Job summary
The Executive Assistant is required to support the Elective Recovery Programme leadership team, to deliver their corporate objectives and portfolio, including responsibilities in any relationships or activities the team leaders may participate in in the local or national health system. The postholder will undertake a wide range of administrative tasks, including taking personal responsibility for delegated projects and business. This is in addition to providing a comprehensive administrative service to ensure the smooth running of the Elective Recovery Project Management Office (PMO).
The Executive Assistant is responsible for a wide range of communications on behalf of the PMO, and must at all times promote sensitivity and tact, and respect confidentiality to ensure these are effective.
Main duties of the job
We are pleased to inform you that the plans for St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust to come together as one new organisation have now been formally approved by the Secretary of State. Our new Trust will be called Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and will officially launch on Saturday 1st July 2023.
Any applicants who secure an offer of employment and/ or are due to commence their new role from 1st July 2023 onwards are advised that their conditional offer and contract of employment will be issued as per our normal recruitment process but will be under the new name of the organisation. All the details of the offers of employment and contracts of employment will remain as advertised and these changes will not affect your employment with us.
For further information on the new plans, please see:
Our Future Plans (sthk.nhs.uk)
- Enable the effective running of the PMO by supporting programme management through the co-ordination of highlight report and briefing requests and receipts, maintenance of action trackers and production of agendas.
- Ensure the production of monthly briefings by working with key stakeholders and working to agreed timescales.
- Maintain an up-to-date confidential list of all appropriate professional group contacts and contact database for the CMAST PMO.
About us
St Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is the only acute Trust in Cheshire and Merseyside and one of the few in the country to achieve OUTSTANDING rated by the Care Quality Commission.
We provide a full range of acute adult services to our local population of circa 360,000 and provide tertiary services across the North West, North Wales, and Isle of Man. We are a Major Trauma Unit and the Mersey Regional Burns Unit.
Our '5 Star Patient Care' strategy is at the heart of what we do; supporting our vision to provide world class services for all our patients by getting it right for every patient, every time.
Our latest achievements include:
- Acute Trust of the Year HSJ Awards November 2019
- Trust rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- Best acute Trust in the North West for quality of care (NHS Staff Survey 2021)
- Best place to work in the North West (NHS Staff Survey 2021)
- Awarded National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for our Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
In the NHS Staff Survey 2021 the Trust scored the highest marks in the North West for the following areas:
- Standard of care
- Best place to work
- Care of patients being the Trust's priority
- Staff engagement
- Staff morale
- Compassionate & inclusive
- Providing safe environments for staff
Please see attached Wellbeing & Benefits booklet for more information on our benefits for staff. Accessible version available upon request.
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
- Support the Programme Director and leadership team to ensure that they are briefed in advance of scheduled meetings. Responsibilities include:
- Requesting and coordinating briefings from senior staff in advance of meetings, so that the leadership team are fully informed on all the issues to be discussed.
- Gathering and extracting information from a range of sources (documents, websites, databases) as requested by the Programme Director, either as a one off or on a regular basis.
- Topping and tailing documents to the agreed corporate standard and providing first draft briefings as appropriate.
- Coordinate planned absence, to ensure there is appropriate administrative support for the programme
- Manage all incoming mail/email as required, including prioritisation for action, requesting briefings, directing others to take action and ensuring timely responses from them, disseminating information and monitoring that deadlines are met.
- Comply with the organisations policies for the procurement of goods and services necessary to the effective running of the team.
- Maintain the high standards and quality of governance expected in all departmental business, both internally and externally.
- Draft or request responses to letters and queries addressed to the Programme Directors
- Prioritise the workload effectively to ensure that meetings and reports are provided in a timely fashion
- Manage a forward planning system to ensure that deadlines are met with other Elective Recovery team members and colleagues in the wider Cheshire & Merseyside system
- Develop and maintain an understanding and knowledge of the broad spectrum of work areas that the Programme Director is responsible for in order to maximise the support given. The postholder must be able to respond to and accommodate proactive and reactive situations that occur in a busy and fast-moving environment
- Manage the review, development, and implementation of specific operating procedures, which comply with CMAST governance arrangements, and which support effective working practices
- Initiate, manage, and administrate conferences and events for which the Directors have lead responsibility
- Provide support with the recruitment of and guidance to new starters
- Undertake any other reasonable duties required
Administrative
- Organise the diary and commitments of the Programme Director including the scheduling of formal meetings and take notes/minutes at meetings as required
- Administer Board and Programme meetings, taking formal minutes to serve as an accurate record of the meetings
- Maintain and update logging system to track correspondence
- Manage the leadership teams travel and accommodation arrangements
- Deal with telephone and email enquiries and ensure that messages are passed on as necessary
- Ensure that a high quality and timely support is provided (utilising relevant Microsoft Office packages) when producing briefings, correspondence, reports, e-mails, presentations, project plans and spreadsheets
- Record and store information using the electronic filing system to maintain corporate information in accordance with Information Governance requirements
- Provide general administrative tasks (e.g., photocopying, faxing etc)
- Liaise with patients and public, including complaints in a sensitive, helpful manner and follow-up enquiries to ensure that, where necessary, callers have been given appropriate information
- Ensure diplomacy when liaising with senior personnel, Chief Executives, Directors, MPs, and Board members being sensitive to needs whilst maintaining a high level of professionalism.
