Media Relations Manager | NHS England

You will be expected to liaise effectively and build trusting relationships with journalists, stakeholders and government departments, as well as senior internal stakeholders at board level. You will play an important role as part of the senior team, including in proactive planning, line-management responsibilities and stepping in to support or cover for the Head and Deputy Heads of the team. You will need to demonstrate the ability to work closely with colleagues in other parts of the Strategy directorate, in the wider organisation and with local services, to ensure we deliver clear and consistent messaging and are seen and understood across different audiences.

The most essential requirements for this role are impeccable news judgement, strong writing skills, an excellent understanding of the media landscape and experience of dealing with national media.

As a Senior Media Relations Manager at NHS England, you will play a pivotal role as a member of the senior team in one of the country's busiest media offices. With the NHS under record levels of demand while continuing to manage the fallout of covid, excellent communications will play a vital role in building the trust of patients in the health service. Managing a policy desk area, you will be expected to find and deliver proactive media stories on innovations and policies that will benefit patients, as well showing how the NHS is delivering frontline services amid continued pressure. You will respond to emerging stories and issues, ensuring NHS staff and their work are fairly represented and the information patients get through the media is accurate. The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, which will inform the detailed design work and we will achieve this purpose by:

• Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
• Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
• Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
• Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
• Delivering value for money.