[ref. a63094701] Communications Officer
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
The Communications Officer will support regional and national communications as part of the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) Communications Team, which is dispersed across the 12 Regional RDNs (RRDNs) and the RDN Coordinating Centre (RDNCC).The Communications Officer will report to the Communications Manager and support the provision of a high quality, professional and proactive communications service to the RDN regionally and nationally.
The Communications Officer will seek to adopt and share the best practice approach to their work and support the RDN in achieving its objectives and ensuring it delivers the best communications service, including developing new channels and opportunities to reach colleagues and communities, where engagement and involvement is needed the most.
Main duties of the job- Business Planning
- Information & Administration
- Operational Management
- Service Improvement & Development
- Performance Management
- Life Sciences Industry
- Financial Management Responsibilities
- Continuous Improvement
- Communication & Stakeholder Management (Nhs And Non-nhs)
- Ensuring Patient, Carer And Public Inform And Influence Delivery Of Rdn Strategy
- Corporate Governance
Working for our organisation
From October 2024, the current NIHR Clinical Research Network will be changing to become the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN). The RDN will build on the successes of the CRN in supporting the effective and efficient initiation and delivery of funded research across the health and care system in England for the benefit of patients, the health and care system and the economy. The RDN will support:
- Clinical trials and other well-designed health and social care research studies (including studies that are delivered outside of an NHS setting);
- Public health studies that require the recruitment of individuals within an NHS setting (that is, acute, ambulance, mental health, community or primary care) or an episode of care which involves contact with the NHS.
- Support the development, implementation and evaluation of communications projects, including events and campaigns across the full range of media and communication channels, ensuring that information is tailored appropriately for the targeted recipients
- Liaise with health and care staff, patients, service users, general public, commercial organisations, academia and other interested parties with a view to actively increasing the profile of the RDN regionally and nationally by developing strong partnerships and working relationships
- Identify, translate and disseminate complex messages about RDN services and NIHR activity into clear and compelling communications messages, demonstrating RDN’s impact for a range of stakeholders including patients, carers and the public
- Work with the Study Participation Inclusion and Stakeholder Engagement functions to maintain effective relationships with customers and stakeholders
- Support the Communications Manager in the development of policy in relation to communications activities
- Support the Communications Manager in the development and implementation of policies within their area of responsibility and input into the development of national policies and guidelines
- Support projects to launch new initiatives for dissemination of impact and for patient and public engagement and involvement
- Support the development of communications, marketing and media handling advice for managers, staff and committees
Person specification
Education and qualifications
Essential criteria- Degree level education and/or equivalent level of qualification or relevant experience (e.g. Health; Media / Journalism / Web publishing)
- Background in research and development, science or healthcare
- European Computer Driving Licence
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria- Relevant experience in a relevant speciality i.e. public relations, communications, marketing and/or journalism to post graduate level or demonstrable experience. This must include social / web-based media
- Demonstrable experience in a large, complex organisation
- Experience of inter-agency working involving multiple and diverse partners
- Proven experience of working successfully as part of several teams
- Experience of managing a customer-focused service
- Experience of managing a wide range of complex duties
- Experience of working at a similar level in the NHS or other healthcare environment
- Experience of providing communications support to a local authority
- Good understanding of the health and care research environment
Skills and Abilities
Essential criteria- Ability to work autonomously and to exercise initiative, with creativity, drive and flexibility
- Excellent organisational skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Proficiency in preparing communication materials eg website copy and newsletter articles, and their distribution
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Ability to operate at all levels throughout an organisation
- Ability to write concise and clear reports and to write Standard Operating Procedures
- Ability to prepare and deliver presentations to a high standard
- Ability to plan, manage and deliver projects and activities, involving multiple agencies and individuals and to tight deadlines
- Media handling skills
- Ability to communicate complex information to a range of audiences at all levels within the organisation and externally
- Excellent IT literacy including Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or equivalent Google applications and relevant design packages e.g. Adobe InDesign, CANVA
- Attention to detail
- Ability to manage challenging and stressful situations
- Strong problem-solving skills
- Staff training skills
Values and Personal Qualities
Essential criteria- Compassionate
- Understanding of change and adaptable
- Politically aware
- Resilient and calm under pressure
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.
Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now."