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Job summary

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) is an incredibly rewarding place to work, offering a working environment with an inclusive culture that looks after and values our people and creates a sense of belonging.

The Legal Services Team is responsible for a portfolio of clinical negligence and public/employer liability claims, Inquests and the provision of healthcare advice. The scope of the work is wide and the workload is busy making this a challenging but satisfying and rewarding role.

We are looking for a talented and enthusiastic individual to join our team as a paralegal and support our legal officers in the management of claims and Inquests. You will have excellent communication and time management skills and be able to work calmly and confidently under pressure.

The role requires collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders. The successful candidate will have a clear understanding of the Civil Procedure Rules and claims process and will undertake regular analysis and interpretation of complex information, contributing to the investigation and strategy for the resolution of individual claims, including providing feedback on lessons to be learned, making a positive impact to clinical governance and patient safety.

Main duties, tasks & skills required

The successful candidate will be responsible for the management of a caseload of employer/public liability claims including undertaking all preliminary investigations and advising on liability, ensuring that all claims are managed appropriately and efficiently and within required timescales and in accordance with the Civil Procedure Rules, NHS Resolution protocols and Trust policies/guidelines. The successful candidate will also support the team's legal officers in the management and investigation of complex clinical negligence claims and to a lesser extent will assist with the management of Inquests.

The role also involves providing advice and guidance on Trust policies relevant to claims management, coronial law and where appropriate to assist on healthcare related legal matters under the direction of the Senior Legal Officer and/or Head of Legal.

About us

We are recognised as one of the leading NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK. Our vision is to Build Healthier Lives, and we recognise that we need incredible staff to do this.

Our commitment to our staff is to create the best place for them to work, and we are dedicated to:

Investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff, including a commitment of offering flexible working where we can;
Offer our staff a wide variety of training and development opportunities, to support their personal and career development objectives.

UHB is committed to ensuring that our staff are treated fairly and feel that they belong, by creating a kind and inclusive environment. This is about equity of opportunity; removing all barriers, including discrimination and ensuring each individual member of staff reach their true potential, achieve their ambitions and thrive in their work. This is more than words. We are taking action. Our commitment to an inclusive culture is embedded at all levels of the organisation where every voice is heard, driven by our diverse and active staff networks, and at Board level by the Fairness Taskforce led by our CEO. We nurture a culture which empowers staff to challenge discriminatory behaviours and to enable people to bring their 'whole self' to a kinder, more connected and bold place to work.

Job description

*Please Note : For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description*

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to degree level or equivalent knowledge and experience gained through any combination of alternative study, employment, or voluntary work.

Experience

Essential

• Previous experience of claims management
• Knowledge of the Civil procedure rules and pre-action protocols
• Substantial experience of working in an office environment with conflicting pressures and changing workload
• Experience of working within a team and of developing strong working relationships with both internal and external stakeholders at all levels.

Desirable

• Experience of working within the NHS

Additional Criteria

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills with the ability to deal with all enquiries in a tactful, efficient and sympathetic manner.
• Strong workload organisation and management skills
• Problem solving ability and ability to gather, collate, analyse and present data/findings
• Ability to manage, prioritise and deliver a number of projects within timescales
• Ability to work well under pressure
• Ability to deal with frequent and unplanned or unexpected interruptions and consequent re-prioritisation of tasks.
• Able to demonstrate understanding of the Civil Procedure Rules, the claims process and HMC Rules and Regulations.
• Understanding of the principles of investigations/claims management, root cause analysis techniques and clinical governance.
• Knowledge of the areas relevant to legal healthcare practice
• Written - experience in drafting standard letters, internal communications, technical reports. Able to present matters in a logical way using the appropriate content, language and style for the audience.
• Oral - Communicates in a clear, helpful, constructive and professional manner. Able to express opinion constructively and confidently.
• Listening- has a clear ability to listen and absorb complex information/messages.
• General -
• displays a high standard of personal integrity.
• Always seeks to improve effectiveness of own performance
• Self-motivated and able to work with minimal supervision
• Flexible and adaptable to changing workload/priorities.
• Key team player

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.