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UK Health Security Agency
About
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will be responsible for planning, preventing and responding to external health threats, and providing intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as on the global stage. UKHSA will ensure the nation can respond quickly and at greater scale to deal with pandemics and future threats.
Senior Health Protection Practitioner
Closed for applications on: 29-Nov-2022 00:00
Vacancy status: Closed
Closed for applications on: 29-Nov-2022 00:00
Key details
Location
- Site
- Blenheim House
- Address
- Duncombe Street
- Town
- Leeds
- Postcode
- LS1 4PL
- Major / Minor Region
- London
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job share
- Flexible working
Salary
- Salary
- £48,526 - £58,769 AFC 8A £48,526 - £54,619, CS G7 £48,859 - £58,769
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS AfC: Band 8a / Civil Service Grade 7)
Specialty
- Main area
- Health Protection
The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a system leader for health security; taking action internationally to strengthen global health security, providing trusted advice to government and the public and reducing inequalities in the way different communities experience and are impacted by infectious disease, environmental hazards, and other threats to health.
UKHSA’s remit, as an agency with a global-to-local reach, is to protect the health of the nation from infectious diseases and other external threats to health. As the nation’s expert national health security agency UKHSA will:
- Prevent: anticipate threats to health and help build the nation’s readiness, defences and health security
- Detect: use cutting edge environmental and biological surveillance to proactively detect and monitor infectious diseases and threats to health
- Analyse: use world-class science and data analytics to assess and continually monitor threats to health, identifying how best to control and mitigate the risks
- Respond: take rapid, collaborative and effective actions nationally and locally to mitigate threats to health when they materialise
- Lead: lead strong and sustainable global, national, regional and local partnerships designed to save lives, protect the nation from public health threats and reduce inequalities.
Job overview
The UKHSA Yorkshire & Humber Region is a multi-disciplinary team of Consultants in Health Protection, Health Protection Practitioners, Surveillance Scientists, Emergency Preparedness and Business Operations.
The Senior Health Protection Practitioner is a key member of the health protection team and will contribute to, and at times lead, the day to day running of the acute response of the health protection function, including the management of infectious and environmental hazards, and response to major incidents. They will use specialist knowledge and skills to undertake case management and provide health protection advice across a range of partner organisations, professionals, and the public.
The post holder will require demonstrable generic public health skills with established health protection experience and will have specific lead areas of work involving partnership working with external organisations. The post holder will contribute to the strategic work of the locality/patch-based health protection team and deputise where appropriate.
Advert
As Senior Health Protection Practitioner you will:
- Contribute to high quality, safe delivery of the health protection services by providing first point of contact for specialist knowledge/ advice to health professionals.
- Undertake day to day management of routine acute response work and non-complex incidents, and support health protection practitioners in the acute response, escalating complex incidents and outbreaks.
- Undertake line management of Health Protection Practitioners in the Yorkshire & Humber Team.
- Support development and maintenance of effective systems for the surveillance of communicable disease and environmental hazards.
- Support development of effective relationships with a range of individuals and stakeholders.
- Support development of policies for health protection issues and audit as part of quality/service improvement.
- Participate in organisational/professional appraisal, revalidation and CPD as appropriate.
- Participate in a local on call rota.
(A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job description)
Working for our organisation
At the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) our mission is to provide health security for the nation by protecting from infectious disease and external hazards. We are a trusted source of advice to government and to the public, focusing on reducing inequalities in the way different communities experience and are impacted by infectious disease, environmental hazards, and other threats to health.
Our mission is challenging, innovative and in the spotlight. We will work to ensure our people have the diverse skills, experiences and backgrounds we need to thrive, that our employees are representative of the communities we serve and feel valued and enabled to play their part in delivering our work.
Creating our working culture is an ongoing process which we are developing by listening and learning together, hearing and acting upon diverse voices and opinions to develop a common sense of identity and effective ways of working.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
This permanent post will be contractually based at Blenheim House, Leeds.
Although currently the UKHSA Y&H team are undertaking much of our work remotely, there is an increased expectation to work from your contractual site in the future, in line with UKHSA’s policies.
