Job summary
- Main area
- Administration
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 4
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 409-67618703
- Employer
- Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Ormskirk Hospital
- Town
- Ormskirk
- Salary
- £26,530 - £29,114 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 24/04/2025 23:59
Employer heading

Personal Assistant
NHS AfC: Band 4
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
Provide comprehensive confidential administrative/ secretarial service to the Women’s and Children’s Division inclusive of Director of Operations , Directorate Managers Associate / Assistant Directorate Managers, Head of Quality, Governance Team: necessitating contact with external bodies, clinical, nursing, management, executive and clerical staff. Supporting the full governance agenda across the Division for all staff within the Management Team. Cross cover is required when secretarial colleagues are on annual/study or sick leave.
Please note, this vacancy may close early should a sufficient number of applications be received.
Main duties of the job
- To organise and manage the diaries of the Director of Operations and Deputy Director of Midwifery, Directorate Managers Associate / Assistant Directorate Managers, Governance Team providing a first class secretarial service and ensuring their daily workload and priorities are met.
- Manage any generic mailboxes and calendars within the Division as requested by the Management team
- Plan and organise meetings for the Management Team, liaising with staff across multidisciplinary settings. Arrange and circulate agendas and any paperwork that is required, ensuring this is available for the meeting in appropriate format. Keeping attendance lists. This is also inclusive but not limited to, taking minutes at any required meeting, type and distribute electronic or hard copies of minutes. Typing back at meeting recordings as requested. Ensuring the dissemination of information in required timeframes.
- To prioritise workload ensuring that required reports of a highly confidential nature are provided as requested inclusive of but not limited to, agendas, minutes, meeting notes, telephone call logs, complaint statements, StEIS and/ Serious Incidents Requiring Investigation reporting documentation, are all saved to a groups folder, so all staff are able to access. Do not save any documentation to your own personal folder
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
KEY DUTIES
- To organise and manage the diaries of the Director of Operations and Deputy Director of Midwifery, Directorate Managers Associate / Assistant Directorate Managers, Governance Team providing a first-class secretarial service and ensuring their daily workload and priorities are met.
- Manage any generic mailboxes and calendars within the Division as requested by the Management team
- Plan and organise meetings for the Management Team, liaising with staff across multidisciplinary settings. Arrange and circulate agendas and any paperwork that is required, ensuring this is available for the meeting in appropriate format. Keeping attendance lists. This is also inclusive but not limited to, taking minutes at any required meeting, type and distribute electronic or hard copies of minutes. Typing back at meeting recordings as requested. Ensuring the dissemination of information in required timeframes.
- To prioritise workload ensuring that required reports of a highly confidential nature are provided as requested inclusive of but not limited to, agendas, minutes, meeting notes, telephone call logs, complaint statements, StEIS and/ Serious Incidents Requiring Investigation reporting documentation, are all saved to a groups folder, so all staff are able to access. Do not save any documentation to your own personal folder.
- To act as a point of contact within the Division, Trust and to external users ensuring that communication links are always maintained.
- To produce and circulate rota’s as requested by the Management Team. Including liaising with all levels of staff, internally and externally.
- To support and assist in the collation of information for the management team, for weekend plan, Easter plan, Christmas plan and any other additional plans that may be required.
- To collate the cancelled operations data from the previous day and ensure that the daily sitrep are completed within the timeframe required. All patient level data is checked and submitted onto the cancelled operations database daily.
- Produce high quality letters and reports using detailed knowledge of software packages such as Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, Access and Powerpoint.
- To co-ordinate additional activity payments for relevant specialities and ensure signed off appropriately with Manager.
- Ensure that any correspondence and communication is uploaded and recorded in real time on the Datix system for all complaints, telephone calls, incidents, panels, risk register, StEIS reporting as required by the management team.
- To be the cover for the Complaints Co-ordinator, and ensure focus for patients, relatives and carers, contacting them on receipt of complaint to explain the complaints process, agree timeframe. Communicate with all levels of staff to ensure statements are received and escalate to the Directorate Manager in a timely manner.
- On receipt of statements ensure all aspects of complaint have been answered and addressed then give to Directorate Managers to collate a response for the complainant.
- Update weekly complaint working paper, monitor and chase up complaint statements on a daily basis and escalate to Directorate Manager.
