Job description
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.
At any one time, around 23,000 people in Norfolk and Suffolk are receiving care and attention from the Trust. We believe in whole life care - seeing people in the context of their whole lives, understanding the importance of good physical health, friends, family, spirituality, culture, home, work, education and a sense of purpose and achievement to experience good mental health.
Nearly 3,200 full and part-time practitioners care for our service users in hospitals, in the community and in their own homes, whilst an additional 900+ staff provide non-clinical support, including cleaning, delivering supplies, ward administration, information technology, human resources and financial services.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.
We are committed to delivering quality driven mental health services. Every individual makes a valuable contribution. We are proud of our staff who have been commended for the care they provide. Do you value working positively, respectfully and together? If so, we’d love you to join us!
We will consider flexible working arrangements for our roles, please indicate in your application if this is something you require
JOB DESCRIPTION/PERSON SPECIFICATION
Please read the job description/person specification carefully and ensure your application reflects the knowledge, skills and experience needed.
YOUR APPLICATION
It is important that you complete a formal application form as CV’s alone will not be accepted.
TWITTER - The Trust now has it's own Twitter account for recruitment. Follow us on @NSFTjobs
PLEASE NOTE: If you use a hotmail, msn or yahoo e-mail account, you will need to check your "junk" mail regularly as these email providers will divert any communication from this Trust/NHS JOBS straight into your " junk" inbox.
Job overview
We are looking for a Communications Manager who can develop strong relationships with media partners and people working in the Trust. We are looking for someone with an excellent sense of the news. They should be well versed in listening to understand so that we can communicate kindly, compassionately, accurately and fairly.
The successful candidate will be able to handle highly sensitive, confidential or contentious information. They will be able to demonstrate behaviours that support our values: Postively, Respectfully, Together.
We are a team of six, experienced and creative individuals working in an exceptionally busy, yet supportive, environment and organisation.
We apply our broad range of communication skills and experiences to a range of programmes and projects to ensure our colleagues, and those who use our services, along with external stakeholders, get the best services and most accurate information whilst also managing the reputation of our organisation and the services it provides to those in our local communities.
We offer a hybrid working environment and are flexible and compassionate to the needs of our team members.
Main duties of the job
Your responsibilities would be to develop the Trust’s media plan and help make sure that there are effective two-way communications between the Trust and its stakeholders. You will be used to presenting clear and open messages about an organisation’s purpose, role and achievements. We wish to better celebrate successes by using service user and staff stories in a sensitive manner.
You will be well practiced at ensuring a multi-media approach to content by working with colleagues in the team to deliver social media, staff and stakeholder messages to support media messaging where appropriate.
You will have extensive experience or training in journalism or communications up to degree level.
Working for our organisation
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.
Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.
Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.
Some of the benefits you can expect:
- NHS pension
- a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
- career progression
- starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
- staff physio service
- NHS discounts and many more
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please visit our Facebook and Twitter page @NSFTjobs
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to post graduate degree level or qualified by equivalent specialist professional experience
Desirable criteria
- Educated to degree level in marketing / communications / PR or similar
Skills, Abilities & Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Ability to prioritise own and others workloads and meet conflicting deadlines
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in a senior communications role within the NHS
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of working with the media on highly complex, sensitive or contentious issues
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.
Additionally, people with disabilities that fall under the Two Ticks - Guaranteed Interview Scheme will be offered an interview providing they meet the minimum criteria for the post (outlined in the Person Specification).
DISCLOSURE AND BARRING SERVICE CHECK (formerly CRB)
FOR POSTS WITH DIRECT SERVICE USER CONTACT - Please be advised that due to recent changes in the DBS Service, organisations no longer receive copies of DBS Disclosures – these are sent directly to candidates only. Therefore, it will be your responsibility, if successful, to ensure that this is taken to the appointing officer as soon as you receive it.
Alternatively, if you have subscribed to the update service, we will be able to check your status once we have your authority to do so.
The Trust has now introduced a DBS Update Service which is a contractual requirement. You need to subscribe when you have applied for your DBS clearance and there is a time limit to subscribe of 19 days after receipt of your DBS disclosure. Please ensure that this is completed within the set time scale.
This update service is an annual subscription at a cost of £13 to you. This will enable the Trust to have instant online access to your DBS record, with your consent, and so will remove the need for you to have to apply for this repeat check again.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.