Communications and Engagement Officer (Westminster)

This role is to promote Healthwatch to local residents and stakeholders, and support people to get involved in our work. You’ll be a skilled communicator, comfortable networking and engaging with a diverse range of local residents. This role is primarily based in Westminster, and we’re looking for someone who can understand and relate to the diverse local population.

Your role will involve finding innovative ways to present the information the team gathers to key audiences. This will range from face-to-face conversations with partners and funders through to producing imaginative materials. This includes producing accessible reports and presentations to maximise the impact of people’s feedback.

You’ll be responsible for a variety of internal and external communications for Healthwatch Westminster, producing impactful communications across all platforms including our website, social media channels and newsletter. You’ll also produce informative and engaging content for our websites, keeping it fresh and relevant for our diverse audiences.

As well as developing our online presence, you’ll own the Westminster engagement plan. This will involve identifying engagement opportunities, working with the Volunteer Coordinator to ensure we have good coverage at events across the borough, and getting out into the local community to promote our service and hear from local residents.

Working as part of a small team, you’ll be involved in many aspects of the organisation. You’ll need to be flexible, with a ‘can do’ attitude to meet the evolving needs of the service. You will need to work in close collaboration with our other Healthwatch services in Kensington & Chelsea and Brent, and occasionally support communications and engagement in those areas when the need arises.

• Develop a vibrant engagement plan for Healthwatch Westminster, ensuring that we are reaching a wide range of residents.
• Develop effective relationships with local groups to promote the Healthwatch service and share platforms to capture people’s views and experiences.
• Keep abreast of good engagement practice and actively seek out innovative ways to capture and express people’s views/experiences, including engagement techniques appropriate to different audiences.
• Work in partnership with key stakeholders from the grassroots network to support engagement in projects, including coproduction and joint communications.
• Take a lead role in making sure all Healthwatch Brent activities involve people from all sections of the community, including seldom-heard communities.
• Create engaging and up-to-date digital media content across all social media channels, including web content, Twitter and Facebook.
• Create regular newsletters and e-bulletins, circulating these to key stakeholders to support engagement.
• Design reports, presentations and stationary templates for the Healthwatch service, ensuring all materials adhere to the Healthwatch brand guidelines.
• Answer and respond appropriately to calls about the service, collaborating with the team to provide signposting support via phone and email.
• Keep up to date with best practice from Healthwatch England, by reading, attending courses and networking.
• Carry out any other tasks needed for the service to run smoothly, as directed by the Healthwatch Manager.

• Participate in team meetings, training and organisational development.
• Contribute to monitoring reports.
• Adhere to our policies, including health & safety, safeguarding and risk regulations.
• Work to our mission, vision, and values.
• Work flexibly to meet the needs of the service, in line with the changing local and national landscape and carry out other projects and tasks as needed.

• Good understanding of the NHS / social care, particularly the role of user/citizen involvement in developing services.
• Experience of promoting user empowerment and user choice.
• Experience producing communication materials for a variety of channels and audiences.
• Experience of working with diverse communities, particularly in Brent, Westminster or Kensington & Chelsea.
• Good understanding of health inequality and the role Healthwatch can play in helping local people to address this.
• Experience of project management; ability to manage multiple projects effectively and meet deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders ranging from local residents, colleagues, partners, trustees and commissioners.
• Excellent organisational skills, ability to take initiative and plan your own workload.
• Commitment to working within The Advocacy Project and Healthwatch code of conduct, equality and safeguarding policies.
• Willingness to attend further training and to adopt new procedures.
• Willingness to promote Healthwatch and The Advocacy Project in line with our mission, vision and values.

• Evidence of ongoing personal development and training related to the role.
• Previous experience of working within a Healthwatch service.
• Experience coordinating and working with volunteers.

We’re committed to providing an empowering, flexible and supportive working environment for all our staff. Our employee benefits include 30 days annual leave (including up to 3 days between Christmas and New Year), participation in a pension scheme with 6% employer contribution, access to a free confidential counselling service, and an interest-free travel/bike loan. All our staff are supported to learn and develop in a variety of ways, including a monthly lecture series where we invite sector experts to talk to our staff on topical issues.