Swydd wag: Head of Legal Services, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, Crawley

Crynodeb o'r swydd

Prif leoliad: Head of Legal Services
Gradd: NHS AfC: Band 8b
Contract: Parhaol
Oriau: Llawnamser
Cyfeirnod y swydd: 278-HLS-0326-AS-B

Cyflogwr: South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
Math o gyflogwr: NHS
Gwefan: Crawley HQ
Tref: Crawley
Cyflog: £64,455 - £74,896 per annum
Cyfnod cyflog: Yn flynyddol
Yn cau: 14/04/2026 23:59

Head of Legal Services

NHS AfC: Band 8b

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has a vision to ‘support our staff to provide a caring, high quality and efficient urgent and emergency care service to our communities’. We are rated ‘Good’ for care by the Care Quality Commission and while the other areas under their most recent report require improvement, our aim is to continually improve and to reach outstanding across all areas of the Trust.

Our 4,000+ workforce provide services to 4.9m people across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire. We handle over 1 million calls to 999 and 1 million calls to NHS 111 every year. More information regarding our services and locations can be found on our website.

Swydd-ddisgrifiad a phrif gyfrifoldebau manwl

The post holder is responsible for the daily management of the Legal Services allocated budget and line management of legal services staff.

Coroners Inquests

Accountable for the effective legal conduct of all inquests involving the Trust, incuding adherence to professional standards of all Legal staff and compliance with evidentiary and Coronial rules by,

Acting as a confident advocate, including the ability to examine and cross-examine witnesses, present evidence and make submissions to Coroners on relevant law. To understand the medical complexities of each case in conjunction with senior clinicians and recognise potentially problematic areas, both clinically and legally, which may require further investigation and reporting for the purposes of the inquest. To provide advice on the preparation and content of witness statements. To liaise with the Coroner and his/her Officers to meet the requirements of the Court. In exceptional cases to instruct Counsel where necessary.
Ensuring close liaison with the patient safety team and divisional quality and clinical leads, highlighting areas of risk identified in inquests investigations to ensure that lessons learned in the claims and inquest process are implemented within the Trust.

Legal Advice

To ensure the provision of the highest level of prompt and accurate expert legal advice by:

· Providing advice on matters including, but not limited to, patient consent, withholding/withdrawing of life sustaining treatment and end of life decisions, capacity, confidentiality, access to patient information, medical ethics, mental health law, trust law, contract law, criminal law, dealings with the police, child protection, occupier’s liability, interpretation of relevant legislation, legal principles and case law.

Participating in and providing legal advice to Trust Working Groups and Committees in the development and implementation of policy, ensuring the Trust’s compliance with the relevant legal frameworks.

Manyleb y person

Skills/Ability/ Knowledge

Meini prawf hanfodol

Able to communicate highly contentious, sensitive and complex information (both written and oral) often within an antagonistic atmosphere in order to provide a legal advisory service and associate specialist litigation.
Able to take evidence from witnesses and submissions in court or tribunal
Ability to deal confidently with staff at all levels of an organisation
Well-developed interpersonal skills with the ability to work with a range of professionals

Meini prawf dymunol

Excellent communication skills at all levels, confident when speaking in public and at large meetings
Developing & delivering training programmes

Qualifications

Meini prawf hanfodol

Degree in Law (or other degree with completion of relevant conversion course)
Masters level qualification, or demonstrable experience as a senior and expert specialist solicitor or barrister

Meini prawf dymunol

Knowledge and experience associated with NHS specific legal provisions, structures and social care policies
Experience of Datix

Experience

Meini prawf hanfodol

Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge within the specialised field of Health Law, including litigation, inquests and general advice on protection of interests of medical staff and organisations
Inquest Advocacy
Experience of managing staff and budgets

Meini prawf dymunol

Experience of using the NHSLA Extranet and Claims Wizard
Experience of working within the NHS or public sector environment

Please note that the salary range noted on the vacancy is in line with agenda for change (AFC) pay scales. All successful applicants would be placed automatically at the bottom of the banding, unless proven, relevant NHS or equivalent experience can be demonstrated.

Following the revision of current national legislation (Vaccine as a Condition of Deployment), the Trust has reviewed our requirements relating to staff uptake of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) vaccination.

Going forward, for patient facing positions, we strongly recommend that new starters will be appropriately vaccinated unless medically exempt in order to offer greater protection against exposure to the virus for front line staff.

In line with this recommendation, if you are successful in your application for a front line post, we will seek information from you in relation to your vaccine status, including exemption status, as applicable.

Please note, all positions come with a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check relevant to the post. This will either be a basic, standard, or enhanced check depending on the role. The level of check will be outlined in the conditional offer letter sent to successful applicants.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to declare any unspent/unfiltered convictions. If you are shortlisted you will then be sent a self declaration form, which must be completed prior to attending interview. for any queries relating to declarations, please contact the Recruitment Advisor listed on the vacancy.

The Trust is passionately committed to being an inclusive employer - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. As an employer we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement networks, facilities and services to support staff from different backgrounds.

We actively support equality of opportunity for all our staff and welcome applications from individuals regardless of age, any disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief. The Trust is making progress towards its aim of becoming more reflective of the diversity of our community in our workforce and guarantees an interview to candidates with disability who meet the essential criteria specified. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and disabled applicants and those from other under-represented groups.

The Equality Act 2010 protects disabled people - including those with long term health conditions, learning disabilities and hidden disabilities such as dyslexia. If you tell us that you have a disability we can make reasonable adjustments to ensure that any selection processes - including the interview - are fair and equitable.

We are a committed to offering opportunities to individuals with disabilities and offer on-going support, should you be successful, with any adjustments you may need when performing your role.

When completing the application please use your name as it appears on your passport and please ensure you include email addresses and contact numbers for your referees to avoid delay in the recruitment process.

Please note that under our Trust policies, we're unable to employ anyone under the age of 18 years old.

The majority of our roles will include some travel between sites for business purposes. If the vacancy you’re applying for includes work related travel, you will be required to ensure that you hold and have covered the cost of suitable car insurance to support this.

Should you require an application form in an alternative format including large print or braille, please contact [email protected] stating the vacancy reference number and we will be happy to provide this.

When completing the reference section, please include details to cover the last three years’ history.

Due to the high volume of applications at SECAmb, we regret that we will only be able to contact those applicants who are shortlisted for interview. If you have not heard from us within 10 working days of the closing date, then please assume you have not been shortlisted for interview on this particular occasion.

Please note that we contact all applicants via Trac Jobs and would advise you check your Trac Jobs account regularly.

Please be aware that the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy early if sufficient applications are received. For this reason we recommend completing your application as early as possible.

Follow our recruitment on Twitter @SECAmbRecruit and check out our Facebook page - SECAmb NHS Recruitment. You can also find us on Linkedin under South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

We understand that AI tools can be useful for generating ideas or structuring your application. However, any content submitted must reflect your own experiences, skills, and understanding. Applications that are generated wholly or in large part by AI, without personalisation or accuracy, may be excluded from consideration. We value honesty, authenticity, and integrity in the recruitment process and expect all applicants to uphold these principles.

If you are a current SECAmb employee, by applying for this position, if successful you will move to the terms and conditions associated with the post. Any unsocial hours payments will be paid under the Section 2 agreement of agenda for change. Section 2 unsocial hours will need to be claimed via your monthly timesheet. More information regarding section 2 can be found in the Agenda for Change handbook and on the our dedicated Section 2 page on The Zone.