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Job summary

Main area
Communications Officer
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 6
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
278-CO-0224-SBW
Employer
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Nexus House
Town
Crawley
Salary
£35,392 - £42,618 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
Today at 23:59

Employer heading

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust logo

Communications Officer - Surrey

NHS AfC: Band 6

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has a vision to ‘support our staff to provide a caring, high quality and efficient urgent and emergency care service to our communities’. We are rated ‘Good’ for care by the Care Quality Commission and while the other areas under their most recent report require improvement, our aim is to continually improve and to reach outstanding across all areas of the Trust.

Our 4,000+ workforce provide services to 4.9m people across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire. We handle over 1 million calls to 999 and 1 million calls to NHS 111 every year. More information regarding our services and locations can be found on our website.

Job overview

We're looking for a fantastic communications specialist to join our busy Corporate Communications Team and help us to tell our story!

As a communications officer you will be an enthusiastic communicator, with a nose for a good story, passion for great content, flair for making connections and solid experience of proactive and reactive media management.

You will provide credible communications advice and influence across the organisation and to a senior level of the Trust when managing complex and challenging issues and to tight deadlines.

Keen to learn and develop new ways of communicating, you will need to be willing to get creative in developing social media posts using graphic design and videos to deliver our messages.

As an integral member of our Corporate Communications Team, you will be responsible for delivering day to day communication requirements both internally and externally.

Main duties of the job

The role includes creating, implementing, and evaluating communication plans as well as being responsible for routine media enquiries, composing written and creating digital content material across all Trust communications channels and mechanisms, as well as supporting the delivery of internal and external campaigns and other major communications projects.

 The role will also be aligned to work closely with the operational teams in either Surrey or Sussex to support and improve local communication, as well as identifying positive local opportunities for wider sharing.

The post holder will be responsible for:

  • ·       Supporting the delivery of the Trust’s Communications & Engagement Strategy
  • ·       Developing, managing and delivering effective internal and external communications through the Trust’s various communication channels
  • ·       Supporting local management teams in their area, to improve local communications and identifying local opportunities to positively enhance the Trust’s reputation
  • ·       Representing the Trust’s Communications Team in providing credible communication expertise at external and internal meetings as well liaising directly with patients and service users for the purpose of promoting the work of the Trust. Therefore, the postholder will need to be willing to travel to other locations and have a full driving licence.

Working for our organisation

  • NHS employees will be eligible to join the NHS Pension Scheme
  • A minimum 27 days' holiday each year, increasing with service.
  • Personal and professional development and training opportunities.
  • Salary Sacrifice schemes for cars or push bikes.
  • Access to our award-winning Wellbeing services 
  • Access to occupational health and counselling services.
  • Access to NHS discounts, offering NHS employees a range of money-saving deals.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You will need:

  • ·       A relevant degree and/or latest 18 months previous experience in a relevant field as such journalism or public relations
  • ·       Good news sense to be able to develop positive news about our Trust
  • ·       Sound understanding of graphic design and video editing tools such as Canva or Adobe Creative Suite or Final Cut Pro
  • ·       Good basic photography skills
  • ·       Full driving licence

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Educated to degree level in a related area (communications, marketing, PR or journalism), or equivalent training and experience gained in a communications/marketing environment to post grad diploma level, or equivalent training and experience.
  • A valid Driving Licence

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • • Excellent knowledge of communications and PR techniques and procedures and an interest in the PR and communications profession and best practice

Experience

Essential criteria
  • • Significant experience of producing a wide range of written information tailored to different audiences and communications channels, which adhere to brand guidelines and best practice

Experience

Essential criteria
  • • Significant experience of working with the media

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Highly developed spoken and written English and ability to identify and develop news stories

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Veteran AwareAge positiveInvestors in People: GoldImproving working livesArmed Forces Covenant (Silver Award)Mindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerThe Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei) is the UK's leading employer network covering all aspects of equality and inclusion issues in the workplace.Care Quality Commission - Requires improvementStep into healthEmployers Network for Equality & InclusionArmed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

This post will require a submission for Disclosure to be made to check for any unspent criminal convictions.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Liz
Job title
Spiers
Email address
[email protected]
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