Welcome from our Chief Executive

Our organisation is expanding and we're looking for people with the right values, skills and/or potential to join us. We need people with energy, expertise, enthusiasm to help us provide the very best possible specialist NHS mental health and learning disability care. This involves helping us achieve our strategy to improve the quality of life for the communities we serve through People, Prevention and Partnerships.

So what can we offer you in return?

We're an organisation which puts people first. We'll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. We'll help you learn, acquire new skills and gain further experience to support your career development. And we'll provide the opportunity for you to bring your fresh ideas to work about how we can do things differently and continue improving.

You will also be joining a health and care system committed to working together to do the best we can for the communities we serve. Above all, at Sussex Partnership you'll have the chance to make a difference to the lives of the patients, carers and families across our communities.

If you like the sound of that, then come and join our team.

Job overview

An excellent opportunity has arisen within the Assessment & Treatment Service for 2 full time Team Secretaries.

We are looking for well-organised, efficient administrators to be effective members of the team. The role includes audio typing of medical correspondence and other general administration tasks as well as occasional reception duties.

It is a busy role with a varied workload and therefore we are seeking an individual who is able to work independently and is enthusiastic, flexible and creative in their approach. Preferably you will have experience in a medical setting or have administration experience elsewhere. You will have RSA II or relevant experience that you can demonstrate in audio/copy typing, have good communication skills and be able to organise your workload and time effectively.

The successful candidates must be proficient in the use of Microsoft Office including Outlook, Word and Excel.

Main duties of the job

Based at our Swandean site in Worthing you will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team providing a full secretarial service including:

• Providing a comprehensive, high quality secretarial service to doctors and clinicians.
• Organising client appointments, updating calendars, booking interpreters as necessary.
• Dealing sensitively with people, both on the telephone and in person, taking accurate messages and relaying them to the appropriate people and/or taking follow up action as required using appropriate initiative.
• Providing admin support to our Triage team.
• Providing reception cover for visitors at our team bases as required.

To protect the health and safety of our staff/workers, patients, and those attending our sites, we encourage our workforce to get fully vaccinated against COVID

Working for our organisation

The NHS is changing and with more emphasis on community-based care means there's never been a better time to join us.

The Assessment and Treatment Service, AAW provides a Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm service for people experiencing mental health difficulties in the community in partnership with a wide range of health services.

The successful candidate will be joining a team of administration colleagues who are committed to delivering an effective administration service.

Our vision is to deliver excellent mental health services which improve the health of our communities. To do this we need outstanding people who share our values:

• People first: People are at the heart of everything we do
• Future Focused: We are optimistic, we learn and we always try to improve
• Embracing change: We are bold, innovative and disciplined about making use of our resources to continuously improve
• Working together: We provide services in partnership with patients, families and others
• Everyone counts: We value, appreciate and respect each other

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To provide a comprehensive range of secretarial and administrative services to the team.

To liaise with other departments and services and to respond effectively to enquiries from the general public, service users, referrers and other agencies.

To consistently deliver a client focussed service which promotes good customer service and effective working relationships.

To provide comprehensive and efficient secretarial support to the team; this will include handling all aspects of correspondence, including dealing with telephone enquiries.

Liaise with other directorates and staff at all levels, both internally and externally.

Ensure that all documents and correspondence are filed correctly.

To produce from audio and handwritten notes, word processed letters and reports to a high standard of presentation and accuracy using appropriate Trust templates, in line with Trust guidelines. Some letters and reports may contain very distressing content.

To be responsible for initiating and sending out, without reference, routine correspondence and a variety of self-help information.

To be responsible for managing the diaries of the team and prioritising competing needs

To act as contact point for members of the team during office hours, responding appropriately in emergency situations by obtaining relevant information and liaising with organisations and persons involved.

To provide cover for other secretarial and administrative staff

To participate in the Trust's supervision and appraisal system.

Ensure that all information is handled in a confidential manner, in line with the relevant policies

Person specification

Qualifications / Experience
Essential criteria

• Good standard of secondary education; GCSE at Grade C or above or equivalent
• Proven experience of a range of secretarial procedures
• Ability to deal sensitively with staff and clients in person and on the telephone. Ability to communicate effectively
• Ability to liaise on behalf of the team both within and outside the organisation
• Awareness of the importance of confidentiality - ability to work within appropriate boundaries
• Ability to use good judgement skills when dealing with enquiries and problems
• Ability to be able to plan workload, manage diaries, organise appointments, planning workload associated with key meeting dates
• Ability to work to tight deadlines and deal with conflicting demands
• Ability to deal with emotionally sensitive and challenging material
• Experience of maintaining office systems

Desirable criteria

• Understanding of medical terminology
• Experience of working within the NHS

Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria

• Proven experience of a range of secretarial procedures
• Experience of producing documents to a high standard of presentation with good accuracy
• Experience of maintaining office systems
• Experience of working as part of a team

Sussex Partnership NHS FT is committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. Our workforce is currently under-represented from Black and Minority, Ethnic and disabled communities and we would welcome applications from these communities.

We regret that we are unable to advise candidates if they have not been shortlisted. If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date please assume that you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

In the event of an excessive number of applicants the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy earlier than indicated.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust takes its responsibilities for the safeguarding and protection of children and young people and vulnerable adults very seriously and expects this of all its employees and bank workers. The Trust works with adult and children's social care to ensure that the integrated service has systems in place to equip staff and bank workers with the knowledge and skills to recognize abuse, and take action to safeguard and protect vulnerable adults and children and young people. It is expected that all staff and bank workers familiarise themselves with the appropriate structures and policies and with the Sussex child protection and safeguarding procedures and the Sussex multi-agency policy and procedures for safeguarding vulnerable adults and undertake the relevant essential training and further training appropriate to their role.

Successful candidates are normally offered salaries at the bottom of the relevant salary range. However, where previous or equivalent NHS experience in a similar role can be demonstrated and evidenced, this may be taken into consideration when setting the starting salary.