Purpose of the role This post is designed to support commissioning activities for pharmacy and optometry as part of the NHS South West Collaborative Commissioning Hub team, including providing admin and project support. The NHS South West Collaborative Commissioning Hub Team is responsible for supporting the 7 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) across the South West with commissioning and contract management of: Primary and Secondary Care Dental Services Community Pharmacy Dispensing Practices Community Opticians This includes engaging with key local system stakeholders, to ensure commissioned services are responsive to evidenced local need and are inline with national commissioning guides. The team also provides expert advice and support to ICBs with regard to Delegated Commissioning of Primary Care Services. Alongside this work, the team are responsible for supporting the 7 ICBs with regard to transformation of the primary care services listed above. Key responsibilities of the role Provide secretarial/ and or administration support and advice to the team to support a number of initiatives by: Taking telephone calls for others in the team when they are unavailable and expected to use their initiative when dealing with phone calls and messages. Undertaking all administrative duties such as photocopying and sorting and prioritising mail and e-mail where required, distributing as appropriate Managing the electronic diary for the department, including arranging and changing appointments, prioritising these as appropriate. Ensure all urgent and/or confidential communications are received and distributed from/to relevant parties in a timely manner. Organising and planning events as directed, providing all necessary supporting in local materials. Supporting teams in project management and participating in department events. Required to input, monitor and check data produced and required for on-going programmes and projects. Working with all team members in the collection of information for performance reporting on relevant team projects. Acting as a point of contact for teams, dealing and responding effectively with complex queries from stakeholders and passing on relevant information to appropriate team members sensitively and autonomously. Supplying the relevant information required for financial management, supporting the head of department and teams by checking and sending invoices for payment. Running and collating reports which may include reports to the Board and senior management as required. Developing and maintaining effective electronic filing systems, to ensure that information is kept securely and is accessible to other members of the team Preparing agendas, taking minutes and distributing notes of meetings including typing up of group discussions and interviews as necessary. Supervises staff in day to day activities as directed, allocating and checking work as necessary. Working together with other administrators across the Commissioning Hub to provide an effective network of communication including dealing with visitors to the base and being flexible to cover other administrators general duties as required. Providing guidance and advice on relevant policies and procedures. Participate in Research and Development activities when required and as directed. To carry out other appropriate delegated duties as required. Freedom to Act To use your own initiative and act independently regarding management of diaries, travel arrangements, and make appropriate decisions taking financial and logistical considerations into account To take forward specific project issues and actions. To assess and evaluate priorities to meet changes in demand To work unsupervised and without direction on occasion, whilst recognising the need to refer to others for support/guidance when required Working Conditions/ Effort Extensive VDU use Will have periods of intense concentration, particularly when transcribing minutes. Must be able to manage frequent interruptions. Occasionally required to have difficult conversations with peers in external organisations