Policy and Communications Officer

NHS; Leeds; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job description

We are seeking a skilled and motivated policy and communications professional to join NHS Resolution's Corporate Affairs Directorate.

The Policy and Communications Officer is responsible for working on a variety of policy subject matters, drafting corporate responses to high-profile consultations and briefing senior leaders on high-profile patient safety and maternity topics. They will also plan, co-ordinate the delivery of, and evaluate high quality communications and engagement activities.

What we are looking for

• Degree educated or equivalent experience in a policy, public affairs or communications role
• Excellent written and communications skills
• The ability to present complex or sensitive information clearly and concisely for different audiences
• Ability to develop and maintain strong relations with internal and external stakeholders
• Experience of drafting briefings notes, readouts and/or reports with support from senior staff
• Good analytical skills
• Highly developed organisational skills
• Strong teamworking skills
• Good knowledge of the healthcare system and its key stakeholders

Main duties of the job

As the Policy and Communications Officer, you will work on:

• Supporting the response to consultations, producing accurate and timely read-outs of external publications and monitoring the external environment, identifying short and medium-term risks for the organisation.
• Generating reports and position papers on a regular basis in relation to policy development in anticipation of emerging themes across the health and justice landscapes that may be relevant to the teams work.
• Investigating, researching and documenting areas of NHS Resolutions work and/or related areas (e.g. maternity and patient safety).
• Providing policy, communication and engagement advice to managers, staff and committees.
• Using audience insights to develop targeted and influential policy, communication and engagement outputs. Undertaking formal evaluation of activities to monitor impact, adjust approaches in real-time as necessary and to make recommendations for the future use of analysis and evaluation.
• Developing, implementing and evaluating communication projects with clear objectives and evaluation methods, which support delivery of the Corporate Affairs annual work plan.
• Influencing and persuading staff and partners on appropriate engagement approaches and delivery options.
• Formatting technical information in ways that are simple to understand by a variety of audiences; e.g. via written correspondence, presentations, direct promotion, website, social media, newsletter articles and media releases.

About us

We are NHS Resolution, an arms length body operating under the Department of Health and Social Care. At our core, we specialise in claims management, dispute resolution, and knowledge sharing within the NHS. Our purpose is to provide expertise to the NHS to resolve concerns fairly, share learning for improvement and preserve resources for patient care. We have over 830 employees across the UK.

The Corporate Affairs directorate is a corporate function that supports and promotes the work of NHS Resolution among our indemnity scheme members and beneficiaries, system partners and other stakeholders, and ensures we have a robust approach to Corporate Governance and Knowledge and Information Management. We manage stakeholder engagement through deploying a variety of channels and communications activities and approaches relevant to each of our target audiences, ensuring that NHS Resolution leverages its unique expertise across the health and justice systems.

Corporate Affairs oversees the development of our corporate strategy, and associated performance planning and reporting. The directorate also contributes to the analysis and formulation of health and justice policy. Through all this we maximise the organisations impact in delivering fair resolution and learning from harm in support of delivering NHS Resolutions strategic objectives, namely fair resolution, data and insights, and maternity and neonatal care.

Please see our careers site for further details about us.

Job responsibilities

What you’ll be doing

As the Policy and Communications Officer, you will work on:

• Supporting the response to consultations, producing accurate and timely read-outs of external publications and monitoring the external environment, identifying short and medium-term risks for the organisation.
• Generating reports and position papers on a regular basis in relation to policy development in anticipation of emerging themes across the health and justice landscapes that may be relevant to the team’s work.
• Investigating, researching and documenting areas of NHS Resolution’s work and/or related areas (e.g. maternity and patient safety).
• Providing policy, communication and engagement advice to managers, staff and committees.
• Using audience insights to develop targeted and influential policy, communication and engagement outputs. Undertaking formal evaluation of activities to monitor impact, adjust approaches in real-time as necessary and to make recommendations for the future use of analysis and evaluation.
• Developing, implementing and evaluating communication projects with clear objectives and evaluation methods, which support delivery of the Corporate Affair’s annual work plan.
• Influencing and persuading staff and partners on appropriate engagement approaches and delivery options.
• Formatting technical information in ways that are simple to understand by a variety of audiences; e.g. via written correspondence, presentations, direct promotion, website, social media, newsletter articles and media releases.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Degree educated or equivalent experience in a policy, public affairs or communications role

Experience

• Please see the Job Description for details on the person specification.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such 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.