PA to Group Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Nurse in Northampton

Employer Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Berrywood Hospital Town Northampton Salary £28,392 - £31,157 PA Salary period Yearly Closing 30/10/2026 08:00

PA to Group Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Nurse

Band 4

Job overview

The post holder will provide high-quality personal assistant support to the Group Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Nurse within the Nursing and Quality Directorate at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT). The Group Chief Nurse works across both Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) and NHFT, with responsibility for patient experience, patient safety, regulatory compliance, safeguarding and quality. The Deputy Chief Nurse oversees these areas within secured services across the Trust. This role will provide dedicated PA support on the NHFT side, working closely with the Group Chief Nurse’s PA at LPT to ensure the diary is accurate, aligned and appropriately prioritised across both organisations.

This is a fast-paced and varied role where priorities can change quickly. The post holder will need to manage competing demands across two organisations and two senior management teams, while developing a strong understanding of the needs, priorities and working styles of both the Group Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Nurse. The role will include extensive diary and email management, meeting coordination, preparation of papers, maintaining accurate records and supporting timely communication across the directorate. The post holder will also provide cover for the Joint Business Manager during periods of leave, offering an excellent opportunity to develop their skills and gain exposure to wider directorate business, governance and operational processes.

Main duties of the job

This is a busy role where the main duties will include (but not limited to):

Provide a full PA service including diary management, inbox monitoring, preparing correspondence, and organising travel arrangements.

Prepare meeting agendas, papers, and take minutes, ensuring actions are recorded and followed up.

Work alongside the PA to the Chief Nurse at LPT to ensure that diaries for both organisations are accurate.

Maintain and update a spreadsheet of customer complaints, ensuring responses are logged, monitored, and followed up within agreed timeframes.

Coordinate the collection of report papers for a range of meetings, ensuring documents are submitted on time and are complete for distribution.

Ad hoc admin support to the Business Manager and wider senior management team in the directorate when needed.

Working for our organisation

NHFT is an integrated primary care and mental health Trust, providing physical, mental health and specialty services in both hospital settings and out in the community. Because we put the person at the centre of all we do, we focus on delivering care that is as easy to access as possible. This means many of our services can be provided at home, work or in schools.We also provide health services to various prisons and detention centres in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

NHFT promotes a culture of learning to improve the care and safety of our patients and staff, which focuses on people who enable our Trust to be ‘outstanding’ by supporting opportunity, innovation, development and growth.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The main duties and responsibilities of the role include:

• Provide a comprehensive PA service to the Group Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Nurse, including extensive diary management, inbox monitoring, email triage, correspondence, meeting coordination and travel arrangements where required.
• Support the Group Chief Nurse’s NHFT portfolio, which includes patient experience, patient safety, regulatory compliance, safeguarding and quality, by ensuring meetings, papers, correspondence and actions are coordinated effectively.
• Support the Deputy Chief Nurse in relation to secured services across the Trust, ensuring diary commitments, communications and key administrative tasks are managed proactively.
• Work closely with the Group Chief Nurse’s PA at LPT to ensure diary commitments are accurate, coordinated and aligned across both Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust and NHFT.
• Manage competing priorities across two organisations and two senior management teams, using judgement to identify urgent matters and elevate appropriately.
• Develop a strong understanding of the needs, priorities and working styles of the Group Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Nurse to provide proactive, responsive and effective PA support.
• Prepare meeting agendas, papers, minutes and action logs, ensuring accurate records are maintained and actions are followed up in a timely way.
• Support the Joint Business Manager and wider administrative team with directorate business, governance processes, report coordination, spreadsheets, trackers and ad hoc administrative tasks.
• Provide cover for the Joint Business Manager during periods of leave, supporting continuity of key meetings, communications and directorate processes.
• Maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information appropriately, in line with Trust policies, data protection and information governance requirements.
• Take an active approach to personal development, identifying opportunities to build skills and knowledge within the role.

Please note this is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities of the post. The post holder may be required to undertake other duties as may reasonably be required commensurate with the grade and/or hours of work at the post holders initial place of work or at any other of the Trust’s establishments.

Person specification

Knowledge

• Previous experience working as a PA with experience of complex diary management and email/inbox management for very senior managers/executives.

Skills

• Experience of preparing agendas, taking accurate minutes or notes, maintaining action logs and following up actions.

Skills

• NVQ Level 3 in Business Administration or equivalent experience, and/or RSA3 or equivalent.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of in-house systems including Eroster, ESR, Datix and TRAC

Skills

• Highly developed organisational and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritise competing demands and meet deadlines

Knowledge

• Experience maintaining trackers, spreadsheets or action logs to support reporting and follow-up

We are an equal opportunities employer, which aims to employ a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons from all backgrounds.

All roles are subject to the home office immigration rules and therefore eligibility must meet certain requirements for any sponsorship to be considered. Please visit the government website for more information regarding eligibility,

At NHFT we support many of our colleagues to work flexibly and we will consider requests for flexible working from day one. For this role, we are open to discussing a range of options including flexible hours, agile/home working, compressed hours and part time hours. Please have a conversation with the recruiting manager about the flexibility you need and we will promise to explore what is possible with you.

Applicants who have a disability and meet the essential criteria for the job will be considered under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme. If you require a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process please make the recruitment services team aware as soon as possible.

All posts that are engaged in a regulated activity will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and a DBS re-check on a three yearly basis whilst employed in such a role. Staff employed in these posts will therefore be asked to register with the DBS Automatic Update Service upon receipt of their DBS certificate and must update yearly , the annual fee will be reimbursed subject to Trust policy. For further information please visit: DBS Update Service: applicant guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Please note if a DBS is applicable for the position then a charge will be deducted from your first salary.

Please note that all new starters to the trustare subject to a probationary period.

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