The post holder will undergo a programme of on-going development and education to build on existing knowledge and develop skills to provide specialist health protection advice and meet competencies required to undertake the role.
There are two potential sets of criteria in order to fulfil this role, which are outlined in the attached job descriptions. Should you be successful in your application for this post, you will be offered the terms and conditions that correspond to the person specification and criteria that you meet. Clinical roles are part of the UKHSA Clinical Ring Fence and as such are offered under analogous NHS Terms and Conditions. Non-clinical roles are offered under UKHSA Terms and Conditions.
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ
This is a Non-Reserved post under the Civil Service Nationality Rules. To be eligible for employment in the UK Civil Service applicants must meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules (CSNRs) which operate independently of and additionally to the Immigration Rules. Applicants must also meet necessary security and vetting requirements, along with any other relevant pre-employment checks.
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
For more information on job nationality requirements and the right to work in the UK, see the Civil Service Nationality rules (opens in a new window) and the UK Visas and Immigration rules (opens in a new window)
For posts on UKHSA Civil Service terms and conditions, new entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. For existing Civil Servants and roles advertised across government, the rules of transfer apply, i.e., level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive a 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.
The Civil Service pay structure and progression is different from NHS Agenda for Change (AfC), most local authority pay grades and other systems that have annual pay increments. For further details, please refer to the Information Sheet- Starting Salaries & Benefits attachment.
For AfC or Medical/Dental posts, you must have the correct professional registration to be appointed. The pay will follow the AfC or Medical & Dental terms & conditions. You may be asked to provide evidence of previous service whilst we are conducting pre-employment checks to determine your starting salary.
For Temporary Appointments, if you are not currently a civil servant, you will take up the post on a Fixed Term appointment. If you are an existing Civil Servant, based outside of the UKHSA, you will take up the post as a loan. If you are an existing UKHSA member of staff, you will take up the post as either a level transfer or a temporary promotion as per the UKHSA’s Pay policy.
Given the nature of the work of the UKHSA, as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act, you may be required in an emergency, if deemed a necessity, to redeploy to another role at short notice. You may also be required to work at any other location, within reasonable travelling distance of your permanent home address, in line with the provisions set out in your contract of employment.
Late Applications will unfortunately not be considered.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles (attached as a supporting document).
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: [email protected] If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website here.
Reserve List - If more than the required number of suitable candidates pass the interview criteria, you may be kept on a reserve list for 12 months subject to your agreement. You may be contacted, in merit-order, if similar roles with closely matching essential criteria become available and the department choose to appoint from a reserve list.
Interview expenses will not be reimbursed.
UKHSA is required to check employment and/or education history covering three consecutive years. Please ensure you give details of at least two different referees, even if you were employed in one company for three years or more.
If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system. Please note, all communication regarding your application will be made via email, please ensure you check your junk/spam folders as emails are sometimes filtered there.
Any move to UKHSA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
Benefits of working at UKHSA include:
- Generous annual leave:
-26 days for the first 5 years of continuous service
-28 days after 5 years of continuous service
-32 days after 10 years of continuous service
-Plus public holidays and one privilege day for the King’s birthday - Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions.
- Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving.
- Access to a retail discounts and cashback site.
- We also promote flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours). UKHSA views flexible working as essential in enabling us to recruit and retain talented people, ensuring that they are able to enjoy a long-lasting career with us. All employees have the right to apply for flexible working and there are a range of options available including working from home, compressed hours and job sharing.
- We also offer a generous maternity/ paternity and adoption leave package.
Hybrid Working
UKHSA operates a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce.
As a hybrid worker, you will usually spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted hours (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's locations (approximately 3 days a week pro rata) and the rest of your time working from home.
Disability Confident Scheme
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria at sift to ensure these candidates are invited to interview. If you wish to be included in this scheme please tick the box on your application form.
Reasonable Adjustments
The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone.
To help you during the recruitment process, we will take into account any reasonable adjustments that could help you.
An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work.
This is separate to the Disability Confident Scheme.
If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should:
Contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs.
