Communications Officer

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

This job is now closed

Job summary

This post is for internal candidates to South Tees Trust.

Take the next step in your communications career at an NHS trust that empowers its clinicians to make decisions and recently celebrated a "Good" CQC rating.

This is a fantastic opportunity to develop your communications skills in a fast-paced environment, where you'll be involved in public relations, media management, change communications, internal communications, marketing, design, branding, digital content, engagement and strategy and planning.

We are looking for someone with a flair for communications and engagement who can bring creativity, stamina and personal drive to our team, along with a desire to learn. Candidates will be able to understand complex issues and present them clearly to a wide range of different audiences, often to tight deadlines.

You will have good writing and proof reading skills with the ability to distil complex information and tailor to the relevant audience. This challenging but rewarding role will see you take on a wide variety of projects, supporting all of our health services.

You will need the ability to recognise a good news story and a proven track record in drafting quality content for a range of platforms including social media, the web and print media. We require someone who is a self-starting team player, who can prioritise a busy workload and help us deliver on our ambitious agenda.

Main duties of the job

The Communication and Engagement Team plays a vital role in developing, implementing and evaluating communication strategies and plans to support the successful delivery of the Trust's strategic objectives and services. This post holder supports this team and will;

Help promote and protect the Trust's reputation, both internally and externally, and support its vision to be a recognised centre of excellence with high quality staff providing high quality services that exceed people's expectations.
Maintain and support the development of effective communication channels and systems throughout the organisation. This includes e-communication channels such as social media platforms, as well as the Trust's intranet and external website
Support the development of high quality information for patients, families and carers. This includes working with services to identify and agree patient and carer communication campaigns covering the wide range of trust services, information and activities.
Assist and deputise, where appropriate, for the communications manager.
Promote at all times a positive image of the communications team and the wider Trust.

About us

Leadership and Improvement Training

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust offers leadership and improvement training to all new staff to the Trust; this training programme has been designed to support our leaders in developing their understanding of leadership and management skills. You will be expected to attend the leadership development programme, and the Quality Improvement Programme that the Trust delivers. This programme aims to

Explore leadership within the NHS

Promote Trust Values and Behaviours

Develop your Leadership effectiveness and skills

Practitioner level in quality improvement, equipping you with the skills to champion, lead and complete quality improvement within your role

After you complete this four and a half days of training you will be able to explore further leadership and improvement training opportunities, we offer further in-house courses dependent upon your role and bitesize programmes and leadership apprenticeships at level 3,5 and 7.

Date posted

14 February 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 5

Salary

£29,970 to £36,483 a year Per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

328-CP-6981728

Job locations

The James Cook University Hospital

Marton Road

Middlesbrough

TS4 3BW

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see the full job description and person specification document(s) attached for main responsibilities of the role.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see the full job description and person specification document(s) attached for main responsibilities of the role.

Person Specification

Qualifications and training

Essential

Educated to degree standard

Desirable

Professional qualification in communications or marketing and/or membership of a relevant professional body.

Experience

Essential

Experience of a communications (public relations) or marketing role.
Experience of using intranets, websites and social media as communications tools.
Experience of dealing with journalists and media relations

Desirable

Experience of producing communications campaigns and content for patients and carers.

Knowledge and skills

Essential

Excellent writing and editing skills, including the ability to tailor content and format to different audience needs.
Proven organisational skills IT skills including content management systems, spreadsheets and databases
Ability to work without direct supervision and prioritise own workload
Problem solver, with good analytical skills
Skills in use of a range of software (including design, social media and web tools)
Up to date knowledge of current communication channels (including digital and social media) and how to use them effectively

Desirable

Videography and photography skills

Person Specification

Qualifications and training

Essential

Educated to degree standard

Desirable

Professional qualification in communications or marketing and/or membership of a relevant professional body.

Experience

Essential

Experience of a communications (public relations) or marketing role.
Experience of using intranets, websites and social media as communications tools.
Experience of dealing with journalists and media relations

Desirable

Experience of producing communications campaigns and content for patients and carers.

Knowledge and skills

Essential

Excellent writing and editing skills, including the ability to tailor content and format to different audience needs.
Proven organisational skills IT skills including content management systems, spreadsheets and databases
Ability to work without direct supervision and prioritise own workload
Problem solver, with good analytical skills
Skills in use of a range of software (including design, social media and web tools)
Up to date knowledge of current communication channels (including digital and social media) and how to use them effectively

Desirable

Videography and photography skills

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.