Personal Assistant

We have three main hospitals providing acute services to around 330,000 local residents. The organisation also provides specialist tertiary care for cardiac and haematology services, delivers community health services to over 445,000 residents including those in North Lancashire and hosts the National Artificial Eye Service across England. Plus, we provide urgent and emergency care services to an estimated 18 million people who visit the seaside resort each year. We employ over 7000 people from 68 different countries.
We welcome and encourage application from anyone with protected characteristics, as well as supporting reservists and Veterans who are looking for a rewarding and challenging career within the NHS.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals encourages flexible working in all our roles to support staff in maintaining healthy home-life balance. Working patterns such as: part time working, self-rostering, compressed hours, annualised hours, term time, reverse term time and flexitime working can be explored., The role of the P.A will be to provide a high quality, efficient and professional personal assistant and administrative service to the Director of Operations and the Director of Finance, on a day to day basis, ensuring that they receive the support required to facilitate the performance of their roles and to deliver the efficient running of the organisation., Managing the Director's diaries to provide the most effective use of the individual Director's time, the post holder will be capable of working to schedules and using their own initiative, whilst maintaining a high level of confidentiality and discretion at all times.
As the prime point of contact for the Directors, the post holder will often need to 'filter' calls and must therefore have excellent negotiation, diplomacy and interpersonal skills, together with the ability to interact with a wide range of stakeholders.
The post holder will be responsible for ensuring the provision of a comprehensive, effective and efficient administration service, including co-ordinating and minuting meetings, composing and issuing various communications, including emails and letters and other general admin duties; and will therefore have excellent verbal and written communication skills, together with the ability to multi-task.

Working for our organisation
As experts in healthcare facilities and property management, we deliver fully-managed healthcare facilities services and property management solutions to clients throughout Blackpool, Fylde, Wyre and North Lancashire.
Our teams ensure our clients properties and amenities provide the best environment for their customers, patients, staff and visitors.
As a wholly owned subsidiary of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, we support the Trusts frontline clinical services and assist with the delivery of patient care, through our service provision.
Our profits are used to help grow our business, whilst providing additional employment, training and development opportunities for local people.
Visit: bfwml.co.uk for further information, + Organise venues for meetings, on behalf of the Directors, as necessary, together with any required resources, such as stationery, flip charts and projectors etc.
+ Participate in suitable staff development, appraisal and training opportunities, as appropriate, including planning, seeking and maintaining personal Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and mandatory training requirements.
+ Maintain departmental filing systems, both electronic and paper based, to provide the safe, confidential, storage of documents and information and to ensure that systems are kept up-to-date and maintained in accordance with the relevant data protection and information governance procedures.
+ Develop and maintain a network of key relationships, both internal and external, across the regional Integrated Care System (ICS), in order to help facilitate and enhance the performance of the Directors' responsibilities.
+ Support the Directors and PA to Directors in organising and coordinating meetings as required, including arranging meetings, drafting agendas, preparing and circulating papers, taking minutes and maintaining reporting schedules.
+ Manage and forward plan diary commitments to ensure the optimal, most effective use, of each Director's time and will resolve conflicting demands. This will involve making decisions on whether and when appointments are made, based on the issue involved, the needs of the caller and the workload priorities and commitments of the Directors.
+ Provide a full effective and confidential personal assistant service to the Directors to help maintain the smooth running of the organisation.
+ Within parameters agreed with the individual Directors, make judgments and take actions necessary to resolve enquiries, requests and issues raised by managers, staff and external organisations. This will include:
o Researching, collating and providing them with information
o Telephoning / meeting with them to explore and resolve enquiries and issues
o Providing them with all necessary guidance and advice.
+ Prepare presentations, reports and formal correspondence on behalf of Directors, as required. To include carrying out word processing, typing and audio typing as appropriate, ensuring that all correspondence is produced to a high standard.
+ Prepare agendas and attend and minute meetings as required and ensure that the related action plans are prepared and updated with reported progress against each action.
+ Co-ordinate the collation of all appropriate papers and reports for relevant meetings, ensuring that the papers are submitted by the appropriate staff and received in a timely manner, in line with the meeting's Terms of Reference.
+ Manage the emails for the designated directors, ensuring briefings and follow up actions take place and deadlines are met.
+ Answer telephones, taking and forwarding messages and ensuring that all telephone callers receive a prompt, courteous, informed response.
+ Receive, allocate, prioritise and dispatch both internal and external Executive departmental mail and ensure that any outgoing mail is handled in accordance with the relevant operational procedure.
+ Photocopy, scan, collate, file and distribute documents as required and liaise with the divisional admin teams to ensure that office equipment within the department is appropriately maintained and kept in working order.
+ Be responsible for maintaining adequate levels of divisional stationery and supplies for the executive department and for organising quotes and materials requisitions for general stationery requirements; ensuring that all procurements are prepared in accordance with the Atlas financial governance and procurement guidelines.
+ Where appropriate, be responsible for holding, managing and reconciling petty cash.
+ Process admin related invoices for the executive department and deal with any related invoice queries.
+ Undertake ad hoc projects as directed and provide support for specific project work as required.
+ Liaise with the information Technology (IT) department, in the ordering, maintenance and updates of all required computer equipment.
+ Ensure that all departmental confidential waste is collected and disposed of in line with the appropriate Atlas procedures.
+ Attend and contribute to the relevant divisional and admin team meetings.
+ Co-ordinate events, including venue booking and catering where required.
+ Deal with enquiries, by telephone, e-mail or written correspondence, initiating and coordinating responses where appropriate and prioritising correspondence for action as required.
+ Participate and contribute to service improvement initiatives and seek to identify continuous improvement ideas.
Please Note:
This is not intended to be exhaustive and it is likely that duties may be altered from time to time, in the light of changing circumstances and following discussions with the post holder.
The post holder may be required to work across the Company at any time throughout the duration of their contract, which may entail travel and working at a different location.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is situated on the west coast of Lancashire, with services covering the local authority areas of Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. The Trust is part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) supporting a population of around 1.6 million people.

If the role you have applied for requires a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check we will administer this as part of your pre-employment checks. Please note, you will be required to repay the cost on appointment. This will be collected via a salary deduction. You can choose whether to pay this over 1-3 months from your salary or as a one-off payment on commencement in post. The level of check required depends on the role that you have been offered. Currently the charges are - Basic DBS check £22.00, Standard DBS check £22.00 and Enhanced DBS check £42.00.
You are encouraged where possible, to register for the DBS update service. This is an annual registration fee of £13. By registering for the update service you will not have the additional cost of repeated disclosures.
Should you withdraw your application, you may be required to reimburse the cost of the DBS check.
DBS checks remain free of charge for volunteer positions.
By submitting an application for this vacancy you are confirming your agreement to the above in the event you are successfully appointed.
The DBS Code of Practice can be accessed here.
Please ensure that you read the Person Specification attached below as your application will be judged against this.
Please note that every effort will be made to keep the vacancy live until published closing date, though there may be instances where such interest is generated, that for administrative reasons the post may close earlier.
Please note that in line with national NHS guidelines this Trust operates a strict non-smoking policy. Members of staff are not permitted to smoke on Trust premises or grounds at any time nor take breaks during working hours for the purposes of smoking.
The Trust does not offer interview expenses to shortlisted candidates unless indicated in the advert.