- Arrange and attend complaint meetings taking minutes and transcribe back in a timely manner to send out to complainants.
- Maintenance of annual leave and sickness records for Management Team and any teams that may fall within this remit, recording on either ESR, or eRoster
- Taking receipt of recording of travel claims and preparation of Staff Variation Lists (SVL) and ensure that ESR is kept up to date in real time.
- Arrange any training or education events, this includes booking venues and hospitality. Design Flyers and send information out in advance to attendees and keep a record of attendance.
- Copy typing or audio typing as appropriate within the role and directed by the management team to assist with meetings and any governance panels.
- To assist with typing of clinics as directed by the Administration Services Manager or Associate Directorate Manager, if workload reviewed and appropriate.
- Carry out any auditing or validation of patient waiting lists, or patient details as and when requested by the management team
- Search the intranet and internet for particular policies and guidelines as requested by the Management Team.
- Working as a team to ensure that adequate stationary and relevant stocks within the department are kept to an acceptable level.
- Prepare Human Resources administration as necessary, including staff change of details forms, TRACs, variation forms, termination forms. Ensure that any new starters forms are completed, and orientation programmes are collating prior to a member of staff starting in post.
- Co-ordinate and monitor compliance with mandatory training and appraisal activity for the Care Group and reporting compliance.
- To undertake tasks delegated by the Managers to assist in meeting activity targets and delivering Key Performance Indicators, ensuring deadlines are met.
- Provide administrative and secretarial support to all Managers within the Department and Trust in the absence of her/his secretary.
- Respond to requests for information from service users and others who call the department, in person or by telephone, with tact and sensitivity. Give appropriate non-clinical advice and refer on to the most suitable person, ensuring that all queries are followed up as soon as possible.
- Maintain accurate and efficient records, manage filing and brought forward systems. Suggest and implement new and improved systems and ways of working where this will improve efficiency and effectiveness.
- Deal effectively with mail, e-mails, telephone enquiries and facsimiles from within and outside of the Trust, communicating all relevant information to the Manager/Matron as appropriate.
- To co-operate with the introduction of new technologies.
- Ensure complaints are investigated in accordance with Trust Directive. To assist senior members of staff and all wards in ensuring targets are achieved. To provide day to day guidance to all staff involved in complaints handling
- To work closely with Senior Members of the Division and Complaints Co-ordinators and follow up statements daily with all disciplines of the Trust. Deal with telephone complaints appropriately.
- Ensure that matters of a confidential nature, including information relating to staff and patients, are not divulged to any unauthorised person.
- Take part in the Trust appraisal process, agreeing objectives and a personal development plan on a yearly basis.
- Attend mandatory training and maintain up to date administrative and secretarial skills. Partake in any training that may be recommended in terms of personal development.
- Retrieval of case sheets from Records Department as and when required, whether in hard copy or printing from system (EDMS) and also accessing the Trust’s Medway database for patient details and timelines as and when required.
- Deal with patient enquiries and pass on information either verbally or written.
- Cross Cover for all other administration staff within the care group management office in the absence of staff due to annual leave and sickness
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- GSCE Standard or Higher
- RSA 3 – Typing / Word Processing
- Secretarial Diploma or equivalent
- Business Administration NVQ Level 3 or equivalent experience
Desirable criteria
- Shorthand / Speed Writing
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
- Minute Taking
- Microsoft Office Experience
- Ability to work as part of a team
- Experience in a similar role or equivalent knowledge
- Previous Secretarial Experience
- Medical Audio Typing
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of Trust computer systems
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent IT Skills
- Excellent organisational skills
- Ability to communicate professionally at all levels
- Excellent Word Processing and Keyboard skills
- Ability to organise workload effectively and prioritise
- Use of all Microsoft Office software, Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint
- Ability to use initiative to solve problems
- Highly developed interpersonal skills
- Ability to use own initiative and work independently
- Capability to adapt to most situations
- Reliable and conscientious
- Ability to maintain control of stressful situations
Other
Essential criteria
- Comply with Trust policies and procedures at all times
- Ability and willingness to undergo further training for the post
- Maintain confidentiality at all times
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dawn Meredith
- Job title
- Deputy Director of Midwifery
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07551122132
List jobs with Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in Administrative Services or all sectors