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NHS South East London Integrated Care Board
About
We are a partnership that brings together the organisations responsible for publicly funded health and care services in south east London, to make the greatest possible contribution to the health and wellbeing of people living in our six boroughs.
This includes our Integrated Care Board, our NHS health services, our six Local Authorities and organisations from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.
Together, we are responsible for allocating public money as well as planning and delivering a wide range of health and care services.
We use our combined resources to tackle of some of the biggest health issues affecting local people in Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark.
We aim to keep people well, prevent ill-health and support people to thrive and live healthier lives.
External Communications Officer
Closed for applications on: 3-Jun-2023 00:00
Vacancy status: Closed
Closed for applications on: 3-Jun-2023 00:00
Key details
Location
- Site
- Tooley Street
- Address
- 160 Tooley Street
- Town
- London
- Postcode
- SE1 2QH
- Major / Minor Region
- London
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- 9 months (Fixed term contract until 31 March 2024)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Salary
- Salary
- £42,471 - £50,364 per annum inclusive of HCA's
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 6)
Specialty
- Main area
- Communications and engagement
Job overview
External Communications Officer
Fixed term contract until 31 March 2024
The NHS touches people like no other organisation does, and ICBs have a major role to play. Our mission in South East London is to help the populations of our six vibrant and diverse boroughs live the healthiest possible lives. In our communications, we seek to inform and engage, to involve and encourage, and we use every available channel to do so.
We’re looking for someone to help us build the story of health and care in South East London. We have a wide range of audiences, including our residents, our MPs, our partners and peers, and we do a huge variety of work. This is a key role in helping us promote our aims, our activity and the progress we are making; reaching the right people at the right time, in the right way.
If you are interested in a multi-faceted external comms role with the opportunity to develop and apply your skills working in a multi-award-winning team, in an environment with purpose at its heart, then we’d love to hear from you.
Advert
For a full list of duties held by this post, please refer to the job description.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Work in a matrix environment, managing communications at a South East London level and supporting borough-based communications priorities as required
- Promote the work of the ICB and ICS and our campaigns across channels including (but not limited to): digital, newsletters, media releases, statements, blogs and thought leadership pieces. You will liaise with clinical and managerial teams to identify opportunities to promote content.
- Working closely with borough-based team colleagues as required, you will develop and agree external content.
- Manage incoming media enquiries and liaise with colleagues as appropriate. In some cases, you will work alongside the borough-based communications and engagement teams on the handling of local media enquiries.
- Develop strong relationships with local media across the south east London area as well as with London-wide and national media contacts as required.
- Support crisis management communications including co-ordination and media handling
- Support and advise senior managers and key spokespeople to be interviewed and provide professional advice on handling of issues and situations when dealing with the media
- Help oversee any filming or photography requests, including news requests and documentary projects
- Assist in the development of any materials, including briefings, presentations and correspondence with stakeholders
Working for our organisation
The South East London Integrated Care System (ICS) brings together the health and care partners that serve our vibrant and highly diverse populations resident in the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark - our Places.
Our partnership brings together six local authorities, over 200 general practices (operating within 35 Primary Care Networks), Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS FT, King’s College Hospital NHS FT, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, South London and the Maudsley Mental Health FT and Oxleas FT. Importantly, the ICS seeks to be connected to the communities we serve (circa 1.92m residents) and work with the widest possible range of community, voluntary and third sector groups and organisations in each borough. The reach of our NHS provider portfolios extends beyond the borders of the ICS, across London, the south of England and nationally for some services.
The South East London ICB is the NHS management unit of the ICS. It is accountable both to NHS England and to the South East London Integrated Care Partnership (ICP).
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For a full list of duties held by this post, please refer to the job description -
Duties and Responsibilities
- Work in a matrix environment, managing communications at a South East London level and supporting borough-based communications priorities as required
- Promote the work of the ICB and ICS and our campaigns across channels including (but not limited to): digital, newsletters, media releases, statements, blogs and thought leadership pieces. You will liaise with clinical and managerial teams to identify opportunities to promote content.
- Working closely with borough-based team colleagues as required, you will develop and agree external content.
