The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Administration Assistant

The closing date is 16 October 2025

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, organised, and motivated individual to join the Clinical Research Directorate. This Administration Assistant role will be based at the Clinical Ageing Research Unit, located at the Campus for Ageing and Vitality, and will provide a comprehensive, efficient, and effective reception service. As part of the clinical research secretarial team, the postholder will also contribute by providing administrative and clerical support.

Clinical research is the scientific study of health and the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illness. At Newcastle Hospitals, clinical research takes place across most clinical specialties, wherever patients are seen and cared for.

Clinical research can make a real difference to health outcomes. Not only is it vital for advancing treatment, but it has also been proven that patients cared for in research-active organisations experience better outcomes.

On average, we recruit around 13,000 research participants each year into a broad range of studies and trials. We're proud of our world-leading reputation for research excellence and the impact we're making across our communities.

We offer our staff unique learning opportunities that enable them to fulfil their roles and maximise their potential.

Interview Date Thursday 06 November 2025
37 Hours 30 Minutes/Week

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Main duties of the job

The postholder will have a varied role requiring strong communication and time management skills, working independently to manage the reception area, respond to requests and queries, and process letters, documents, and reports.

They will also support research teams by contributing to projects, including planning, organising, and completing activities to agreed deadlines with minimal supervision. This may involve administering new strategies or systems, maintaining or retrieving information from databases, assisting with report production, conducting surveys and audits, as well as performing regular routine administrative and clerical tasks.

This role offers a lot of variety and ad-hoc demands, so postholders must be flexible to meet the needs of the service. It's an opportunity to work within a very supportive and welcoming team, and to further develop existing knowledge and skills. Previous administration or secretarial experience in an NHS environment is preferred but not essential, as full training will be provided.

About us

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

Our staff oversee over 6,500 patient contacts every day, delivering high standards of healthcare from the following sites:

o Freeman Hospitalo Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)o Health Innovation Neighbourhood (on the former Newcastle General Hospital and Centre for Ageing and Vitality site)o Newcastle Dental Hospitalo Newcastle Fertility Centreo Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbriao Northern Genetics Serviceo Cramlington Manor Walks

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under 'Documents to download' or 'Supporting documents'.

For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Date posted

10 October 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 3

Salary

£24,937 to £26,598 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

317-2025-39-009

Job locations

Trustwide

317 Trustwide

NE1 4LP

Job description

Job responsibilities

Act as first point of contact in the designated area to answer queries, provide suggestions solve problems; signposting to relevant person/team efficiently and effectively. Receive and deal with incoming queries via Reception, generic mailboxes, email, telephone and face to face in a polite, customer focused and professional manner, redirecting/signposting and/or using initiative to deal withqueries where appropriate and assignment to relevant personnel and follow up until query closure
Assist with processing of letters, documents & reports in relation to relevant activity as directed by line manager/team
Contribute to the implementation of systems/processes to ensure systems work effectively and efficiently in relation to the role
Act as an ambassador for clinical research
Contribute to a comprehensive efficient and effective administration and clerical service as part of the clinical research secretarial team

You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy

Job description

Job responsibilities

Act as first point of contact in the designated area to answer queries, provide suggestions solve problems; signposting to relevant person/team efficiently and effectively. Receive and deal with incoming queries via Reception, generic mailboxes, email, telephone and face to face in a polite, customer focused and professional manner, redirecting/signposting and/or using initiative to deal withqueries where appropriate and assignment to relevant personnel and follow up until query closure
Assist with processing of letters, documents & reports in relation to relevant activity as directed by line manager/team
Contribute to the implementation of systems/processes to ensure systems work effectively and efficiently in relation to the role
Act as an ambassador for clinical research
Contribute to a comprehensive efficient and effective administration and clerical service as part of the clinical research secretarial team

You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy

Person Specification

Qualifications & Education

Essential

NVQ level 3 (or equivalent qualification/experience)
GCSE English Language or equivalent at grade 4 or above

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

Relevant practical experience of working in an office environment (i.e.: NHS, Primary Care)
Working knowledge of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Desirable

Experience of working in a research environment
An understanding of research terminology
Knowledge and understanding of NIHR systems
Knowledge of the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research and current systems in place to support
Experience of organising diaries, meetings, calendars and groups and allocation of resources
Experience of using and a working knowledge of NHS system to support patient care i.e., eRecord, ATOM, Oracle etc.
Experience of using and working with databases
NHS secretarial experience

Skills & Abilities

Essential

IT skills to include office packages e.g., Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
Excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills
Ability to exercise independence, judgement and use own initiative in the arrangement of administrative work
Ability to work within relevant policies and procedures

Person Specification

Qualifications & Education

Essential

NVQ level 3 (or equivalent qualification/experience)
GCSE English Language or equivalent at grade 4 or above

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

Relevant practical experience of working in an office environment (i.e.: NHS, Primary Care)
Working knowledge of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Desirable

Experience of working in a research environment
An understanding of research terminology
Knowledge and understanding of NIHR systems
Knowledge of the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research and current systems in place to support
Experience of organising diaries, meetings, calendars and groups and allocation of resources
Experience of using and a working knowledge of NHS system to support patient care i.e., eRecord, ATOM, Oracle etc.
Experience of using and working with databases
NHS secretarial experience

Skills & Abilities

Essential

IT skills to include office packages e.g., Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
Excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills
Ability to exercise independence, judgement and use own initiative in the arrangement of administrative work
Ability to work within relevant policies and procedures

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.