Job summary
- Main area
- Communications
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 5
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (plus on call rota)
- Job ref
- 361-6888442
- Employer
- East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Lister Hospital
- Town
- Stevenage
- Salary
- £29,970 - £36,483 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 26/01/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Communications and Engagement Officer
NHS AfC: Band 5
Here at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust,
Our mission is:
Providing high-quality, compassionate care for our communities
Our vision to 2030 is:
To be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service
Job overview
We are recruiting for a Communications and Engagement Officer who shares our vision to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service to our patients.
Working at the heart of NHS, our communications really matter. We make sure our 6,000 staff have the information they need to do their job and care for patients, and we keep the public and community updated on how to access our services.
In this role, you will be key in organising communications tasks such as article drafting, social media content creation, photography and coming up with ideas to help us continue to provide a great service for our patients, staff and the community that we serve.
We are on the hunt for a skilled and enthusiastic individual who strives in a fast-paced environment, has excellent communications skills and can handle the busy nature and multiple priorities that are thrown our way. Experience in a previous communications role, ideally in a large organisation is essential.
While this role will focus on supporting external communications activity (press, social media and the website) you will be working across a broad portfolio of work and will need the skills and motivation to combine all communications disciplines, with support from the wider team.
At the heart of everything we do are our core values: Include, Respect, and Improve. We encourage you to embrace these values throughout the recruitment process and in your role with us.
Main duties of the job
Support the communications, engagement and media manager in responding to a wide range of media enquiries promptly and professionally, liaising with colleagues to produce media statements, setting up interviews with and briefing appropriate Trust staff, and overseeing filming on site
· Support the team with timely, accurate and engaging digital and traditional communications through social media platforms, the Trust website and intranet, along with other internal and external communication channels, utilising new, innovative content to engage our audiences
· Develop and be responsible for the management of a media log – tracking all proactive and reactive media activity to ensure a timely response to enquiries, where relevant working with the executive board to develop approved media lines
· Be responsible for providing the communications team and the Trust’s executive board with regular media monitoring, capturing where the trust and its hospitals feature in local, regional and national media.
· Dealing with ad-hoc requests from colleagues for advice on communications, ensuring documents follow the ENH house style, keeping accessibility at the forefront of all activity
· Partake in our on-call rota schedule
· Assist in the planning of events and visits
· Any other tasks to help with the work of the communications function
Working for our organisation
At East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, we are proud of the range of general and specialist services we provide and our 6,000 or so dedicated staff ensure our patients get the best care. Our ability to be flexible and innovative in the way in which we work and deliver our services to our catchment has never been more important than it is now.
We run the following hospitals:
- The Lister Hospital, Stevenage
- New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII), Welwyn Garden City
- Hertford County, Hertford
- Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC), Northwood
We have ambitious plans to become an outstanding, patient-led Trust where dedicated staff provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients. We continue to undergo significant transformation and our staff and patients are at the heart of delivering this ambitious agenda.
We are committed to a positive work life balance for our employees. This means that any employee is entitled to seek to work flexible working patterns and we are committed to listen and consider all requests. Such requests, of course, have to be made and considered formally, and will need to be balanced against service needs, but our starting point will always be to find ways to support making them happen.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification applicant pack for further detailed information regarding this role.
Person specification
Qualifications / Training
Essential criteria
- Educated to degree level in PR, marketing, journalism or similar
- Experienced in communications, marketing, or journalism
Desirable criteria
- A member of the CIPR/CIM or equivalent
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
- Demonstrate experience working in a busy communications team, press office, marketing team, or news desk
- Evident knowledge and understanding of communications methods
- Working in a creative team
- Handling media enquiries
- Experience of using social media management tools and ability to use analytics to plan, evaluate and inform communication strategies
- Experience of working with external agencies
- Providing specialist communications advice to staff at all levels
- Leading communications projects
Desirable criteria
- Experience of assessing creative quality and advising on effectiveness of communication materials, prioritising accessibility
- Experience working with email marketing platforms
- Managed a campaign or project from start to finish
- Experience of organizing events
- Experience of working with external agencies such as design or events management companies
- Experience of working with non-profit/charitable organisations and delivering collaborative communication and engagement projects with partners
Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent copywriting and presentation skills
- Ability to quickly spot a newsworthy story or potential negative issue
- Ability to use strong judgement to identify and respond to reputational issues
- Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines
- Strong time management and ability to prioritise work while managing competing deadlines
- Ability to use own initiative
- Ability to manage highly complex and sensitive information
- Strong attention to detail and ability to proofread effectively
- Excellent organisational skills and customer service
- Strong planning skills and ability to manage complex campaigns
- Excellent people skills
- Experience of content management systems (CMS)
- Competent IT skills – experience using Microsoft Office suite
- Basic design skills – ability to recognise and follow brand guidance
Desirable criteria
- Videography and editing skills
- Knowledge of NHS or alternative public sector communications
- Experience working as part of an on-call Rota
- Knowledge of desktop publishing packages and HTML
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Shane Spence
- Job title
- Deputy Head of Communication and Engagement
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07825 113 126
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