Personal Assistant

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. 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 applications 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 a 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.

An exciting vacancy is available at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals for a Band 4 administrative professional to join the team in a pivotal support role. Based within the Trust, this position provides efficient and professional administrative assistance to help ensure smooth day-to-day operations. The successful candidate will play an integral part in supporting service delivery, maintaining office systems, and coordinating various activities across the team. This role is ideal for a proactive and adaptable individual who can manage multiple priorities, work accurately under pressure, and communicate effectively with colleagues at all levels. The post holder will be expected to use their initiative, handle sensitive or confidential information with discretion, and consistently provide high-quality support in a busy environment.

Key responsibilities include:

• Coordinating meetings
• Preparing documents and correspondence
• Maintaining accurate records
• Liaising with both internal departments and external partners

A keen eye for detail, strong organisational skills, and a commitment to delivering a responsive and reliable service are essential for success. This opportunity is perfect for someone seeking to further their administrative career within the NHS, offering valuable experience in a varied and rewarding role while contributing to the delivery of high-quality services for patients, staff, and the wider organisation.

Main duties of the job:

The Personal Assistant will provide a comprehensive, confidential and proactive administrative support service to the Deputy Chief Medical Directors, ensuring the smooth running of daily office activity and enabling senior leaders to focus on strategic and operational priorities. The post holder will manage diaries, coordinate meetings and events, prepare high-quality correspondence and reports, act as a professional first point of contact for enquiries, and maintain effective communication with staff, stakeholders and external agencies. The role also includes taking formal minutes, monitoring follow-up actions, supporting office systems and processes, and providing flexible administrative cover across the wider Chief Medical Director’s Office as required.

Person specification:

Education and Qualification:

• English GCSE or Equivalent
• Maths GCSE or Equivalent
• Business Admin NVQ Level 3 or equivalent experience in a clerical environment.

Experience and Knowledge:

• Extensive and recent experience of working in a secretarial and clerical setting.
• Ability to work in a highly confidential and sensitive manner.
• IT skills – sound knowledge and demonstrable experience of using Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook on a regular basis.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work on own initiative.
• Experience of arranging meetings, to include preparation of agendas and taking minutes.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Proven experience in providing high level administrative support to senior managers or executives.
• Demonstrable experience working at secretarial / EA level, within NHS.

Skills and Ability:

• Ability to work under pressure and organise workload to meet competing demands.
• Be able to communicate with different people in all levels of the organisation.
• Maintain a quality service through attention to detail.
• Excellent organisational skills, including time management and workload planning.
• Able to work to regular agreed timescales.
• Be able to work as part of a team.
• Able to prioritise own workload.
• Resourceful and independent.
• Self-motivated and able to act on own initiative.
• Able to work with a great degree of flexibility and adaptability.
• Approachable, hardworking and conscientious.

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.