Healthwatch Cumberland Engagement Officer
Driving – is a car essential for this role?
A current driving licence and access to own transport is required for this role. This post requires you to have the appropriate ‘business use’ insurance in place as use of your car is required to carry out day-to-day tasks such as (but not limited to): travel to engagement events and meetings; running business errands during the day; travel between different People First business sites; occasionally transporting colleagues, volunteers or members to engagement events etc.
Mileage and expenses are paid while travelling on work business but not to and from your designated place of work.
Who we are
The Organisation
The contract for Healthwatch Cumberland is held by People First Independent Advocacy. People First is an independent customer-led charitable organisation that has worked in Cumbria for almost 32 years. We are passionate about our values of equality, respect, and inclusion. We provide a wide range of support and information services across Cumbria, Lancashire and Teesside, all aimed at helping people to live informed, respected, healthy and fulfilled lives. Our head office is based in Carlisle, supported by offices in Barrow and Lancashire. Find out more at: https://wearepeoplefirst.co.uk/about-us
The Department
Healthwatch Cumberland is an independent champion of the views of patients and people who use health and social care across the local authority area of Cumberland. Our goal is to make services better and improve health and well being.
We work closely with health and social care services, service users, residents and families, members of the public, and employees working in these environments, with a key focus on engaging with hard to reach and seldom heard groups.
Our main activities include:
- Gathering information from patients and the public on the quality of health and social care services in Cumberland, highlighting local issues raised.
- Promoting involvement of people in the provision and scrutiny of local health and care services to deliver better and more joined-up services.
- Connecting with community groups and the voluntary sector, NHS partners and local authority.
- Carrying out Enter and View visits at a wide range of health and social care settings.
- Providing free information and signposting support to help people know about health and social care services, and understand the choices available.
You can find out more about us here: https://healthwatchcumberland.co.uk/
The Person
For this role, we are looking for:
- A people person, someone who is empathetic and an active listener, sensitive to people’s life experiences and challenges, able to connect with hard to reach and seldom heard groups.
- Someone who is able to develop constructive relationships with representatives from a wide range of communities, the voluntary sector and health and social care providers, so networking and building local knowledge will be essential.
- A collaborative team member, someone who can work closely with others to provide consistent, effective and timely delivery of tasks, projects and events.
- Someone who is resilient, confident and a self-starter when it comes to your own work, as well as being able to think creatively about how to tackle a challenge.
- Healthwatch’s strength is its independence and political neutrality. You will need to be able to stay ‘on message’ when speaking for us, and maintain confidentiality.
As a Healthwatch Cumberland Engagement Officer, you will support the Senior Engagement Officer to deliver a range of public engagement activities, including:
- Face to face and online focus groups
- Gathering case studies and personal stories
- Organising and attending events such as community drop-ins and health and wellbeing events
- Planning and carrying out Enter and View visits at e.g., care homes, hospitals
- Creating and delivering project plans and surveys
- Representing Healthwatch Cumberland at meetings
Based primarily in West Cumbria, you will need to work with the Senior Engagement Officer to ensure engagement takes place across Cumberland, so some travel will be required. As, on any one day you could be holding a pop-up event with a volunteer in a village hall in the Western Lake District, attending a support group in Whitehaven, joining a Teams voluntary sector network meeting, or a meeting with a patient participation group in Workington.
You might meet up with other engagement colleagues and volunteers to carry out an Enter and View visit in Keswick, or head to Carlisle for a coffee and a catch-up with the rest of the team. You’ll also take some photos while you’re out and about and post them on our social media, you might write a report, and you will need to record what you’ve been doing so we can meet our targets and log our impact. It’s exciting and varied, and the chance to make a difference.
Qualifications
- Educated to at least A-level, your skills, knowledge and experience are more important than exam certificates.
Skills, knowledge and experience
- Great written and spoken communication skills.
- Ability to communicate effectively with people and maintain positive relationships.
- Excellent time management skills.
- Able to work simultaneously on several tasks or projects at different stages of completion.
- An awareness and interest in the challenges of community engagement and involvement with reference to health and well being.
- Creative problem-solver.
- Self-starter, with the ability to work on your own initiative, as well as effectively be part of a team.
- Able to maintain confidentiality and work in a sensitive manner.
- Familiarity with social media platforms and posting content for maximum reach.
- Good IT literacy, particularly Word and Excel, and a willingness to learn other programs e.g. PowerPoint and Canva.
- Meticulous admin skills to write-up and log your activities.
- An interest in or understanding of health and social care service provision.
Duties will include:
- Undertake activities to gather feedback and personal experiences from individuals and groups relevant to different projects. These include, but are not limited to, attending engagement events, gathering personal stories and case studies, carrying out surveys.
- We make use of online meetings, social media and our website to support engagement. We will provide training and an interest and willingness to learn are desirable for this position.
- Support patient engagement groups, providing information and gather insight into the health and social care needs of individuals and communities in Cumberland.
- Carry out Enter and View visits.
- Build relationships with local communities and organisations.
- Support your team to creatively capture people’s experiences and opinions.
- Write reports on projects, events and Enter and View visits.
- Undertake in-depth case studies.
- Ensure all feedback is gathered with sensitivity upholding the values of Healthwatch.
- Ensure all evidence and activities are recorded in a timely manner.
Other Duties
- Be flexible and adaptable in a changing program of new projects and activities.
- Take a positive approach towards your own professional development, undertaking any training and development activities as required.
- Work flexibly to accommodate travel to events, or occasional evening and weekend work.
- Promote Healthwatch Cumberland across all communities and stakeholders.
- Comply with the organisation’s policies and procedures.
The duties outlined above are not intended to be exhaustive and may change as the needs of the organisation alter in line with current agendas.