About this role
Job summary
The Estates & Facilities Helpdesk Assistant is a vital role in the successful operational of the Estates & Facilities Service. Often the first point of call for our colleagues across the organisation, the E&F HD Assistant will work with our Estates Officers and Contractors to ensure that repairs, maintenance, and minor works are carried out as quickly as possible.
The Helpdesk is a small friendly team committed to developing the best possible service by ensuring robust streamlined process and procedures are in place which are continually reviewed for effectiveness.
We offer a supportive, friendly environment in which you can realise your potential with plenty of opportunities for learning and development.
The helpdesk is based at Hollins Park and supports all divisions across the trust, supporting estates officers and the wider estates team.
Main duties of the job
We are seeking a motivated and positive Helpdesk Assistant to join our Estates and Facilities Team, who will provide a comprehensive service to the Estates and Facilities department, and act as first point of contact for Estates queries and issues.
The role will involve working as part of a busy team based at and will provide an efficient and high quality service whilst assisting with operational management of the Estates portfolio of freehold, leasehold and community services-occupied premises.
The post requires a high degree of competency in administrative support and office communications, including help desk administration, log planned and re-active job requests from telephone calls, email or in person on the Estates & Facilities Management (EFM) helpdesk database, processing orders/invoices and diary management.
About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Job description Job responsibilities
The post holder will be required to respond to all methods of communication to the help desk, record incidents following procedures, and resolve the majority of incidents at first point of contact.
Plan and coordinate meetings, including providing support to the wider team to schedule meetings, arrange venues and facilities , notify attendees, provide agendas and take minutes within a timely manner.
Provide full administrative support to the Head of Estates, Assets & Development Manager and Facilities Managers including but not limited to, co-ordinating meetings, taking messages, monitor/ screen all telephone calls, archiving documents, proactively managing diaries, post and e-mails; ensuring correspondence is dealt with efficiently whilst using initiative and negotiation skills.
Deal with all enquiries in a proactive manner, using judgement skills and solution proposing for complex enquiries.
Ensure housekeeping is kept up to date, manage and organise shared drives for emails and paper files. Ensuring that the Estates electronic records are managed, stored and retrieved efficiently when needed, retained for the appropriate period, and are disposed of in a timely appropriate manner. Ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act and Trust Records Retention Policy.
As directed, provide assistance to the Estates Team regarding estates related research such as finding cost effective suppliers etc.
Provide telephone cover within the office.
Receive incoming correspondence and deal with it in an appropriate manner. This will either be drafting a suitable response or appropriate referral to other members of the Estates and Facilities team.
Report any required maintenance and repair issues to the appropriate provider.
Produce presentation materials, spreadsheets and graphs as directed and to agreed time scales.
Work as part of the estates and facilities administration team providing support and cover for colleagues as required. It is therefore essential that the post holder is willing to be flexible and work as part of this team.
The post holder will be required to work under his/her own initiative within objectives agreed with the Facilities Manager. This includes prioritisation of his/her workload on a day to day basis, making decisions within their authority and exercising a high level of initiative to problem solve.
Support the Facilities Managers to ensure that the full range of facilities management activity is developed, implemented and monitored.
Setup and update a list of contacts for each site, including deputies or alternative contacts where required.
Liaise with the various Contractors in chasing- up uncompleted or unsatisfactory work and keeping staff informed at all times of activities and delays.
Ensure that access is provided to all areas required to undertake service visits or repairs and that relevant permits to work have been approved before work / repairs commence.
Assist in the collation, analysis and completion of Estates Reporting Information Collection (ERIC) and other NHS returns required.Respond accordingly to changes of priorities as required by the Head of Estates and Facilities Managers demonstrating a flexible approach to work patterns.
Create, Maintain and update the various spreadsheets, databases and any documentation used by the estates team; ensuring retrieval thereof, using a department filing protocol area for the team.
Person Specification
Experience Essential
Experience of managing a large and varied property portfolio Experience of supporting budget management Experience of administering third party facilities contracts Experience in a technical administrative role in the NHS or similar organisation, involving working with key internal and external contacts at Senior Management / director level
Skills Essential
Knowledge of NHS property and accommodation Knowledge of legislation and statutory requirements Good analytical and problem-solving skills Good communication Skills Basic Budget management skills Good interpersonal skills Secretarial skills including spreadsheet and written document skills Time management and organisational skills Ability to work using own initiative Good concentration and ability to deal with varying work patterns Good understanding of data systems, file structures and electronic record keeping Able to assimilate information quickly and to think logically Self motivated, with the ability to work under pressure and to short time scales whilst multi taking on a daily basis Knowledge of how to deal with a range of non routine activities, such as work allocation, problem solving for a team or area of work, as well as answering queries and progress chasing, developing alternative or additional procedures. To deal with a range of facts or situations which require analysis or comparison, including situations where there is more than a straightforward choice of options and that there is a requirement in a range of different cases to assess events or problems in deatail to determine the appropriate course of action Planning and organisation of a broad range of complex activities or programmes, some of which are ongoing, which require the formulation and adjustment of plans or strategies
Qualifications Essential
Experience gained in property or Facilities Management Diploma or similar qualification in relevant field (including finance) Good standard of competency in typing / word processing Ability to undertake site visits and regular local travel
Desirable
Shorthand / minute taking experience would be an advantage. Legionella, asbestos & COSHH
Knowledge Essential
Knowledge of facilities management processes Knowledge of supporting service charge management Demonstrable experience of using MS Office - Including input, editing and production of reports
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 Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
Address Hollins Park Site
Hollins Lane
Warrington
WA2 8WA
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.merseycare.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)