Purpose
Horatio’s Garden is a nationwide charity creating and nurturing beautifully designed gardens in NHS’s spinal injury centres.
The Patient Experience Manager will be instrumental in supporting patients and families use of the garden.
Along with the Head Gardener, you will be responsible for the smooth running of a thriving, vibrant garden ensuring the patient and their family are appropriately supported throughout their time in the spinal unit.
This role requires you to manage a team of volunteers and work closely with the Head Gardener who maintains the horticultural standard of the garden and delivers therapeutic horticulture sessions. You will be managed by the national Patient Experience Lead.
You will be responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with clinical and non-clinical NHS staff, corporate sponsors, funders, the Fundraising team, the Communications team and the Events Programme Manager.
The gardens have been beautifully designed and maintained, and the role of the garden needs to reflect an appropriate environment for patients and their families at all stages of their stay. From the initial welcome, to ensuring the contact and relationship is consistent with activities to suit their needs.
You will be responsible for developing and delivering social activities, supported by the charity’s Events Programme Manager and in collaboration with the wider Spinal Injuries team in Glasgow. These activities will mainly need to be held on a weekend afternoon which is a critical time in the garden when most patients are available and often have friends and family to visit. Currently the Events programme includes seasonal celebrations and social and craft activities. External facilitators also deliver photography, printing, painting, ceramic workshops and live music performances.
This is a fantastic opportunity for a confident, proactive individual who is efficient, well organised and has outstanding communication and relationship building skills. You will need to be adaptable and friendly and confident working with a wide range of people including people with spinal injuries and their families, NHS staff, volunteers and many different teams within the charity.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
People with spinal injuries
· Develop relationships with patients and families to ensure the best experience for them in the garden at every stage of their stay
· Maintain a consistent social and arts activity programme appropriate for the current patient group, liaising with the Events Programme Manager and managing the volunteers accordingly
· Organise a programme of seasonal events, reflecting the needs of patients
· Work with the Impact Manager to monitor patient experience and the impact of the garden
· Ensure the garden is managed to allow the correct balance is in place to benefit both patients and external parties (major donors, trusts, corporate groups and other visitors)
NHS staff
· Develop and maintain productive and collaborative relationships with NHS clinical teams and voluntary services
Volunteers
· Recruitment and training of new volunteers
· Manage the team of volunteers to ensure the smooth running of the garden with patient experience at its core
Fundraising and Communications
· Work with fundraising managers, Head Gardener and volunteers to develop opportunities to generate income in the garden through friends, corporate friends and third-party fundraising
· Support corporate sponsor events and fundraising opportunities
· Represent the garden and charity at key events
· Promote the local social media accounts and provide regular updates for content
· Interviews with press/media as required
Administrative
· Ensure all administrative tasks associated with the role are monitored, completed and maintained
· Assist with ensuring the garden rooms are kept clean and tidy at all times
Safeguarding
· Comply with all safeguarding policies and report any concerns to the Safeguarding Lead immediately
· This post is subject to an enhanced PVG check
Assist the Patient Experience Lead with any other tasks as required. It should be noted that the list above is intended to give an overall view of the position and should be taken as guidance only.
Person Specification
Key Criteria
Knowledge and skills
Essential
Experience of leading and managing teams
Experience of working with volunteers
Stakeholder engagement and networking
Delivering social events
Budget management experience
Good IT skills, specifically proficient with Microsoft Office 365: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint
Desirable
Experience of volunteer recruitment and training
Voluntary sector experience
Experience of working with the NHS or in a health care setting
Knowledge and experience of managing petty cash
Experience of SharePoint
Knowledge of using social media to promote activities and events
Interest and understanding of wellbeing benefits of gardens
Experience of therapeutic activities
Digital photography
Qualities
Outstanding interpersonal skills, with the ability to successfully develop new working relationships
Excellent communication skills
Proactive, can-do attitude
Empathetic and kind
Calm under pressure
Ability to prioritise and adapt to the changing needs of each working day
Self-motivated and capable of working with the minimum of direction but understanding the limits of your knowledge and able to seek advice when required
Other requirements
Flexible and able to work one weekend afternoon every week