Welcome from our Chief Executive - Samantha Allen

Our organisation is expanding and we're looking for people with the right values, skills and/or potential to join us. We need people with energy, expertise, enthusiasm to help us provide the very best possible specialist NHS mental health and learning disability care. This involves helping us achieve our strategy to improve the quality of life for the communities we serve through People, Prevention and Partnerships.

So what can we offer you in return?

We're an organisation which puts people first. We'll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. We'll help you learn, acquire new skills and gain further experience to support your career development. And we'll provide the opportunity for you to bring your fresh ideas to work about how we can do things differently and continue improving.

You will also be joining a health and care system committed to working together to do the best we can for the communities we serve. Above all, at Sussex Partnership you'll have the chance to make a difference to the lives of the patients, carers and families across our communities.

If you like the sound of that, then come and join our team.

Samantha Allen

Chief Executive

Job overview

Do you have experience of working in a fast-paced secretarial/ administrative role?

Are you able to demonstrate excellent communication and interpersonal skills?

Do you have a passion for improving the lives of young people?

If so, our Band 3 Team Secretary role may be just right for you!

This is a permanent, part-time Team Secretary post which will support the CAMHS Learning Disability Service (15 hours per week) and Brighton and Hove CAMHS (7.5 hours per week). This role will involve working across sites; Seaside View, Brighton General Hospital and the Aldrington Centre, Hove.

The successful candidate will provide excellent administration/secretarial support to a busy team of mental health professionals with an enthusiastic, flexible and creative approach. Candidates will preferably have administration/secretarial experience in a medical setting and be proficient in the use of Microsoft Office including Outlook, Word and Excel. Previous CareNotes experience would be an advantage. The ability to foster positive working relationships and being a strong team player is essential.

Once you have completed our induction and training programme, you will be provided with the autonomy to work independently and complete your role to the best of your ability. You will receive excellent supervision and support and we are committed to staff professional development and encourage in-house training opportunities.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will be providing administrative/secretarial support to our clinical team, giving them the support they need to provide exceptional care to children and young people across Sussex.

This is a busy and varied post with a lot of telephone communication and use of Microsoft Office. You will provide support to a broad multi-disciplinary team dealing with queries from clients, Doctors, other agencies and members of the public, as well liaising with other professionals from a variety of community settings (including schools).

Main duties will include:

• arranging clinical appointments, including room bookings.
• data inputting.
• processing of new referrals.
• typing and formatting clinical correspondence.
• liaising with service users and families to arrange appointments.
• support minute taking.
• reception support.
• dealing with queries from clients, Doctors, other agencies and members of the public.

Good communication skills are essential together with the ability to deal sensitively with people who may be distressed at times.

Working for our organisation

We provide mental health and learning disability care for children, young people and adults across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.

Working in Sussex:

• Travel easily between coast and countryside, with a blend of picturesque villages and seaside towns
• Embrace the city life with great access to visit Brighton and London
• With easy access to Gatwick and Heathrow and excellent railway links across the UK there is plenty of opportunity for adventure

We'd love you to join our organisation that is rated 'good' overall and 'outstanding' for caring by the CQC. Our staff agree, in our recent staff survey 82% told us that they recognise that care for patients is our top priority.

Key staff survey results include:

• 70% highlighting flexible working opportunities as a key point for satisfaction at work
• 79% reporting feeling able to make suggestions to improve the work within their team
• 77% identifying the opportunities to show initiative in their roles

We encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/ life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, home-working, part time hours, flexible start/ finish times or anything else. If it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
In order to be a successful Band 3 Team Secretary in our team you will have:

• Experience in an admin/ secretarial role
• Excellent computer skills, particularly with Microsoft Office
• A passion for improving the lives of children and young people suffering from mental health difficulties

It would also be advantageous if you:

• Are experienced working in and admin role in a health or social care setting
• Have previous medical secretarial experience or experience using medical terminology

Person specification

Qualifications
Essential criteria

• RSA 3 or equivalent experience and evidence of further practical experience or equivalent
• Good standard of secondary education; GCSE at Grade C or above or equivalent

Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria

• Proven experience of a range of secretarial procedures
• Experience of producing documents to a high standard of presentation with good accuracy

Desirable criteria

• Proven experience of working as an administrator

Sussex Partnership NHS FT is committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. Our workforce is currently under-represented from Black and Minority, Ethnic and disabled communities and we would welcome applications from these communities.

We regret that we are unable to advise candidates if they have not been shortlisted. If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date please assume that you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

In the event of an excessive number of applicants the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy earlier than indicated.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust takes its responsibilities for the safeguarding and protection of children and young people and vulnerable adults very seriously and expects this of all its employees and bank workers. The Trust works with adult and children's social care to ensure that the integrated service has systems in place to equip staff and bank workers with the knowledge and skills to recognize abuse, and take action to safeguard and protect vulnerable adults and children and young people. It is expected that all staff and bank workers familiarise themselves with the appropriate structures and policies and with the Sussex child protection and safeguarding procedures and the Sussex multi-agency policy and procedures for safeguarding vulnerable adults and undertake the relevant essential training and further training appropriate to their role.

Successful candidates are normally offered salaries at the bottom of the relevant salary range. However, where previous or equivalent NHS experience in a similar role can be demonstrated and evidenced, this may be taken into consideration when setting the starting salary.