Neighbourhood Engagement Officer - Band 5 in Chelmsford

Are you passionate about working with communities and ensuring local voices shape the future of health and care services? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for someone who enjoys building partnerships, engaging diverse communities and turning feedback into positive change. This role sits at the heart of our Population Health Improvement Plan and neighbourhood health programme, helping to ensure the experiences, needs and priorities of local people influence how services are designed, commissioned and improved.

You will work directly with residents, community groups, voluntary organisations, Healthwatch, primary care and system partners to strengthen relationships, gather valuable insight and support meaningful involvement in decisions that affect people's health and wellbeing. As part of a supportive and ambitious team, you will contribute to reducing health inequalities, improving outcomes for local communities and delivering the NHS vision of bringing care closer to home, focusing on prevention and making better use of digital innovation.

Main duties of the job:

• Support the planning and delivery of engagement activities across neighbourhoods and priority health programmes.
• Organise and facilitate events, workshops, focus groups and surveys, gather and analyse community insight, identify emerging themes and inequalities, and help ensure local feedback influences commissioning and service improvement decisions.
• Develop reports, maintain accurate records, support governance processes and promote a strong "you said, we did" approach to demonstrating the impact of engagement.

We are looking for a proactive and organised individual with experience working in healthcare, public sector or a community-focused environment. You will have excellent communication and relationship-building skills, experience supporting projects and managing complex information, and the ability to engage confidently with a wide range of stakeholders. Strong organisational skills, experience coordinating meetings and events, and the ability to analyse and present information clearly are essential. And most importantly, you will be passionate about community engagement, reducing health inequalities and ensuring local people have a genuine voice in shaping services.

If you are motivated by making a real difference and want to help shape the future of healthcare across Essex, we would love to hear from you.

About us:

NHS Essex ICB is a statutory organisation responsible for the planning and funding of NHS services for around 1.9 million people across Essex. Our role as an ICB is to bring health and care services together, improve the health and wellbeing of our population and ensure equitable access to services and outcomes for everyone. The organisation's headquarters is Seax House, Chelmsford, and we operate a hybrid working model (2 office-based days) that includes working across Essex and from home. Essex ICB currently has offices in Brentwood, Harlow and Colchester, in addition to the Chelmsford HQ.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that values diversity. We know that different experiences, ideas and perspectives help create a stronger and more innovative organisation that delivers better outcomes for patients. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, including people of all ages, disabilities, sex, gender identity or expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or personal circumstances. Our policies ensure all applicants are treated fairly and consistently throughout the recruitment process, including consideration of reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants.

Please note that the organisation does not hold a sponsorship licence.

Details:

• Date posted: 18 September 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 5
• Salary: £32,073 to £39,043 a year
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time
• Reference number: D9708-MSE567
• Job locations: Seax House, Victoria Road South, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1QH, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities:

ROLE PURPOSE/ SUMMARY: The Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) is a new organisation formed through the consolidation of three ICB areas in response to the NHS's ambition to deliver a more streamlined, strategic and cost-effective model of health commissioning. The ICB will oversee the commissioning of care for the approximately 2 million people who live in Essex. Operating within a reduced running cost envelope and aligned to the new requirements of ICBs in England, the ICB will focus on improving population health outcomes, health equity and smarter resource allocation.

The Neighbourhood Engagement Officer will support delivery of the NHS Essex Population Health Improvement Plan (PHIP) by ensuring the experiences, needs and priorities of local people and communities inform the design, commissioning and improvement of health services. Working across defined neighbourhoods, the post holder will build and maintain relationships with residents, community groups, Healthwatch, VCSE organisations, primary care and other local partners, with a particular focus on communities experiencing poorer health outcomes, deprivation or barriers to accessing services.

The role will provide practical engagement support to PHIP priority programmes, including Neighbourhood Health, alongside other transformation priorities including community services, planned care, mental health and neurodiversity, urgent care and complex care. The post holder will support the capture of local insight, help identify emerging themes and inequalities, and translate what communities are telling us into clear, evidence-based recommendations for programme and commissioning teams. They will help demonstrate how insight has influenced decisions, service design and improvement.

