About this role
Job summary
Are you passionate about politics, health and care? Do you want to help shape national conversations about the future of the NHS and influence the decisions that matter? If so, this could be the role for you.
As a Senior Public Affairs Officer, you will support engagement with parliamentarians, policymakers and key health stakeholders to advance the NHS Alliance's influencing priorities.
You will also:
Monitor and analyse political and policy developments, providing timely intelligence, briefings and advice to colleagues and senior leaders.Build and maintain effective relationships across government, Parliament, the NHS and partner organisations.Support the development and delivery of public affairs campaigns, events and stakeholder engagement activity.Draft high-quality briefings, select committee submissions, correspondence and political messaging on complex health and care issues.
Main duties of the job
The Senior Public Affairs Officer supports the organisations engagement with central government, parliamentarians, political parties and national stakeholders. The postholder helps deliver public affairs activity that informs policymaking, strengthens the organisations influence, and enhances its profile across the political and stakeholder landscape.
Working within the public affairs team, the Senior Public Affairs Officer provides political monitoring and analysis, drafts briefings and correspondence, supports parliamentary engagement, and contributes to the delivery of key political moments including select committee inquiries, government consultations and the party conferences. The role offers the opportunity to contribute to the organisations influencing priorities, support campaigns, and work with colleagues across the communications department and wider organisation.
About us
The NHS Alliance is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive environment for our staff. A place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. We offer a range of inclusive employment policies including family friendly policies and flexible working and we have range of channels to support staff from different backgrounds including our staff networks and a staff forum.
The NHS Alliance is committed to being a flexible employer. We understand the value and benefit to our employees being able to work flexibly and our agile working principles are designed to empower our people to work with optimal flexibility and minimal constraints to support a work life balance and take care of employee health and wellbeing.
You will receive an excellent benefits package, including 30 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), pension scheme, cycle to work scheme, salary sacrifice schemes and travel season ticket loans.
Job description Job responsibilities
Support the delivery of the organisations public affairs strategy, helping to engage MPs, peers, government officials and political influencers in a timely and targeted way.Monitor political, policy and stakeholder developments and draft briefings that can inform the organisations advocacy, external engagement and support for its members.Provide high quality political, parliamentary and stakeholder advice to colleagues, escalating issues to more senior colleagues, as required.Support parliamentary engagement activity including preparing submissions to select committee inquiries, briefing spokespeople, and drafting briefings and correspondence aligned to the organisations influencing priorities.Help to maintain effective relationships with key external stakeholders including Royal Colleges, professional bodies, think tanks, government departments, Arms-Length Bodies and patient charities.Contribute to planning and delivering the organisations engagement at political party conferences, including fringe events, stakeholder engagement, and logistical support.Serve as communications lead for some of the organisations key work programmes, campaigns and policy topics as part of the departments account management model.Participate in the press office on-call rota so that the organisation can provide a 24/7 service to the media, members and senior colleagues, as well as supporting the media team during busy periods.Support the development and delivery of the organisations communications agency, HealthCommsPlus. This could include providing specialist public affairs / communications support, client account management and other commercially oriented activities, subject to business need.Assist with administrative and operational support in the department, as required. This could include supporting the director of communications with diary management, booking travel and accommodation, processing purchase orders and invoices, formalising minutes and action logs, preparing internal papers, supporting the onboarding and induction of new starters, and providing logistical support at away days and other departmental events.
Person Specification
Experience Essential
Experience in public affairs, either in-house, for an agency, or having worked in government or Parliament.
Experience in contributing to the delivery of public affairs plans and campaigns designed to meet organisational objectives.
Proven ability to support the delivery of integrated communications plans and use appropriate channels to reach targeted audiences.
Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to network and maintain effective relationships with a variety of audiences, including senior colleagues and external stakeholders.
Experience drafting briefings and providing clear, concise political insight, including against tight deadlines if required.
Excellent written skills with the ability to produce highquality copy for political and stakeholder audiences.
Good organisational and project management skills, with an ability to identify opportunities for proactive communications.
Desirable
Experience of working within healthcare communications, a membership body, and/or a communications agency.
Knowledge of the health and care environment, including policy processes and political context.
Experience supporting external events aimed at government and/or political audiences.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details Employer name The NHS Alliance
Address 2nd Floor, 18 Smith Square
Westminster, London
SW1P 3HZ
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://thenhsalliance.org/ (Opens in a new tab)