Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

About

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH) is a national centre of excellence in the provision of specialist children's health care, currently delivering the widest range of specialist care of any children's hospital in the UK. It is the only specialist Biomedical Research Centre for paediatrics, the largest centre in the UK for children and young people with heart or brain problems, and the largest centre in Europe for children and young people with cancer. It works in partnership with the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH), part of University College London, and together they form the largest paediatric research and teaching centre in the UK.

The hospital at Great Ormond Street is the only exclusively specialist children's hospital in the UK. It does not have an Accident and Emergency department and only accepts specialist referrals from other hospitals and community services. The population of children and young people served by the hospital is characterised by those with multiple disabilities and/or health problems and rare and congenital (present at birth) conditions. Many children and young people need the help of different specialist teams. Improvements in health care and diagnosis mean that many children and young people have dramatically improved survival rates and more therapeutic options than was the case 10 years ago. Sadly though, many of the children cared for at GOSH still have life threatening or life-limiting conditions.

The hospital receives over 255,000 patient visits (inpatient admissions or outpatient appointments) a year, and carries our approximately 18,800 operations each year.

The hospital has 383 patient beds, including 44 intensive care beds (21 CICU, 15 PICU and 8 NICU). Many of the children and young people on our wards require high dependency care or are classed as ward intensive care, requiring one-to-one nursing.

Around 5,800 full-time and part-time staff work at the hospital. The ICH has around 600 staff. Many senior staff have roles in both organisations.

The hospital has approximately 67 paediatric specialties, the widest range of any hospital in the UK, which uniquely enables it to diagnose and pioneer treatments for children and young people with highly complex, rare or multiple conditions. It has 19 highly specialised national services.

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Key details

Location

SiteGreat Ormond street Hospital for Children NHS TrustAddressGreat Ormond Street HospitalTownLondonPostcodeWC1N 3JHMajor / Minor RegionLondon

Contract type & working pattern

ContractFixed term: 12 months (Maternity cover)Hours37.5 hours per week

• Full time
• Flexible working
• Home or remote working

Salary

Salary£54,320 - £60,981 pro rata, per annum inclusiveSalary periodYearlyGrade(Band 7)

Specialty

Main areaCommuinications

Job overview

Reporting to the External Communications Lead, this role will be focused on managing the delivery of high quality proactive and reactive media and external communications service for the hospital and to a lesser extent its research partner, the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

The postholder will be an experienced external communications manager, dynamic and proactive with extensive experience of both issues and reputation management, crisis communications and securing high profile media coverage.

They will live and breathe the news agenda, have a keen eye for a story and know the importance of effective external stakeholder communications. They will also have a passion and a deep understanding of the importance of digital and social media and have experience of delivering a fully integrated approach to communications.

A background in public sector communications and excellent writing skills are essential.

Working in a busy communications office, the post-holder will play a key role in supporting the External Communications Lead and Associate Director of Communications to develop an integrated External Communications Strategy for theorganisation. They will deliver positive high profile PR stories and handle issues and enquiries to a high standard.

They will be part of the wider Communications team & will hold direct senior relationships with key staff including briefing members of the hospital’s Executive Management Team on high profile issues.

Advert

• To ensure the delivery of high profile, national PR coverage for Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, across print, digital and broadcast channels.

• Working with the External Communications Leadto help develop and implement a key PR and Communications Strategy to increase overall public awareness of the Trust,it’swork,patientsand staff.

• To promote the Trust’s key clinical areas, ensuring that a proactive approach is taken toidentifyingstrong stories, and the communication output supports and reinforces the Trust’s brand and key messages.

• To lead on issues and proactive projects drawing in support from the wider team as needed to formulate strategy for proactive, reactive media and crisis communications issues.

• To proactively help manage the Trust’s reputation. This could includeidentifyingreputational risks for the Trust, drafting or advising on reactive media statements, providing advice to senior stakeholders, and leading on developing communications plans.

• Toinitiateand develop good working relationships with journalists,editorsandprogrammemakers at all levels of the media. This will include briefing and conducting meetings with senior journalists to build strong contacts and create positive, ongoing relationships.

Working for our organisation

GOSH is committed to recruiting the best person for the job, based solely on their ability and individual merit as measured against the criteria for the role; through a process that is fair, open, consistent and free from bias and discrimination.

We are committed to being a diverse and inclusive employer and foster a culture where all staff are valued, respected and acknowledged. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, disability status or length of time spent unemployed.

We particularly welcome applications from BAME communities, people with disabilities and/or long-term health conditions and LGBT+ community members.

We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all applicants and employees are treated fairly and consistently. We are proud to be accredited as a Disability Confident Employer, a member of Business Disability Forum and a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

We have active and Executive supported BAME, LGBT+ and Allies, Disability and Long-Term Health Conditions and Women’s staff networks. Staff networks are employee-led groups formed around interests, issues and a common bond or background. Staff network members create a positive and inclusive work environment at Great Ormond Street Hospital by actively contributing to the Trust’s mission, values and efforts specific to inclusion. All of our staff networks are open to any employee.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents please view the attachment/s below.

Please be advised that:

The recruitment process for all admin and clerical roles at Bands 2-4 will be a two stage recruitment process whereby shortlisted candidates will undertake an online literacy, numeracy, ICT and typing test. Only those candidates who pass the competency test will proceed to a formal interview.

The closing date given is a guide only. There may be some occasions where we have to close a vacancy once sufficient applications have been received. It is therefore advisable that you submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification criteria for this post will be shortlisted. Please note that where high volumes of applicants have been received, additional criteria may on occasion be used to determine the final shortlist.

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) .

We are an accredited Living Wage Employer.

Applicant requirements

info The postholder will have regular contact with vulnerable people 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.

Person specification

Academic/Professional qualifications

Essential criteria

• Educated to degree level, in a relevant subject, i.e. communications, English
• Significant workplace experience in a busy press office

Experience/Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Demonstrable and considerable experience of proactive and reactive media relations and issues management in the public sector.
• Skilled in planning complex activities, projects and events including press conferences, photo calls and visits.
• Proven experience of planning, delivering and evaluating complex integrate national PR campaigns
• Experience of high-level issues management and advising on approaches to engaging the media on these
• Experience of prioritising and optimising reactive media requests.
• Strong understanding of national, regional and specialist media.

Skills/Abilities

Essential criteria

• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills, including the ability to persuade senior colleagues and process highly complex or sensitive information.
• Ability to network / liaise and brief a wide range of people including journalists, senior leaders, experts and families.
• Ability to analyse and interpret complex facts and scenarios, compare options and make decisions on how to respond to sensitive media requests.
• Proven ability to both work as part of a team and independently – leading on projects and specific comms areas
• Ability to prioritise a heavy workload, meet deadlines and juggle multiple projects – often needing to concentrate on complex tasks and research in between interruptions and urgent requests.

GOSH Culture and Values

Essential criteria

• Consolidated GOSH Values

Documents

• Job Description & Person Specification (, 434.4)PDFKB
• Diversity and Inclusion (, 166.5)PDFKB
• Staff Benefits Leaflet (, 85.5)PDFKB

Further details / informal visits contact

NameEmily Pritchard-BrownJob titleExternal Communications LeadEmail address [email protected]