You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Registered General Nurse or Allied Health Professional in relevant clinical discipline with current professional registration e.g. NMC or Current registration with an appropriate health or science related professional body
- Master’s in Public health, or higher degree in a related subject, or evidence of CPD in health protection and documented experience at master’s level practice
Desirable criteria
- Recognised qualification in Infection Prevention and Control or demonstrable equivalent experience
- Recognised teaching qualification or equivalent experience, e.g. ENB 998, PGCE or NVQ Level 4 Certificate in Education
- Professional Public Health qualification and registration e.g. Specialist Community Public Health (SCPHN) part of the NMC Register or UK PH Register for practitioners
Knowledge and experience
Essential criteria
- Substantial experience in a health protection role at a senior level with specialist knowledge and expertise in Health Protection
- An understanding of and ability to work under the current Health and Social Care Act (e.g. safe guarding vulnerable adults; data protection, information governance)
- Proven experience of managing others in a managerial or supervisory role including performance management and appraisal and development
- Proven experience and ability to prioritise own work effectively and be able to direct activities of/to others including managing and motivating a team and reviewing individual standards
- Ability to identify areas for development and delivery of training programmes ensuring national and strategic objectives
- Experience of leading and maintaining quality and governance frameworks
- Proven experience of leading and developing robust audit and service improvement practices
- Ability to identify areas for policy development and experience of delivering these for service improvement utilising a variety of literature and resources
- Leadership and management of projects (e.g. quality Improvement and research)
- Involvement and co-ordination of public health initiatives
- Incident and outbreak investigation and management
- Ability to undertake on call responsibility for public health
- Knowledge and understanding of the wider public health agenda
- Working knowledge of the principles of epidemiology
Desirable criteria
- Experience of building trusted stakeholder relationships networks in a politically sensitive and/or changing environment
- Experience of maintaining Quality and Governance frameworks
- Experience of effectively engaging with the media e.g. reactive press statement
- Experience of developing and delivering training programmes on a wide range of topics including to trainees, pre and post registration
- Experience of professional supervision/mentorship including supporting public health trainees. e.g.as a project supervisor
- Experience of project principles techniques and tools such as Prince 2 and Managing Successful Projects
- Specialist knowledge of the principles of health protection
- Understanding of public health law
Skills and capabilities
Essential criteria
- Effective verbal, written and presentation communication skills; capable of constructing and delivering clear ideas and concepts concisely and accurately for diverse audiences
- Proven capability to plan over short, medium and long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly
- Evidence of ability to handle challenging issues taking a problem solving approach to ensure proactive and effective resolution
- Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office including Word, and Excel
- Evidence of ongoing CPD and committed to self-development and willing to share experience with others to influence practice
Desirable criteria
- Experience of clinical and/ or professional supervision/mentorship
- Ability to interpret and analyse complex and/or sensitive information in a concise yet insightful way, pre-empting and evaluating issues and recommending appropriate course of action(s)
- Experience of project principles techniques and tools such as Prince 2 and Managing Successful Projects
- Experience of budget management and financial processes
- Evidence of understanding of the principles of workforce profiles, workforce planning and workforce deployment issues
- Experience of leadership within a changing environment
Documents
- AFC8a Senior Health Protection Practitioner (PDF, 297.6KB)
- CS Grade 7 Health Protection Practitioner (PDF, 297.5KB)
- Functional requirements form (PDF, 400.2KB)
- Civil Service Recruitment Principles (PDF, 2.6MB)
- Civil Service Nationality Rules (PDF, 345.1KB)
- Application Form Guidance Notes (PDF, 77.3KB)
- Information Sheet - Starting salaries and benefits (PDF, 129.4KB)
- Information Sheet - Selection Process (PDF, 110.1KB)
- Working at UKHSA and your benefits (PDF, 219.2KB)
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Suzanne Calvert
- Job title
- Principal Health Protection Practitioner
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01138557267
- Additional information
For further information or an informal discussion about the post, please contact: Advanced Health Protection Practitioner, [email protected]
Applicants are strongly advised to use the criteria in the Person Specification of the Job Description as sub-headings in their application to make it clear how they meet each of the selection criteria.
UK Health Security Agency promoted diversity in the workplace and is an Equal Opportunities employer.
No longer accepting applications
Sorry, this vacancy is no longer accepting applications.
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