- Manage incoming media enquiries and liaise with colleagues as appropriate. In some cases, you will work alongside the borough-based communications and engagement teams on the handling of local media enquiries.
- Develop strong relationships with local media across the south east London area as well as with London-wide and national media contacts as required.
- Support crisis management communications including co-ordination and media handling
- Support and advise senior managers and key spokespeople to be interviewed and provide professional advice on handling of issues and situations when dealing with the media
- Help oversee any filming or photography requests, including news requests and documentary projects
- Assist in the development of any materials, including briefings, presentations and correspondence with stakeholders
- Support in delivering the ICS’ stakeholder engagement and communications programme including service visits and changes, meetings with scrutiny committees, MPs and Government departments
- Support the deputy and associate directors of communications to generate and answer stakeholder correspondence and ensure the stakeholder database is kept up to date
- Assist in organising high-profile visits and events across all ICS sites, including MPs and ministers
- Keep up to date with best practice and trends in external communications and apply to own work
- Work effectively and constructively with all team members, balancing and prioritising work in accordance with the team’s priorities
- Deputise for the deputy or associate director of communications and support other colleagues as required
- Work occasionally outside of office hours, if required
Budgeting
- Cost and manage effectively the budget for projects and campaigns.
Management and leadership
- This role does not have any direct reports, but you will work closely with other members of the team, and be able to call on team resources, including delegating work to the Communications Assistant(s)
- You will work and liaise regularly with a wide range of people within the wider ICB and ICS, as well as borough-based communications and engagement staff.
- You may also be expected to assist with the work of communications colleagues, for example during periods of workload pressures or periods of annual leave.
Policy and service development
- You will be expected to contribute to any reviews of the ICS’s external communications, campaigns and stakeholder strategies and plans.
Analytical and judgement skills
- You will be expected to be able to pull information together from numerous sources, distilling this down to create content that is not only accurate but takes into account core ICB/ICS messaging.
Planning and Organisational skills
- You will be required to plan, manage and coordinate often complex programmes and projects across external communication activities, sometimes with conflicting priorities, in order to ensure that resources available are allocated appropriately, with all deadlines met.
- Ensure that your work is delivered to agreed standards and timelines.
Autonomy/Freedom to act
- Although you will work alongside colleagues in the corporate communications team, you will also be expected to lead on specific matters or tasks on behalf of the team, often working alongside colleagues in the wider ICB communications and engagement team.
- There may be occasions when you will be required to act with discretion when dealing with highly complex, sensitive or confidential information
Information management/resources including any databases used / IM&T responsibilities
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Office and excellent data processing skills to analyse highly complex data.
- Knowledge of channel management.
Project management
- Undertake a range of ad hoc or longer-term projects relating to the areas within the remit of this role.
Risk & governance
- Responsible for owning risks related to communication and engagement; identifying these and proposing and delivering mitigations where possible. Ensuring also these are properly raised and flagged on risk registers where appropriate.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant experience of working in external communications and engagement in a comparatively sized organisation.
- Experience of managing reactive and proactive media handling, including drafting press releases and statements.
- Experience and effective use of digital media channels (including social and digital media).
- Experience of managing effective external communications with key stakeholders.
- Experience of working on own initiative; working with a matrix of communications and marketing colleagues; managing up.
- Understands and has experience of how to evaluate campaigns and projects, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Skills and abilities
Essential criteria
- Excellent written and editorial skills across multiple platforms; keen attention to detail and experience of proofing the work of others.
- Ability to adapt content to ensure it is relevant for a variety of audiences and communications channels.
- Good knowledge and understanding of the challenges facing external communications within the NHS.
- Ability to manage time effectively, prioritising work and managing competing demands to meet deadlines.
- Computer literate, with advanced keyboard skills.
Other
Essential criteria
- Self-motivated when working unsupervised and, as a team player, motivating others and encouraging colleagues to deliver a quality service.
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Humphrey Couchman
- Job title
- Associate Director of Communications and Campaigns
- Email address
- [email protected]
No longer accepting applications
Sorry, this vacancy is no longer accepting applications.
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