Project Support Officer

Job overview

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is hosting this post on behalf of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Provider Collaborative.

The post-holder will be responsible for providing comprehensive programme and project administrative support for the Lancashire and South Cumbria Elective Reform Programme.

The role requires initiative, discretion, attention to detail and the ability to work with minimum supervision to deadlines.

Excellent administrative, organisational and communication skills are essential to the success of this role. This post requires experience in a programme and project management environment.

The post-holder will act as first point of contact for enquiries regarding various improvement workstreams and programmes of work and resolve day-to-day problems independently.

Main duties of the job

Specific duties include:

• Support development of project tools / system to monitor delivery progress.
• Support the monitoring of delivery progress and impact and keep systems up to date to ensure leads have the latest progress reports to ensure effective use is made of monthly project / programme meetings.
• Liaise with identified operational and clinical leads to obtain updates.
• Update progress reports as required.
• Support development of project systems to collate and store evidence of progress made against agreed actions and keep up to date.
• Keep up-to-date relevant dashboards as required.
• Ensure accurate financial records are maintained for projects where applicable.
• Provide administrative and project support for key meetings and networks.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Communication and relationships

• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with the full range of stakeholders involved in the Elective Reform Programme.
• Gain “buy-in” support for projects from key stakeholders.
• Support the management of a demanding, fast paced action plan that may be perceived negatively and / or have an impact on the capacity of operational services.
• Support the provision and communication of complex, sensitive and highly contentious information to key stakeholders.
• Help prepare reports and presentations to share with stakeholders, staff and programme boards.
• Work in close co-operation with programme, operational and clinical leads.
• Use persuasive and negotiating skills to improve understanding when dealing with stakeholders.
• Use interpersonal skills to overcome all barriers, which can sometimes be very significant, to ensure successful outcomes.
• Adopt a supportive, facilitative approach to ensure the continued momentum of the improvement and programme plans are maintained.

Analytical and judgement

• Under the direction of the Programme Manager and Associate Director of Elective Reform, analyse and interpret information and data and make comparisons to identify potential options, corrective or appropriate action.
• Make recommendations to senior members of the team and / or programme Senior Responsible Officers.
• Support the identification and management of risk and issues.

Planning and organisation

• Work with the programme manager(s) and operational leads to support the development of improvement and programme delivery plans.
• Help to identify co-dependencies, potential risks / delays and identify mitigation actions to make adjustments to meet targets.
• Monitor progress against key milestones and outcomes.
• Responsible for highlighting areas for action in preparation for senior / strategic meetings as required.
• Ensure papers are received and delivered to required deadlines.
• Use experience to balance competing priorities.

Policy and Service Improvement

• Develop policies and protocols for own work area.
• Present a positive role model in times of service improvement.

Responsibility for Human Resources

• Provide training on progress monitoring systems to Operational Leads, administrators as required.
• Support wider management team members with guidance to improve project knowledge.

Responsibility for Information Resources

• Support development of systems to monitor progress.
• Responsible for ensuring that systems for monitoring progress are keep up-to-date and that a clear audit trail exists for all activity.
• Support development of systems to collate and store evidence of progress made against actions and keep up to date.
• Keep up-to-date relevant dashboards as required.
• Support development and maintenance of project documentation.
• Project reporting – update regular progress reports as required.
• A competent knowledge of Microsoft and other software packages is required for reporting, business change and project plans.

Service improvement

• Support development and collation of surveys / audits related to improvement plans.
• Support systematic approach to evaluations / lessons learned / bench marking.