Executive Assistant

Merseywestlancs; Knowsley; Remote; GBP 32,000 - 39,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible Working

NHS Pension scheme

27 days annual leave pro rata

Staff Health and Wellbeing programme

Job summary

Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Trust is seeking an Executive Assistant to support Directors and deliver corporate objectives across a local and national footprint. You will manage delegated projects and provide a comprehensive admin service to ensure the smooth running of the Directors’ offices.

The role requires excellent typing, MS Office skills, and the ability to work in a busy environment. Flexible working and a strong NHS pension are among the benefits offered.

Qualifications

• Executive Secretary’s Diploma or equivalent experience at the same level.
• RSA III or equivalent qualification and/or experience.
• European Computer Driving Licence or equivalent qualification and/ or experience.
• Experience as PA/Secretary to a Senior Director or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Support Director(s) to deliver corporate objectives and manage delegated projects.
• Provide a comprehensive administrative service to ensure smooth running of Directors’ offices.
• Coordinate meetings and support committees and reporting processes.
• Maintain professional communications with discretion and sensitivity.

Skills

PA/Secretary experience

Medical terminology

Microsoft Office

Shorthand/Audio skills

LEAN principles

HPA Loggist

Typing/Word processing

Communication skills

Education

Executive Secretary’s Diploma or significant equivalent experience

BTEC/NVQ Level 3 in Business Studies

RSA III or equivalent qualification

European Computer Driving Licence or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Word

Excel

PowerPoint

Access

Outlook

Job description

We want talented and enthusiastic people from all backgrounds to join #TeamMWL, with us you can learn, grow and develop yourself and your career, realising your true ambitions and aspirations.

Whatever you’re looking for in your career, you’ll find it here at MWL.

Main area Admin Grade NHS AfC: Band 5 Contract 2 x Permanent positions and 1 x 12 Month Fixed Term position available Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 409-8332574

Site Whiston Hospital Town Prescot Salary £32,073 - £39,043 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 16/11/2026 23:59 Interview date 23/11/2026

Job overview

The Executive Assistant is important role that supports Director(s) to deliver his/her part of the Trust’sCorporate Objectives as well as his or her responsibilities in any events or activities theDirector(s) may participate in across a wider local or national footprint. He/she will undertake a wide range of administrative tasks, including taking personal responsibility for a range of delegated projects and business to support Director(s). This is in addition to providing a comprehensive administrative service to ensure the smooth running of the Directors’ offices.

The Executive Assistant also operates in a wide network of communications, and must at all times promote sensitivity and tact, to ensure the effective achievement of key objectives.

Main duties of the job

The Executive office is overseen by an Office Manager, who also supports the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive of the Trust. Together with six Executive Assistants support is given to 10 Executive Directors to ensure the smooth running of the Executive office and the achievement of the Trust objectives.

Interview date 23 November (at Whiston Hospital) - The interview process will consist of an assessment as well as the interview.

Closing Date 16 November

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.

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

The Executive Assistant is required to support the Director(s) to deliver his/her part of the Trust’s corporate objectives as well as his or her responsibilities in any relationships or activities the Director(s) may participate in across a wider local or national footprint. He/she will undertake a wide range of managerial and administrative tasks, including taking personal responsibility for a range of delegated projects and business. This is in addition to providing a comprehensive administrative service to ensure the smooth running of the Directors’ offices.

The Executive Assistant also operates in a wide network of communications, and must at all times promote sensitivity and tact, to ensure the effective achievement of key result areas.

Our Values

• We are Kind
• We are Open
• We are Inclusive

Qualifications

• Executive Secretary’s Diploma or significant equivalent experience at the same level and/ or equivalent qualification
• BTEC/NVQ Level 3 in Business Studies/or equivalent qualification, or graduate seeking rapid development and/ or experience
• Excellent typing/word processing skills, minimum RSA III or equivalent qualification and/ or experience
• European Computer Driving Licence or equivalent qualification and/ or experience

Experience

• Experience of working as a PA/Secretary to a Senior Director or equivalent
• Experience of working in a busy, complex enterprise
• Experience of using Microsoft Office – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access
• Experience of Microsoft Outlook or similar email package
• Experience of supporting committees and organising meetings
• Knowledge of medical terminology

Skills

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills
• Ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines
• Ability to work without supervision and use own initiative
• Ability to deal with all difficult situations that may arise
• Ability to work flexible and manage competing priorities
• Consistently high standards of attention to detail and quality of work
• Shorthand/Audio skills or equivalent
• Ability to work as a member of a team
• Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with people from a wide range of personal and professional backgrounds
• Knowledge of LEAN principles
• HPA Loggist trained

Thank you for considering an application to work for Mersey West Lancashire NHS Trust. MWL is an exciting and forward-thinking NHS Trust who are one of the best places to work for in England.

Given sometimes we receive a high volume of applications to work for us, please be aware, that we may close a vacancy earlier than stated should a sufficient number of applications be received from which a shortlist can be confirmed. Therefore, you are advised to apply at your earliest convenience.

The Trust may contact you during the recruitment process for your feedback on your experience. We always aim for continuous improvement in our practice.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We actively cultivate a professional environment of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect for all individuals. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and value the unique skills, perspective and experience you bring. We are grounded in the belief that diversity enhances our collective strength, fostering innovation and excellence within our workforce. We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion/belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we commit to offering an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job (the essential criteria) listed in the personal specification. If you wish to apply under this Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please indicate this on the online application form.

The Trust operates anonymous shortlisting where no personal information about you, including your name or personal details are shared with the recruiting manager. No equality information is shared at any time during the recruitment process with the recruiting manager or other people involved in the decision-making process.

The equality monitoring information you provide is used in the following situations: to review our recruitment practices; where a job is limited to a specific person to verify their eligibility to apply; and to offer disability reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Following the recent update on UK immigration policy for those on a Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, before applying for this post as we may be unable to provide sponsorship.

eVisa Update

For successful candidates on selected work and study visa routes, who have completed and paid for their applications will no longer receive a visa vignette in passport as evidence of their permission to enter the UK.

Instead, you will be issued with an eVisa only, which is accessed by creating a UKVI account.

Before travelling to the UK, we advise applicants to:

• Understand how to generate an eVisa share code

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

If this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Please note if applicable, applicants will be required to pay for their DBS check. Costs are deducted from salary following appointment.

If you have not already done so, you are therefore encouraged to enrol for the DBS Update Service to which a small annual fee of £13 per year applies.

Flexible Working

We actively support flexible working patterns throughout MWL. Changes made to the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook mean that:

• All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
• There is no limit on the number of requests they can make.
• Employees have the right to make requests, have them considered, regardless of the reason.

At Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we will consider requests for flexible working. We would also encourage you to also discuss flexible working options at interview stage.

Working for Team MWL

Staff recognition is especially important to us; as well as performance reviews and appraisals, we recognise staff through Employee of the month. Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

The Trust is a non-smoking across all our sites. Failure to follow this rule could lead to disciplinary action. For more information, see the Smoke Free NHS website.

You will be expected to undertake the Trusts' commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

The Trust will not accept applications which are found to be AI generated and will check all applications against AI detection software.

Additional Information

Before applying, we encourage you to review the Trusts Values and Behaviours which are We are KIND, We are OPEN, We are INCLUSIVE, which can be found here .

Good luck with your application. We hope to welcome you to Team MWL very soon.