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
- Support the Programme Director and leadership team to ensure that they are briefed in advance of scheduled meetings. Responsibilities include:
- Requesting and coordinating briefings from senior staff in advance of meetings, so that the leadership team are fully informed on all the issues to be discussed.
- Gathering and extracting information from a range of sources (documents, websites, databases) as requested by the Programme Director, either as a one off or on a regular basis.
- Topping and tailing documents to the agreed corporate standard and providing first draft briefings as appropriate.
- Coordinate planned absence, to ensure there is appropriate administrative support for the programme
- Manage all incoming mail/email as required, including prioritisation for action, requesting briefings, directing others to take action and ensuring timely responses from them, disseminating information and monitoring that deadlines are met.
- Comply with the organisations policies for the procurement of goods and services necessary to the effective running of the team.
- Maintain the high standards and quality of governance expected in all departmental business, both internally and externally.
- Draft or request responses to letters and queries addressed to the Programme Directors
- Prioritise the workload effectively to ensure that meetings and reports are provided in a timely fashion
- Manage a forward planning system to ensure that deadlines are met with other Elective Recovery team members and colleagues in the wider Cheshire & Merseyside system
- Develop and maintain an understanding and knowledge of the broad spectrum of work areas that the Programme Director is responsible for in order to maximise the support given. The postholder must be able to respond to and accommodate proactive and reactive situations that occur in a busy and fast-moving environment
- Manage the review, development, and implementation of specific operating procedures, which comply with CMAST governance arrangements, and which support effective working practices
- Initiate, manage, and administrate conferences and events for which the Directors have lead responsibility
- Provide support with the recruitment of and guidance to new starters
- Undertake any other reasonable duties required
Administrative
- Organise the diary and commitments of the Programme Director including the scheduling of formal meetings and take notes/minutes at meetings as required
- Administer Board and Programme meetings, taking formal minutes to serve as an accurate record of the meetings
- Maintain and update logging system to track correspondence
- Manage the leadership teams travel and accommodation arrangements
- Deal with telephone and email enquiries and ensure that messages are passed on as necessary
- Ensure that a high quality and timely support is provided (utilising relevant Microsoft Office packages) when producing briefings, correspondence, reports, e-mails, presentations, project plans and spreadsheets
- Record and store information using the electronic filing system to maintain corporate information in accordance with Information Governance requirements
- Provide general administrative tasks (e.g., photocopying, faxing etc)
- Liaise with patients and public, including complaints in a sensitive, helpful manner and follow-up enquiries to ensure that, where necessary, callers have been given appropriate information
- Ensure diplomacy when liaising with senior personnel, Chief Executives, Directors, MPs, and Board members being sensitive to needs whilst maintaining a high level of professionalism.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Executive Secretary's Diploma or significant equivalent experience.
- BTEC/NVQ Level 2 in Business Studies/or equivalent qualification, or graduate seeking rapid development.
Desirable
- European Computer Driving Licence
- Shorthand/Audio skills qualification or experience
Knowledge
Essential
- Experience of working as a PA/Secretary to a Director or senior manager
- Experience of working in a busy office and managing competing demands
Desirable
- Experience of supporting committees and organising meetings
Skills
Essential
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
- Excellent organisational and administrative skills
- Excellent typing/word processing skills minimum
- Excellent time management skills
- Microsoft office - Word, Excel, Powerpoint
- Microsoft Outlook or other email package
Other
Essential
- Ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines.
- Ability to work without supervision and use own initiative.
- Ability to deal with all difficult situations that may arise.
- Ability to work flexibly and manage competing priorities.
- Consistently high attention to detail and quality of work
Desirable
- Ability to work as a member of a team.
- Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with people from a wide range of personal and professional backgrounds.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Executive Secretary's Diploma or significant equivalent experience.
- BTEC/NVQ Level 2 in Business Studies/or equivalent qualification, or graduate seeking rapid development.
Desirable
- European Computer Driving Licence
- Shorthand/Audio skills qualification or experience
Knowledge
Essential
- Experience of working as a PA/Secretary to a Director or senior manager
- Experience of working in a busy office and managing competing demands
Desirable
- Experience of supporting committees and organising meetings
Skills
Essential
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
- Excellent organisational and administrative skills
- Excellent typing/word processing skills minimum
- Excellent time management skills
- Microsoft office - Word, Excel, Powerpoint
- Microsoft Outlook or other email package
Other
Essential
- Ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines.
- Ability to work without supervision and use own initiative.
- Ability to deal with all difficult situations that may arise.
- Ability to work flexibly and manage competing priorities.
- Consistently high attention to detail and quality of work
Desirable
- Ability to work as a member of a team.
- Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with people from a wide range of personal and professional backgrounds.
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
