Communications Officer Nottingham, England
Job description
NHS AfC: Band 5
Job overview
Are you enthusiastic about story telling? Do you love finding creative ways to communicate? Do you want to win awards?
If your answers are yes then we want to hear from you. We are Nottingham University Hospitals, one of the biggest NHS acute Trusts in the country and the new home of Channel 4’s 24 Hours in A&E.
We’re looking for a creative, passionate colleague to join our friendly team as our new communications officer. The roles are fixed term for 12 month with potential to extend further.
No two days are the same in our busy team - as well as playing a central role in promoting our hospitals you will be helping us deliver the information our staff need to do their jobs well, and supporting the organisation to achieve its ambitions.
We’re looking for a highly skilled team player, who is happy to share ideas and work with us to create top quality, exciting and engaging content across our range of channels.
You’ll need to be comfortable talking to people and gathering stories of the fantastic work we do. You must also have good attention to detail, and an ability to deliver in a challenging and fast-paced NHS communications environment - multi-tasking and managing projects.
If this sounds like you then you could have an exciting future in NHS communications – we look forward to hearing from you
Main duties of the job
The role will be a fast-paced and challenging one, working in one of the top five biggest NHS teaching Trust’s in the country, which is home to the Major Trauma Centre for the whole of the East Midlands.
The postholder will work under the guidance of the Director and Deputy Director of Communications and Engagement, and Communications Manager to ensure the delivery of a quality driven, innovative and customer-focused service consistent with Trust’s aims and objectives in a manner commensurate with the profession.
The postholder will lead on a number of Trust-wide Communications and Engagement programmes of activity for key Trust projects and priorities, spanning internal, external and digital communications.
This will include utilising excellent copy writing skills, working with the media to uncover and celebrate the fantastic work and examples of excellent patient care across our three hospital sites, managing and planning social media activity, leading on the planning and delivery of campaigns, updating the website and intranet, supporting annual events and other associated communications activity.
The postholder will be able to establish positive working relationships quickly at all levels of the organisation, responding to conflicting priorities as required. With around 17,000 staff across Clinical and Corporate Services, it’s important the postholder is comfortable navigating a large, complex organisation and dealing with a varied and busy workload.
Working for our organisation
In addition to the below summary you will need to familiarise yourself with the full job description and person specification documents attached to this advert.
The postholder will be based at Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) with the ability to work across all Trust and external sites as needed.
The postholder will be required to work flexibly, including out-of-hours, working as required to the role and will be part of the Communications Team on-call rota, for which there is an additional payment.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for additional details about the post.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience working within a communications, media or engagement function (agency or in-house)
- Experience in digital communications, including electronic/web publishing or web editing; content and social media management
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in a healthcare/ NHS environment
- Experience of crisis management
Communication and relationship skills
Essential criteria
- Experience of working on joint projects with a range of partners, including printers and other media companies
Planning and Organisation
Essential criteria
- Experience of producing high quality content whilst managing a number of projects and conflicting priorities
- Ability to/experience of successfully working to very tight deadlines
Desirable criteria
- Project management skills, including budgetary control
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Bring your whole self to work for us at NUH. We love diversity and we value your difference, your unique skills, knowledge and experience. Becoming one of our people may realise your potential, helping us to raise our performance in delivering world class healthcare to the diverse patient populations we serve.
We particularly welcome applications from people who identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, or Disabled, as we are currently under-represented at NUH.
Covid-19 vaccination: remains the best way to protect yourself, family, colleagues and our patients/service users from the Covid-19 virus. We continue to encourage our current and potential colleagues to get vaccinated. For helpful advice and information about the Covid-19 vaccination and how to access visit: https://nottsccg.nhs.uk/covid-19/covid-19-vaccinations/
Closing Dates: Please submit your application form as soon as possible to avoid disappointment; we reserve the right to close vacancies prior to the published closing date if we receive a sufficient number of completed application forms.
Communication: All communication related to your application will be via the email address you have provided. Please ensure you check your email account including your junk email regularly.
Easy read application: if you have a disability and find it difficult to complete our online application form, you can apply via our easy read application which you can find on the intranet https://www.nuh.nhs.uk/easy-read-job-application
Salary: The quoted salary will be on a pro rata basis for part time workers.
Disability Confidence: All applicants who have declared a disability and who meet the essential criteria for the post will be shortlisted.
At Risk of redundancy: NHS employees within the East Midlands who are ‘at risk’ of redundancy will be given a preferential interview where they meet the essential criteria of the person specification.
Skilled Workers Visa: We welcome applications from individuals who require a skilled worker visa in line with the Home Office regulations. NON-UK/NON SETTLED candidates may not be appointed, if a suitably qualified and skilled UK/SETTLED candidate is successful at interview stage as it is unlikely that the Trust is able to satisfy the Home Office Visa requirements
ID and Right to work checks: NUH authenticate all ID and right to work documentation such as passports, visa’s and driving license through a system called Trust ID. NUH will scan your ID and right to work documentation in to the Trust ID system at your face to face ID appointment. The system will run a check against the key security features within your documentation. The system will provide us with an outcome of your check which will be stored securely on your personal file along with all other pre-employment check documentation.
Consent:
- Transfer of information: If I have previous NHS service - I consent to the transfer of my Electronic Staff Record (ESR) data between this and other NHS Trusts. I also consent to the Occupational Health Department confidentially accessing my occupational health records from my current or previous employer in order to check the status of my vaccinations, immunisations s and screening tests as relevant to the post. I understand this is an automated process and the information will only be used for these purposes prior to me taking up the position at NUH.
- Disclosure and Barring Service: Your post maybe subject to a DBS check which incur a cost dependent on the level of check required (£41.90 for enhanced and £21.90 for standard). I agree to reimburse Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust the cost of a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check if it is required (by deduction from first month’s pay). Should I decide to withdraw from my job offer, I agree to reimburse Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust the cost of the DBS check undertaken by cheque or other agreed method.