Job summary
- Main area
- Legal Services
- Grade
- Band 5
- Contract
- 12 months (Fixed term contract to cover maternity leave of a key role within legal services. EED 20 April 2026)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 210-2025-109
- Employer
- Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Countess of Chester Hospital
- Town
- Chester
- Salary
- £29,970 - £36,483 pa
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 10/03/2025 23:59
- Interview date
- 18/03/2025
Employer heading
Legal Assistant - Inquests
Band 5
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, staff pride themselves on not only leading through clinical excellence, but also by creating an environment where all staff are valued and appreciated. To achieve this, the Trust has embarked on an exciting new strategy focused on continuous improvement.
Our vision is to improve the lives of our community and provide excellence in healthcare, through partnership and innovation
Our High Performance Culture will support everyone to be the best version of themselves by being true to our Trust vision, values and behaviours.
We welcome applications from colleagues from our local and neighbouring communities of all backgrounds and identities, who are currently under-represented within our region such as Black, Asian, Minority ethnic and those with disabilities.
As a region we are reviewing the way we work, and exploring how new working practices that support flexible working can create a positive work-life balance. As part of our recruitment process we will explore how our inclusive employment policies, flexible working, staff engagement forums, Trust facilities and services can be of mutual benefit.
Job overview
Working Full time 37.5 Hours per week - Applications will be considered on a Fulltime or job share basis
We have an exciting opportunity to be part of the experienced legal team at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
The Legal Services team falls within Corporate Services and works closely with colleagues across the Trust to resolve legal issues and contributes to the governance structure.
We are recruiting for fixed term maternity cover for 12 months until March 2026. The role can be worked on a full time or job share basis and will involve obtaining reports and statements for coroner's inquest investigations and providing support for witnesses in the lead up to and at the inquest hearing.
Main duties of the job
The successful applicant(s) will need to have prior experience of working in a relevant legal environment and ideally have experience of working in a hospital legal team supporting inquest investigations.
Primary responsibility lies in obtaining reports and statements to support coroner's inquest investigations and providing support for witnesses in the lead up to and at the inquest hearing.
The full remit of the job can be found within the job description.
Working for our organisation
The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides services to West Cheshire and to Welsh patients covered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. Its services are provided from three locations:
• The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 438 general and acute beds.
• Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 56 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility.
• Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population.
The Trust employs over 6258 staff (headcount) which includes temporary bank staff and provides acute emergency and elective services, primary care direct access services and obstetric services to a population of approximately 407,000. This includes 357,000 residents in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire which has a population of approximately 50,000.
The Trust is a busy district general hospital and in 2022/2023, there were more than 503,342 patient attendances (inpatient, outpatient and diagnostic) ranging from a simple outpatient appointment to major cancer surgery. This is an increase of nearly 10,000 compared to the previous year when there were 494,387 patient attendances.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
See Job Description for further details.
Recruitment selection processes are based on competence (see Person specification) and values.
Please note applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment. The cost of the DBS application is £27.50 (standard) or £55.50 (enhanced), this cost will be deducted from your salary over the first three months of employment.
You are encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service. A small annual fee of £16 per year applies.
New entrants to the NHS will commence on the minimum of the scale stated above.
Applicants are advised to apply early as if a large number of applications are received for this post, we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date.
Good luck with your application.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Degree level qualification or equivalent experience
- Legal qualification fully/part completed or minimum 12 months experience in a legal setting
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant proven experience in office administration.
- Proven time management and organisation skills and the ability to work to tight deadlines
Desirable criteria
- Previous NHS Experience
- Knowledge of computerised medical records systems.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Application numbers
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Sarah Harper-Lea
- Job title
- Head of Legal Services
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01244 366463
- Additional information
Helen Andrews
01244 365301
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