Neighbourhood Communications and Engagement Lead

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Neighbourhood Communications and Engagement Lead

Band 7

Main area Communications Grade Band 7 Contract Fixed term: 18 months (Short Term Project) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 197-RF8837

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICE in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

The Neighbourhood Communications and Engagement Lead will provide specialist communications and engagement leadership for the Trust's Integrated Neighbourhood Programme. Working across the Trust and with partners across South East London, the postholder will lead communications and engagement activity that builds awareness, understanding and support for neighbourhood working.

The role will provide expert advice to programme and senior leaders, develop and deliver communications plans and campaigns, and lead meaningful engagement and co-production with staff, patients, communities and partner organisations. The postholder will build strong relationships across organisational boundaries and ensure insight and feedback help shape the development and delivery of neighbourhood-based models of care.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will lead the development, delivery and evaluation of communications and engagement activity for the Integrated Neighbourhood Programme, working across the Trust and with partners across South East London.

Key responsibilities will include developing and managing complex communications and engagement plans and campaigns; producing and commissioning high-quality content across a range of channels; providing specialist advice to programme and senior leaders; and leading engagement and co-production with staff, patients, communities and partner organisations.

The role will build and maintain relationships across primary care, local authorities, South East London ICB, VCSE organisations and other neighbourhood partners, using insight and feedback to inform programme activity and communications approaches. The postholder will also monitor and evaluate the impact of communications and engagement activity, identify and manage communications risks and opportunities, and provide specialist briefings, guidance and training to colleagues and stakeholders.

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

• Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
• Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
• Improving the experience of staff with disability
• Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
• Making equalities mainstream

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Neighbourhood Communications and Engagement Lead will lead the communications and engagement workstream for the Trust’s Integrated Neighbourhood Programme, working closely with programme colleagues and partners across the wider South East London health and care system.

The postholder will:

• Lead the development, delivery and evaluation of complex communications and engagement plans and campaigns, ensuring activity supports programme milestones and responds to changing priorities, emerging issues and stakeholder needs.
• Provide highly specialist communications and engagement advice to programme leads, senior leaders and stakeholders, using professional judgement to recommend appropriate approaches to complex, sensitive or potentially contentious issues.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships across the Trust, primary care, local authorities, South East London ICB, VCSE organisations and other neighbourhood partners, using influencing, persuasion and negotiation to build consensus and support collaborative working.
• Lead meaningful engagement and co-production with staff, patients, local communities and partner organisations, ensuring feedback and insight are captured, analysed and used to inform programme development and delivery.
• Lead the development and delivery of high-quality, accessible communications across a range of channels, including campaigns, briefings, presentations, publications, digital content, video, website and intranet content and social media.
• Prepare and present communications and engagement briefings, analysis and recommendations to senior leaders, programme boards, working groups and partner organisations.
• Develop and maintain communications and engagement plans, stakeholder maps, performance measures and reporting mechanisms, using qualitative and quantitative information to evaluate impact and inform future activity.
• Identify and manage communications and engagement risks, issues and opportunities, advising programme leaders and escalating matters requiring wider organisational or executive decision-making where appropriate.
• Develop and deliver specialist communications and engagement training, guidance and briefings to programme colleagues and stakeholders, helping to build capability and support effective practice.

The postholder will work autonomously within broad Trust policies and professional standards, determining and prioritising communications and engagement activity within their area of responsibility while working collaboratively with colleagues across the Content, Creative and Engagement Division and partner organisations.

Person specification

Qualifications and Training

• Highly developed specialist knowledge of communications and engagement, including communications strategy, stakeholder engagement, consultation and co-production, campaign planning, organisational change and partnership working, acquired through relevant postgraduate study and/or substantial specialist training and experience to Master's level equivalent.
• Relevant degree or equivalent professional qualification/experience in communications, public relations, journalism, marketing or a related discipline.
• Evidence of continuing professional development in communications, engagement or a related specialist field.
• CIPR, CIM or other relevant professional qualification or accreditation.
• Postgraduate qualification in communications, engagement, public relations, marketing or a related discipline
• Specialist training in stakeholder engagement, co-production, facilitation, behavioural change or change management.

Experience

• Leading the development, implementation and evaluation of complex communications and engagement strategies, plans and campaigns within a large or complex organisation.
• Leading communications and engagement activity supporting significant transformation, service or organisational change.
• Providing specialist communications and engagement advice to senior leaders, including on complex, sensitive or contentious issues.
• Developing and delivering communications and engagement training, briefings and guidance to colleagues and stakeholders to build capability and support effective practice.
• Building relationships and delivering activity across complex organisational boundaries, using influencing, persuasion and negotiation to work effectively with stakeholders with differing perspectives and priorities.
• Producing, commissioning and quality-assuring complex communications content and creative materials across a range of channels and audiences, including obtaining and assessing quotations, selecting suppliers and working within agreed spend limits.
• Designing and delivering meaningful stakeholder and community engagement, consultation and/or co-production activity.
• Analysing complex information, stakeholder insight and performance data to assess options, evaluate impact and make specialist recommendations
• Working autonomously, managing complex projects and competing priorities with limited supervision.
• NHS or health and care communications and engagement.
• Integrated Care Systems, neighbourhood or place-based working
• Health inequalities and/or population health
• Working with VCSE organisations.

Knowledge

• Highly developed specialist knowledge of communications and engagement principles, approaches and best practice, including communications strategy, stakeholder engagement, consultation and co-production, campaign planning and organisational change
• Highly developed written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to interpret and communicate highly complex, sensitive or potentially contentious information clearly and appropriately to a wide range of professional, organisational and community audiences.
• Highly developed influencing, persuasive and negotiating skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships, reconcile differing perspectives and secure agreement across complex stakeholder environments.
• Strong analytical and judgement skills, with the ability to interpret complex and sometimes conflicting information, assess options and make specialist communications and engagement recommendations.
• Excellent project management and organisational skills, with the ability to plan and coordinate complex activity, manage competing priorities and respond effectively to changing or urgent requirements.
• Strong digital skills, including the ability to use relevant communications, engagement and reporting systems and to produce complex documents, reports, presentations and digital content.
• Knowledge and understanding of accessibility, inclusive communications and approaches to engaging diverse communities.
• Strong political awareness and understanding of the wider environment in which health and care organisations operate, with the ability to exercise professional judgement and work autonomously within broad organisational policies and professional standards.

As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women’s staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.

Please note: Information provided during recruitment and pre‑employment checks must be accurate. Misrepresentation may be investigated as fraud and could lead to withdrawal from the process, professional sanctions, or criminal action.

Please note: that sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route is subject to Trust allocation and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approval.

Use of AI in recruitment: We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support the initial review of applications against the essential criteria for this role. Where AI is used, it will support rather than replace human decision-making, and applications will remain subject to appropriate human review.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Name Clare Wilkes Job title Director of Content,Creative and Engagement Email address clare.wilkes@nhs.net Telephone number 020319263297

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