Deputy Director of Communications

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West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.

We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.

Job overview

We're looking to appoint a Deputy Director of Communications to provide expert operational leadership of the Trust's Communications service and team.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with senior leadership experience to play a key role in shaping and delivering the Trust's communications strategy, major programmes and service delivery.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will be responsible for overseeing activity within the Communications team and support to clinical and corporate services. They will be experienced in engaging with system partners and external stakeholders to deliver mutual objectives and effective outcomes.

We're looking for someone with the capability to influence at a senior level, working closely with the Trust's leadership and senior management teams to advise on sensitive, complex and high profile issues.

The successful candidate will lead and motivate a team of multi-disciplinary communications professionals, supporting them to deliver a high-quality communications service to staff and stakeholders.

Working for our organisation

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ 4,500 staff, of whom 56% are BME. Our turnover for 2023-24 is £426m.

The Trust is rated as 'Good' overall by the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as 'Outstanding'.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached.

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Person specification

Qualification

Essential criteria

• Masters degree or equivalent experience & knowledge
• Recognised qualification in communications, journalism, public relations or marketing, or equivalent experience and knowledge
• Evidence of continued professional development

Experience

Essential criteria

• Extensive leadership experience at a senior level within a communications function
• Extensive experience of a broad range of communications disciplines including internal communications, digital communications, media relations, stakeholder engagement & events
• Extensive experience of advising on and successfully delivering communications strategies
• Specialist experience of managing the media on positive, sensitive and crisis issues, including advising directors and experience of working with external partners
• Significant experience of line management, including conducting appraisals and managing performance
• Extensive experience of working across organisational & professional boundaries
• Experience of drafting papers and correspondence at a senior level

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Ability to demonstrate a thorough understanding of NHS structures, policy & current issues
• Excellent understanding of measuring and evaluating communications performance
• Excellent working knowledge of web content management programmes
• Detailed understanding of effective media and reputation management strategies

Desirable criteria

• Understanding of co -production principles & effective patient and public involvement practices
• Understanding of Data Protection & Caldicott principles

Skills

Essential criteria

• Excellent written, verbal, editorial and presentational skills.
• Highly developed negotiation, persuasion and influencing skills.
• Ability to analyse, to understand complex subjects & make them understandable to different audiences.
• Excellent judgment, with the ability to analyse issues quickly and make decisions, especially when responding to major incidents.
• Resilience, with a calm, professional approach and the ability to deliver under pressure and to tight and often changing deadlines
• Tact and diplomacy, dealing effectively with challenging issues and people

As an employee of West London NHS Trust, you have a responsibility to maintain a sound understanding of, and a commitment to uphold the National Health Service values and principles set out in the NHS Constitution.

We reserve the right to close adverts prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to West London NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, you will be required to undergo a pre-employment checks which can take between 4-8 weeks . After which your information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system (ESR ).

Please ensure you include email addresses for your referees which MUST be at supervisory or managerial capacity covering the last 3 years of employment to date to avoid delay in the recruitment process.

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).

West London NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Documents to download

• Candidate Pack (PDF, 1.1MB)