Communications and Engagement Lead

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Responsibilities and Results

Strategic Communications and Engagement Support

• Providing advice and solutions to SHC staff, assimilating the issue, risks and implications and providing clear direction to protect and strengthen SHC's reputation
• Leading on researching, creating, writing and delivering effective communications and engagement plans for the SHC
• Overseeing and leading projects and campaigns, ensuring delivery to time, cost and quality standards
• Managing internal and external communications and engagement for SHC, including media relations (both reactive and proactive), issues management, public awareness campaigns, digital communications, internal and external events and briefings for key external stakeholders.

External Communications

• Implementing SHC communications and engagement strategies, policies and functions
• Communicating information to patients, staff, GPs and communities locally and nationally
• Working with senior leaders and other communication leads in partner organisations to support SHC's response to complex and politically sensitive media enquiries
• Managing the compilation and publication of reports for SHC
• Building on existing relationship with local partners across the health and social care system and other stakeholders to ensure a consistent and co-ordinated approach to all communications and engagement activity
• Communicating complex and contentious information to a wide variety of individuals and groups, such as the media, public involvement representatives, Board members, CEOs, directors, politicians and staff groups
• Helping to orchestrate and facilitate local briefings with stakeholders in writing, meetings and presentations.  Advising senior client leads on any risks
• Developing creative and informative awareness campaigns to support SHC priorities
• Managing and overseeing event management as required by SHC
• Ensuring information for patients and the public is accessible and easy to understand, making adaptations and reasonable adjustments where required
• Supporting delivery of the SHC's digital communication channels, including websites and social media accounts
• Acting as guardian of the SHC corporate brand.

Internal Communication and Engagement

• Developing and monitoring a range of effective internal communication and engagement channels to ensure SHC staff are informed about current priorities
• Identifying innovative solutions to overcome significant real and perceived barriers and difficulties in implementing and integrating communications across SHC
• Establishing two-way channels of communication that support staff engagement and opportunities for staff to raise suggestions, issues or concerns
• Providing subject matter expertise to staff  to enable them to fulfil the communications and engagement parts of their role
• Working closely with other NHS and public sector communication leaders to network and create partnership working for delivery wherever possible patient and public involvement
• Supporting SHC and, by defacto, ESTH and LBS to fulfil its statutory duty around involvement outlined in Section 14Z2 in the National Health Service Act 2006 and the Health and Social Care Act 2012
• Supporting delivery of ESTH (SHC) duty to comply with 2018 NHS England (PADS) guidance for anyone considering, and involved in, substantial service change and the 2022 guidance for working with people and communities
• Ensuring clinicians, public and staff are actively engaged and influence commissioning decisions in a way that contributes to improved health services
• Building on best practice and ensuring that the organisation maximises opportunities to engage with the more typical 'hard to reach' or 'seldom heard' groups
• Managing input and feedback from stakeholders to ensure that this is used to information organisational strategic direction for SHC

Operational

• Demonstrate cost effectiveness and embedding a culture of value for money
• Presenting complex information in a clear, understandable and audience appropriate manner
• Overseeing progress against plans and transition milestones, ensuring appropriate processes are in place to flag issues, risks and concerns with the relevant stakeholders
• Devising, managing and updating policies and procedures, ensuring the adoption of best practice methodology, rules, standards and thresholds, disseminating these methodologies etc., to staff within the department and throughout the organisation

Leadership and Operational Management

• Ensuring that relevant staff within the team are empowered to change and develop improved communications and engagement practices
• Leading virtual and physical teams to deliver projects, initiatives and services on time and in a cost effective way
• Influencing and developing strong partnerships within the organisation and across the health and social care communications landscape.

General

Planning and Organisation

• Provide evaluative  reports on the work of communications and engagement against strategy and action plans to relevant Boards and committees and groups internal to SHC and external to the partner organisations
• Contribute to the development and implementation of general policy and service development
• Ensure stakeholder representation is engaged
• Be accountable for short, medium and long term business plans, achieving quality outcomes
• Be responsible for linking people, resource and strategy to organisational strategy, policy and service development
• Maintain a good knowledge of emerging policies from government departments to assist in the thinking and definition of strategic discussions.