Welcome from our Chief Executive

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.

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 suffering from neurodevelopmental difficulties?

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

This is a permanent post in our developing neurodevelopmental pathway and is part of a wider, well established Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT). We are dedicated to providing a high-quality ADHD service that complements the work of our wider CAMHS colleagues.

This post is part of a job share, and the working days would be on a Monday and Tuesday.

Base is negotiable.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will be providing administrative 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, typing and processing of referrals. 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 as the competing demands of our clinical team.

You will be working with a number of teams and will need to develop strong links with Neurodevelopmental colleagues and the rest of the CAMHS teams, including psychiatry.

Once you have completed our thorough 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.

To protect the health and safety of our staff/workers, patients, and those attending our sites, we encourage our workforce to get fully vaccinated against COVID

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

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
REQUIREMENTS:

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

See attached Job Description and Person Specification for full details.

SPFT staff have the capacity to work from home remotely where applicable and in agreement with your line manager.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we reach a sufficient number of applications.

Please apply using the link in this advert, or for more information explore the attachments or contact:

Anna Pryor - Admin and information coordinator - 07738758239

Anna.pryor @sussexpartnership.nhs.uk

(We are happy to arrange informal visits - currently Covid dependant)

Person specification

Qualifications
Essential criteria

• NVQ 3 or equivalent
• 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
• Experience of maintaining office systems
• Experience of working as part of a team

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in the NHS

Skills
Essential criteria

• Ability to deal sensitively with staff and clients in person and on the telephone. Ability to communicate effectively
• Ability to liaise on behalf of the team both within and outside the organisation
• Awareness of the importance of confidentiality - ability to work within appropriate boundaries.
• Ability to use good judgement skills when dealing with enquiries and problems
• Ability to be able to plan workload, manage diaries, organise appointments, planning workload associated with key meeting dates
• Planning, organising and facilitating meetings and minute taking
• Ability to work on own initiative and prioritise own workload
• Ability to work to tight deadlines and deal with conflicting demands
• Ability to work collaboratively within a team.
• Maintains stationery stock levels
• Knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Power point

Abilities
Essential criteria

• Ability to be able to concentrate on specific activities for prolonged periods of time
• Ability to be able to deal with conflicting demands
• Ability to deal with multiple deadlines
• Ability to deal with emotionally sensitive and challenging material
• Ability to use computer equipment

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.