ability to communicate inclusively with different audiences.
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Our values
You will live the TOWER values in how you lead and work with others: Together, Open, Willing, Excellent and Respect. You will promote equality, value the diversity of our communities and support a culture of constructive challenge, learning, staff wellbeing and accountability.
Additional requirements
- Enhanced DBS check with both the Adult and Child Workforce Barred Lists.
- This post is not politically restricted.
- Travel allowance in accordance with Council policy.
- Duties may change over time and the postholder may be required to undertake other responsibilities commensurate with the grade.
Our benefits
- Local Government Pension Scheme membership.
- Generous annual leave: 29 days, rising to 33 days with five or more years’ service, plus bank holidays and three additional days at Christmas.
- Staff money-saving schemes, including rent deposit and season ticket loans.
- Learning and development opportunities through the Learning Academy, with career development and leadership pathways.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date where a sufficient number of high-quality applications is received. To support a fair and manageable selection process, we will ensure a reasonable application window is maintained. We therefore encourage candidates to apply as early as possible.
The vacancy will be closed once we have reached the maximum number of applications.
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