Maternity Personal Assistant & Secretarial Team Supervisor

An exciting opportunity has arisen in the Women's, Children and Radiology (WCR) Directorate for a full time Maternity Personal Assistant & Secretarial Team Supervisor.
The post holder will work closely with the Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology (DOM) and their Deputy to protect their available work time, while co-ordinating the work of the maternity secretarial team.
They will provide a comprehensive and efficient maternity secretarial service to the Senior Midwifery Management Team and will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the secretarial team, allocate work and problem solving issues.
This role requires physical presence on site in the Maternity Secretarial Office., + Provide secretarial and administrative support to the Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology and their Deputy Head of Midwifery.
+ Co-ordinate the activities of maternity secretaries to ensure a comprehensive and efficient service is provided.
+ Act as the point of contact for the DOM and their Deputy, + Deal with telephone call enquiries effectively, exercising judgement when dealing with staff and the public. Respond to emails and MS Teams messages appropriately.
+ Record voice mail messages and take appropriate action.
+ Maintain the DOM's and their Deputy's diary.
+ Plan and organise Departmental, Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) and external agency meetings as directed by the Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology and their Deputy.
+ Arrange cancellation/reduction of meetings in accordance with the Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology's and the Deputy Head of Midwifery's commitments.
+ Ensure that relevant documentation is prepared and available for meetings.
+ Make travel arrangements when required.
+ Act as prompt to the DOM and their Deputy regarding reports and responses requested at Trust Board level or from other agencies such as NHSE, NHS Public Health, CCG or LMNS.
+ Produce suitable information materials to assist with the smooth running of the Department for example ensuring up to date organisational and governance charts are available.
+ Assist with project work if required including preparation of presentation materials.
+ Escalate appropriately any queries sent to the maternity department via the secretary's office; this includes complaints and requests for personal health records and freedom of information requests. Deal sensitively with communication where staff of patients may be distressed.
+ Ensure that all secretarial work, including the management of appointments is completed within the appropriate timeframe including internal and external letters, emails, minutes and other documents.
+ Liaise with external agencies and support the completion of the required paperwork within the admin team e.g. social services correspondence for adoption cases.
+ Update staff personnel files ensuring that accurate information is available for the DOM, Deputy Head of Midwifery and the senior Midwifery Leadership team.
+ File all correspondence appropriately. Screen emails and respond to arrange meetings and bring urgent correspondence to the attention of the Director of Midwifery and their Deputy.
+ Work closely with Procurement to ensure costs are kept to a minimum when securing assets for the maternity department.
+ Oversee the budget across the department for all stationary and non-clinical consumables.
+ Use Integra to purchase all necessary clinical and non-clinical equipment. Ensure continuous review for value for money, and identify cost saving opportunities.
+ Oversee the secretarial team's working policies and systems suggesting and implementing changes as required
+ Ensure the timely submission of reports for Divisional and Trust meetings and Committees.
+ Support secretarial team to use the Integra finance system across the department.
+ Ensure external income received directly by the maternity services is tracked and accounted for appropriately.
The PA will receive and provide a range of information which may be complex and/or sensitive.
Clinical responsibilities:
The postholder has no clinical responsibilities however they will be required to work closely with the Director of Midwifery & Gynaecology (DOM) and their Deputy and senior Teams to ensure continued patient care.
Education and development responsibilities:
All budget holders will undertake on the job training in all matters financial and will be responsible for ensuring they are setup in the finance/procurement/HR systems with the appropriate authorisation levels.
Undertake annual review and statutory and mandatory training
Participate in or undertake training needs analysis
Support more junior secretarial staff to develop their own skills and seek out new ways of working.
Our staff are our most valuable asset. We are committed to making staff feel appreciated, supported and included in the Trust's successes. Our mission is to be an outstanding place to work providing the very best care for our patients and excellent career opportunities for our staff. Everything we do is guided by our core values and behaviours, identified by our staff and embedded throughout the organisation.
Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement
We have the highest CQC rating of all Acute NHS Trusts in Kent and Medway (Good). The CQC highlighted that managers promoted a positive culture that supported, valued staff and created a sense of common purpose based upon shared values.
The Trust is a great place to work, stay, develop a career and enjoy a healthy work life balance. We have made and are delivering on a wide range of commitments to staff; health and wellbeing; equality; diversity and inclusion; access to education and career development. During 2020 we sett up quality councils, driven by our staff to create a culture of shared governance and quality improvement.
We have a strong focus on innovation and improvement. Part of Guy's and St Thomas' (GSTT) 'Healthcare Alliance' we are introducing new models of care to improve clinical outcomes for patients. Our association with GSTT also gives staff wishing to develop their skills excellent opportunities to work across numerous specialities.
As our local population increases, our services and skills are expanding and adapting to meet demand. We are continuously looking at best practice models to enhance and improve the services we offer.
The Trust provides services at Darent Valley Hospital and Queen Mary's Hospital, for a local population of over 500,000 people.
If you would like to be part of our innovative and forward thinking team putting patients at the centre of all we do, we invite you to #joinourfamily.
The NHS are striving towards "we work flexibly" as a workforce, we want to ensure that you can work in a way that is best for us, our patients, and importantly for you. We offer many flexible working opportunities, speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement for you and if it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
Please note this vacancy may close earlier than stated to aid efficient processing of applications. To ensure your application will be considered please submit it at your earliest convenience. If you have not heard from us within 21 days of the closing date please assume that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion.
Please note, that due to the limited number of car parking spaces, car parking permits will be allocated subject to compliance with the Trusts eligibility criteria and availability of spaces. Permit holders are not guaranteed a car parking space.
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust is a smoke free organisation. To improve public health smoking or vaping is not permitted anywhere on the hospital site.