We want talented and enthusiastic people from all backgrounds to join #TeamMWL, with us you can learn, grow and develop yourself and your career, realising your true ambitions and aspirations.
Whatever you’re looking for in your career, you’ll find it here at MWL.
After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third‑party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e‑mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
Job overview
The Medicine and Urgent Care Division has an opportunity for a Personal Assistant to join its existing team.
The role will be to provide comprehensive secretarial support primarily to Senior Managers within Medicine.
The post holder will be expected to work with the minimum of supervision, using their own initiative, and will carry out duties of the post in such a way as to make a direct and positive contribution to the organisation by enabling the Medicine Senior Team to utilise their time in an efficient and effective manner.
The successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate a flexible approach to meet the needs of the service and provide high quality PA support including diary management, scheduling and attending meetings, minute taking and the screening of emails, production of reports and presenting/disseminating key information/statistics. You will need to be an effective gatekeeper, using your judgement to resolve difficult situations, whilst making decisions regarding appropriateness and priorities along with excellent interpersonal skills and knowledge of all the relevant administrative and PA procedures applicable to the role.
The role will also involve contact on a daily basis with a wide range of stakeholders, both internal and external to the organisation, and therefore requires a confident approach to create and maintain effective working relationships.
Interview Date - To Be Confirmed
Main duties of the job
Provide comprehensive confidential administrative/ secretarial service to the Care Group Management Team inclusive (but not limited to) Divisional Director, Directorate Managers Associate / Assistant Directorate Managers, Head of Quality, Governance Team and Matrons: necessitating contact with external bodies, clinical, nursing, management, executive and clerical staff. Supporting the full governance agenda across the Care Group for all staff within the Management Team. Cross cover is required when secretarial colleagues are on annual/study or sick leave.
Working for our organisation
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 10,500 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
* Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
* Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
* National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
* Provide comprehensive PA and administrative support to the Executive Director(s) in delivering their various roles within the Trust, which includes providing, and receiving complex and sensitive information.
* Manage the Directors’ offices and ensure that the Director(s) is appropriately briefed in advance of scheduled meetings. Responsibilities include:
* Initiating, commissioning and coordinating briefings from senior staff
* Gathering and extracting information from a range of sources
* Topping and tailing documents and providing first draft briefings as appropriate
* Facilitating and servicing Directors’ meetings
* Provide assistance to the Director(s) in relation to their chairperson/membership of local, regional and national committees, including the organisation of venues, co‑ordinating diaries and minute taking.
* Provide support to committees within the Trust at Board level. Also supporting departmental and other ad hoc meetings as required.
* Manage all incoming mail/email, including prioritisation, commissioning briefings, directing others to act and ensuring timely responses from them, disseminating information and ensuring that deadlines are met.
* Provide a link to the Department of Health, NHS England and NHS Improvement, and other local and national agencies at the highest level on a range of issues managed by the Director(s).
* Maintain an up‑to‑date confidential list of all appropriate contacts for the Director(s).
* Undertake specific projects, as dictated, for example Trust Board or Committee administration.
* In the event of planned (or unplanned) absence, ensure there is appropriate administrative support for the Directors’ offices, and work with a designated buddy or other Personal Assistants to enable cover to be maintained for other Directors, the Chief Executive and Chair.
* Manage all incoming mail/email, including prioritisation, commissioning briefings, directing others to act and ensuring timely responses from them, disseminating information and ensuring that deadlines are met.
* Establish systems and processes, which ensure compliance with the Trust’s policies for the procurement of goods and services necessary to the effective running of the department. Review and advise on any budgetary variations.
* Maintain the high profile, standards and quality of governance in all departmental business both internally and externally.
* Manage processes appropriately when co‑ordinating visits to the Trust. Ensuring effective communications with other relevant parties including Department of Health, NHSE and NHSI, Ministers, local and national government offices and own Executive team colleagues.
* Draft and commission responses to letters and queries addressed to the Director(s).
* Source and gather information for the Director(s) to support their business (locally and the wider NHS – e.g. policy areas).
* Prioritise the Directors’ workload effectively to ensure that meetings and reports are provided in a timely fashion ensuring the Director also has ‘thinking time’.
* Maintain and manage an accurate and efficient diary system. Manage a forward planning system to ensure that deadlines are met with other team members and colleagues in other directorates or teams.
* Develop and maintain understanding and knowledge of the broad spectrum of work areas that each Director is responsible for in order to maximise the support given to the Director(s) and to support decision making. Within planning processes, it is essential to be able to accommodate proactive and reactive situations
* Manage the review, development and implementation of post specific operating procedures which comply with governance arrangements, and which support effective working practices.
* Initiate, manage and administrate conferences and events for which the Director(s) has lead responsibility.
* Manage/lead ad‑hoc delegated projects as required.
* Attend and report back from meetings as required.
* Undertake any other reasonable duties required.
Person specification
Our Values
* We are Kind
* We are Open
* We are Inclusive
Qualifications
* GCSE or equivalent: Grades A – C including Mathematics and English
* BTEC/NVQ Level 3 in Business Studies/or equivalent qualification, or graduate seeking rapid development
* Excellent typing/word processing skills, minimum RSA III or equivalent
Knowledge and Experience
* Experience of working as a PA/Secretary to a Senior Director or equivalent
* Experience of working in a busy, complex enterprise
* Experience of using Microsoft Office: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access
* Experience of supporting committees and organising meetings
* Experience of Board administration
* Experience of working in the Civil Service or a Healthcare organisation
* Knowledge of medical terminology
Skills
* Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
* Excellent organisational and administrative skills
* 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 standards of attention to detail and quality of work
* 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
* Shorthand/Audio skills or equivalent
* HPA Loggist trained
Other
* Light physical effort
* Concentration for creating reports, transcribing minutes/there may be interruptions to deal with unforeseen events.
* Staff performance issues, to satisfy colleagues and key stakeholders
Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward‑thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.
Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.
The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under‑represented groups.
As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
If you are having difficulty completing an online application, or require any disability reasonable adjustments, to the application process, please contact Recruitment@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk
We also commit to offering an interview to all armed forces veterans who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.
The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision‑making process.
The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, please click here to check your eligibility before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.
eVisa Update
For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.
Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.
Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:
* Understand how to generate an eVisa share code
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 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.
Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.
If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.
Flexible Working
We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:
* All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
* There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
* Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.
At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.
Working for Team MWL
Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.
The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.
You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.
Additional Information
Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here.
An applicant guide to help and support you with your application and what to expect during your recruitment journey can be accessed in the supporting documents.
Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.
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