The role will ensure engagement is undertaken early enough to influence decisions and is proportionate to the programme or service change. In doing so, the post holder will contribute directly to delivery of the PHIP and the three shifts set out in the NHS 10-Year Health Plan: hospital to community, treatment to prevention and analogue to digital, while supporting NHS Essex's ambition to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes for its population.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Support delivery of engagement requirements across agreed NHS Essex PHIP priority programmes, ensuring patient and community insight is embedded within programme planning, service redesign and commissioning.
• Work with PHIP programme leads to identify where engagement, co-production and community insight can add greatest value and develop proportionate approaches to involvement.
• Ensure engagement activity considers the PHIP life-course ambitions Start Well, Live Well, Feel Well, Age Well, Die Well and Respond Well and the cross-cutting ambition to reduce health inequalities.
• Identify opportunities for communities to influence services before key commissioning and programme decisions are made, rather than relying solely on retrospective feedback.
• Support programme teams and wider organisation to demonstrate "you said, we did", providing evidence of how community insight has influenced decisions and service improvements.
• Collect, record and summarise feedback and insights from engagement activities to inform planning and service development.
• Support analysis of engagement outcomes to identify emerging issues, themes and opportunities for improvement.
• Maintain accurate records of participation, ensuring data and insight are shared with relevant teams.
• Help present insights and reports, drawing on complex data, that can be used to inform decision making and delivery.
• Work with colleagues to ensure engagement outcomes inform ongoing neighbourhood priorities.
• Track where recommendations have been considered, accepted or acted upon and contribute evidence demonstrating the impact of engagement on PHIP delivery.
• Identify emerging issues and escalate significant themes, risks or inequalities through appropriate programme and ICB governance arrangements.
• Plan and support delivery of engagement events, focus groups, surveys and workshops within defined neighbourhoods.
• Support development and delivery of project plans relating to Neighbourhood Engagement Officer, helping develop effective arrangements to support governance, risk management, escalations and reporting.
• Manage competing priorities, prioritising own resources to effectively deliver agreed tasks or projects.
• Maintain an event calendar and ensure all activities are recorded and evaluated.
• Support preparation of communication materials, newsletters and digital updates.
• Ensure activities are well organised, inclusive and aligned to ICB governance processes.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with residents, local community groups and voluntary sector partners.
• Act as a point of contact for community organisations and individuals wishing to engage with the ICB.
• Promote awareness of the Neighbourhood Health Service and its priorities.
• Represent the ICB at community events and partnership meetings.
• Support monitoring and reporting of expenditure related to engagement activities.
• Ensure resources are used efficiently and within approved budgets.
• Maintain accurate financial and administrative records in line with ICB policy.
• Participate in team meetings, supervision and performance reviews.

Person Specification:

Strategy & Analysis:

• A good understanding of current health and social care national aims and policy, and other determinants that impact on healthcare provision.
• Able to present information clearly to support decision making.
• Understand the value of evaluation and audit to support improvement.

Governance & Assurance:

• Experience supporting delivery of projects that require collective decision-making and how to negotiate success in those situations.
• A good understanding of effective corporate governance and the route for decision making within the ICB.

Personal Attributes and Values:

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Self-motivated, confident and positive attitude, able to adapt to complex and constantly changing environments and prioritise workload within that context.
• Able to work as part of a team and independently.
• Personal commitment to the values of the NHS 10-year Plan, the NHS People Plan, the Nolan Principles, to championing equality, diversity and inclusion within the ICB and the wider health system.

Qualifications:

• Educated to Degree level (relevant focus) or equivalent managerial experience or Diploma plus evidence of additional training/experience to support the requirements of the role.
• Evidence of sustained commitment to continuing professional development.

Experience:

• Experience of working in a relevant healthcare environment (NHS or other).
• Experience managing complex and often confidential information.
• Experience of supporting delivery of complex and contentious change and transformation projects.

People & Culture:

• Acts as a positive, compassionate and inclusive team member, demonstrating commitment to promoting diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity.
• A commitment to continuous improvement, organisation learning and achieving positive outcomes for all staff, patients, service users and carers working in line with the NHS People Promise.

Partnerships & Communities:

• Experience working across teams and organisations in the development and delivery of projects.
• Able to effectively influence and challenge within areas of responsibility, escalating appropriately where necessary.

Employer details:

Employer name: NHS Essex Integrated Care Board

Address: Seax House, Victoria Road South, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1QH, United Kingdom