Project Coordinator

Job Description

Job Title:                 Project Coordinator

Salary:                     £26,000 + 5% pension contribution (above Living Wage)

Hours of work:       Part-time, 21 hrs a week. Work flexibly over 5 days – negotiable.

Contract length:     One year (subject to extension)

Holidays:                Starts at 28 days + bank holidays +3 days for Christmas (pro-rata)

Location:                Home and office working

Responsible to:      Head of Research

We are looking for enthusiastic and capable people who are passionate about making a difference to their local community, to join our small, dedicated, and friendly team that enjoys working together and helping others. We collectively bring a range of different experiences, and there are frequent opportunities to learn skills from each other.

Who we are and what we do

We are the independent champion for people who use health and social care services in the city. We’re here to make sure that those running services, put people at the heart of care. We listen to what people like about services and what they think needs to be improved, no matter how big or small the issue. We encourage those in charge of services to involve local people when changes are being planned.

For us, people's views come first - especially those who find it hardest to be heard. You can read more about what we do and our impact in our Annual Report.

The role

The post of Project Coordinator is critical to the work we do and this is a great opportunity to make a real difference to improve health and care services and make them work better for the patients and local people of our city.

You will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of a variety of patient-focused projects on different topics, against quality, time and cost constraints. You will manage projects from inception to delivery including publicising, following up on any recommendations, and promoting the impact that we make. As we are a small team you will also be expected to contribute collectively to a shared workload to keep the team working effectively.

Some of the projects which Healthwatch Brighton and Hove projects have delivered in the last year include:

• Improving home care services
• Improving dementia services
• Improving maternity services
• Tackling health inequalities

We have a strong team of employees and volunteers and you will be supported by our Head of Research and CEO.

Work Location

Our office is at Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton. We’re a home-based team, but hold team meetings at the office every Monday and you will be expected to work in the office on this day. There is also an option of office working on Thursday and hot-desking in either the office or Community Works’ office space on other days.

We will provide line management, technology and equipment support to enable home working. Applicants must be prepared to undertake this role in either form of work setting.

Main responsibilities and duties:

1.        To be responsible for all aspects of planning and delivering a portfolio of time-limited projects. Typically, this will include:

• scoping evidence-backed projects which support our wider strategic aims
• contributing to written project plans
• Using Excel or SPSS to analyse data
• leading on undertaking service review fieldwork including interviews, ‘Enter and View’ visits (where we visit services in person) and Mystery Shops of our local hospitals
• supporting others e.g. volunteers and other members of the team to undertake fieldwork
• drafting clear, well-written and evidence-backed reports
• developing workable recommendations
• presenting findings at internal and external meetings
• delivering promotional and publicity materials to support projects
• working in partnership with other groups to deliver projects.
•  All of the above will be carried out with the support of the Head of Research.

2.      Proactively undertake any duties that assist with the smooth running of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove e.g. representing the organisation at meetings with a wide variety of stakeholders including the NHS, City Council, voluntary and community sector partners, taking part in promotional events, leading and supporting volunteers in project and representative work. This post will shadow other Project Coordinator’s before attending meetings alone.

3.     To take shared responsibility with the rest of the team for developing and delivering the Healthwatch Brighton and Hove workplan.

4.      Managing specific pieces of routine work that support the work of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove. Examples may include, supporting the production of an annual report, contributing to newsletters, helping to maintain our social media presence and updating our web site, etc.

 5.      Undertake other duties as may be appropriate to the role, in accordance with the values, policies and procedures of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove as well as the ‘Ways of Working’ statement attached to this Job Description.

This job description is an outline and may be subject to negotiated change as the role develops.

Person Specification

Essential

Experience

• Experience gained from work or personal experience of delivering and planning small-scale time-limited projects to deadline and/or budget
• Experience of reviewing services and/or conducting research fieldwork (planning and delivering research)
• Experience of project management and project planning
• Experience of preparing and presenting written reports that include detailed information to a diverse range of audiences.

Knowledge

• Good understanding of equality and diversity issues, including empowering people and groups less visible in decision making
• An awareness of the health and social care issues affecting people who live in Brighton and Hove 
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills
• Good IT skills including experience of Office, Excel, Outlook, Access, the Internet and social media.

Skills and Abilities

• The ability to maintain good and positive working relationships with staff, volunteers and external partners
• The ability to work flexibly and as a good team player
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent organisational ability including time and systems management skills
• Ability to work at pace
• Ability to work on own initiative with a solution-focused workstyle
• Ability to take sole responsibility for some pieces of work without requiring close supervision
• Ability to adapt to different roles and styles depending on the needs of the project
• A ‘can do’ approach, problem solving and solution focused.

Desirable

• Experience of organising and planning activities that involve volunteers
• Training or qualification in one or more project management or project planning system e.g. Prince, MS Project, or similar
• Having produced or published research or service review projects
• Experience of working in health, social care or a consumer representative role
• Publicity, marketing and communications experience
• Knowledge of best practice in research, reviewing the performance of health and care services

Contra-indicators

Any previous convictions which would render the person unsuitable to work with vulnerable people or enter premises where vulnerable people are being cared for.

This post is exempt under Section 4 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, and the successful candidate will be DBS-checked prior to taking up the post.