Job summary

The Lead Costing and Productivity Accountant has significant financial reporting responsibility. The role helps lead the costing function, in particular the processing, analysis and interpretation of the Group's income and costs for national mandatory returns, internal reporting and strategic decision-making. It covers patient-level costing, service line reporting and benchmarking, and ensures that costing intelligence is used to inform productivity analysis and improvement. The role does not hold responsibility for productivity reporting in its own right.

The post holder will develop robust costing information that enables the Group to understand the cost drivers underpinning productivity, identify opportunities and communicate meaningful costing insights to internal and external stakeholders.

They will influence and support senior managers, finance colleagues and clinicians to use costing data effectively for performance management, business analysis, benchmarking and decision-making.

The role will improve the use of data and digital tools across Group Finance, including Power BI reporting and visualisation, to strengthen costing analysis, benchmarking and the use of costing information to identify and assess productivity opportunities.

Working with clinical and finance teams, the post holder will support the identification and clear communication of opportunities across the BSW Hospitals Group.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will lead the development and implementation of the Group's costing framework, ensuring that policies, methodologies, controls and governance arrangements are applied consistently across all organisations within the BSW Hospitals Group. They will provide expert interpretation of national guidance, oversee compliance with mandatory costing requirements and establish robust assurance processes to support the quality, integrity and auditability of costing information.

The role will be responsible for leading major costing programmes and coordinating activity across Finance, Informatics, operational services and external partners. This includes managing national costing submissions, overseeing the development and maintenance of costing systems, leading the implementation of new methodologies and digital solutions, and ensuring that data flows, processes and reporting arrangements remain effective, resilient and fit for purpose. The post holder will also represent the Group within regional and national costing networks and contribute to the development of best practice.

The post holder will provide professional leadership to the Costing team, including line management, workforce planning, performance management and staff development. They will build effective relationships with senior clinicians, managers and external stakeholders, provide specialist training and advice, lead change initiatives and support internal and external assurance reviews.

About us

We are proud to be part of BSW Hospitals Group - a formal partnership between Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust. With a combined workforce of over 17, 600 colleagues, and budget of 1.6 billion the Group is united by a common purpose to deliver the best possible care to over 1 million people.

We are creating a health and care system that works with the people we care for, reducing the differences people currently face in access, experience and outcomes, improving the experience of our colleagues and tackling shared challenges like sustainability and finances. Every improvement we make across our Group will be guided by what creates the greatest benefit for our colleagues, our patients, our communities and our partners.