Deputy director of communications, engagement and involvement

A Vacancy at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust. We are seeking a Deputy Director of Communications, Engagement and Involvement. 1 in 4 of us living in the UK will experience mental ill health each year. And when that happens in Kent and Medway, KMPT is there to offer specialist support to the most seriously unwell. Each year we look after over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 people in the community. And we are able to do that because of our 3,700+ staff, who are dedicated to providing the best possible care at what can be one of the most difficult points of a person's, and their loved ones, lives.

The communications and marketing team, and involvement and engagement teams, are responsible for ensuring its people, patients, partners and communities are informed, engaged and involved in the development and delivery of services. This role will lead both those teams and play a pivotal leadership role across the trust to support our wider strategic objectives.

Interested? These are the key results areas:

• Shape and drive strategic communications initiatives, enhancing the trust's reputation, fostering community involvement and ensuring patient and public voices are heard in everything we do.
• Set the organisation's brand presence and reputation, communications and engagement strategies, co-creation and involvement activities, and build strong relationships with key stakeholders, patients, partners and the public.
• Plan and align communications, engagement and involvement strategies with the trust's overall mission, goals and values, ensuring all efforts are patient-centred, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of diverse stakeholders.
• Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders across a complex system, including partners, community leaders, media outlets and industry influencers.
• Accountable for leading and managing the communications and marketing team, and involvement and engagement team and driving top performance and service delivery.

Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life. We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people in Kent and Medway, as well as specialist services for adults in Sussex and Surrey. We are rated Good overall by the CQC. Each year we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 people in the community. We are proud to employ over 3,800 people from 66 nationalities, and to serve an increasingly diverse range of communities across rural and urban areas.

You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones. The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.

Our strategy: Our mission is what we set out to do every day. We deliver brilliant care through brilliant people. Our vision is where we want to be in the future: To provide outstanding care and to work in partnership to deliver this in the right place, for every service user, every time.

Collaborate with the director of communications, engagement and involvement to set and implement comprehensive strategies that support the trust's objectives and priorities. Design and lead the communications and marketing, and involvement and engagement teams to deliver high-quality outcomes across media relations, stakeholder engagement, marketing campaigns, digital engagement, co-creation and involvement. Provide strategic leadership and professional expertise in communication, marketing, engagement and involvement to support the trust to deliver its vision and strategy.

Please refer to the attached job description for full details and main responsibilities of the role. At KMPT, we are serious about diversity and inclusion, and we are working hard to build this into our DNA. We warmly welcome applications for any of our roles from people from diverse backgrounds, and we are proactively encouraging applications from under-represented communities for our more senior roles, like this one.

This advert closes on Sunday 6 Apr 2025. Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme. A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.