Job overview

A fantastic opportunity has arisen to join a small, friendly and supportive Legal Team in a full-time post of Legal Services and Inquest Officer. 

The successful candidate will need to be legally qualified or with suitable relevant experience to enable them to manage of a mixed case load of inquests, Court of Protection and clinical negligence cases and personal injury claims. There will be a high level of advocacy representing the interests of the Trust at Coroners Courts across the Trust's geographical location.

The successful candidate will ensure that that inquests and claims are effectively managed in accordance with the Trust's NHSR Scheme Rules, Civil Procedure Rules, Pre-action Protocols and Coroners Rules to minimise financial, reputation and other risks to the Trust.

The team is located within the Trust Headquarters based in Brockworth, Gloucestershire. You will be joining a forward thinking, innovative team dedicated to providing the trust with dedicated, professional legal support. 

Main duties of the job

Alongside a variety of responsibilities, you will be single point of contact for all legal enquiries coming into the Trust from a variety of organisations such as the police, solicitors and NHS organisations. 

Utilising the in-house case management system to accurately maintain and record all legal cases.  

Provide advocacy on behalf of the Trust at inquests relating to the organisation. Offering advice and guidance on all aspects of the inquest process, claims and healthcare law, based on knowledge and experience, legislation, national, international and local guidelines and best practice.

To work with NHS Resolution and Trust solicitors in the instruction of barristers and independent experts where appropriate and required.

You will work closely with NHS Resolution and Trust Solicitors on new and on-going claims.

To assist with the preparing and delivery of legal training to staff and managers on processes associated with inquests and claims.

Liaise with the Trust management, clinical leads, Learning and Development teams, and national groups to ensure learning points from claims and inquests are developed into Trust practice and national practice.

To assist with the development, preparation of qualitative and statistical reports of a very high standard on legal matters and present to the Board of Directors, Quality Committee, Executive Directors Group and other groups.

Working for our organisation

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us.  In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views.  It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement.  However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.