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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.
Consultant in Health Protection (North West Region)
Closed for applications on: 6-Jul-2024 00:01
Vacancy status: Closed
Closed for applications on: 6-Jul-2024 00:01
Key details
Location
- Site
- Cunard Building / 3 Piccadilly Place
- Address
- Water Street
- Town
- Liverpool / Manchester
- Postcode
- L3 1DS
- Major / Minor Region
- London
Contract type & working pattern
- Contract
- Permanent: 1 Fixed Term Role until 28 February 2026
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Job share
- Flexible working
Salary
- Salary
- £83,571 - £131,964 per annum, pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Grade
- (NHS Medical and Dental Consultant or AfC Band 8d)
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
We are currently advertising for 2 roles within this vacancy, 1 permanent and 1 fixed term until 28 February 2026
Please state on your application which post / both you are applying for
UKHSA North West Region is made up of health protection consultants and practitioners, surveillance scientists, emergency preparedness professionals and business operations staff, operating from three sites.
We are recruiting enthusiastic, motivated Consultants in Health Protection. These are key posts in our health protection workforce enabling us to deliver our remit to protect the public's health from infectious diseases and other public health hazards through provision of a 24/7 acute health protection service.
Your contractual operational base will be Cunard Building, Liverpool (permanent post) or 3 Piccadilly Place, Manchester (18 months fixed term post). All roles include hybrid working that allows for staff who can operate remotely at home, to fulfil their role and responsibilities in line with the team and UKHSA's policies and guidance. You will be expected to travel to any of our North West sites in Liverpool, Manchester and Preston, providing leadership and development to the service.
Advert
As part of the North West Health Protection Team and in collaboration with relevant people in UKHSA Field Services and Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards Directorates, and Local Authority Directors of Public Health in the North West, the Consultant in Health Protection will contribute to the provision of specialist advice and support locally to local authorities, hospitals, and primary care.
The consultant will contribute to the investigation and management of a full range of health protection incidents (including outbreaks of diseases like meningitis, and food poisoning), and will contribute to surveillance, co-ordination, support and monitoring of the local implementation of local, regional and key national programmes and place-based partnership working.
The post-holder will also be responsible for dealing with environmental public health incidents, situations, and other health protection emergencies, in collaboration with other members of the Health Protection Team as appropriate.
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
The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and maintaining close working relationships both internally and externally with a whole range of partner organisations. Working closely with key partners to ensure delivery of high-quality surveillance, response, and support systems. In addition, they will contribute and lead on local and national priorities including contribution to wider public health initiatives consistent with the UKHSA delivery model and integrated working.
They will have the ability to lead individuals and teams, engage with staff at all levels, and value diversity across the whole team will also be a key requisite of the role.
The post is subject to the core competencies as set out by the Faculty of Public Health for Consultant appointments and the post holder will be expected to demonstrate expertise in all of them (Appendix A).
Please see the attached Job Description outlining full responsibilities of the role.
Other Information
Selection process details
STAGE 1 – Application & Sift:
This vacancy will be assessed using a competency-based framework which will assess your Qualifications, knowledge and experience and / or skills and capabilities outlined in the person specification. You will be required to complete an application form. You will also be asked to provide information within the ‘Employer/ Activity history’ section of the application form. This will be assessed in line with the advertised criteria.
Applicants are strongly advised to use the person specification section as sub-headings in the application to make it clear how you meet each of the selection criteria.
At sift stage you will be assessed on the essential criteria listed in the job advert and statement of suitability.
Your statement of suitability must be no more than 1500 wordcount.
Feedback will not be provided at this stage.
Applicants are strongly advised to use the person specification section as sub-headings in the application to make it clear how you meet each of the selection criteria.
If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to an interview and assessment, a presentation will form part of this assessment.
STAGE 2 – Interview
All candidates who are successful at the sift stage will progress to an interview and will be assessed on the essential criteria as advertised.
This vacancy is being assessed against the essential and desirable criteria as outlined in the Job description
You will be asked to prepare and present a 5-10 minute presentation. The subject of this will be sent to you prior to interview
Interviews are expected to be held in person on week commencing 29th July. This date is subject to change
Option 3 – External - Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants)
Security Clearance Level Requirement:
Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.
The successful candidate will be appointed to the point of the Consultant salary scale appropriate to their years of seniority or if from a background other than medicine to NHS Agenda for Change Band 8d.
Inclusion in the GMC Full and Specialist Register with a license to practice (or be eligible for registration within six months of interview)
If included in the GMC Specialist Register/ in a specialty other than public health medicine, candidates must have equivalent training and/or appropriate experience of public health practice
Public Health Specialty Registrar applicants who are not yet on the GMC Specialist Register must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they are within 6 months of gaining entry at the date of interview; all other applicants must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they have applied for inclusion in the GMC
Further information
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.
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.
For further information or an informal discussion about the post, please contact:
Merav Kliner, Regional Deputy Director of Health Protection - [email protected]
UK Health Security Agency promoted diversity in the workplace and is an Equal Opportunities employer.
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ
Your application may be rejected and/or you may be subject to disciplinary action if evidence of plagiarism is detected. Examples of plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence (AI), as your own.
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
- Inclusion in the GMC Specialist Register or UK Public Health (Specialist) Register
- If included in the GMC Specialist Register in a specialty other than public health medicine, infectious diseases medicine or medical microbiology, candidates must have equivalent training and/or appropriate experience of public health medicine, infectious diseases medicine or medical microbiology practice
- Public health specialist registrar and specialist trainee applicants who are not yet on the GMC Register/UKPHR must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they are within 6 months of gaining entry at the date of interview; all other applicants must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they have applied for inclusion in the GMC/UKPHR
- Applicants must meet minimum CPD requirements in accordance with the requirements of the Faculty of Public Health/Royal College of Pathologists/Royal College of Physicians or other recognised body
- MFPH, or MRCPath, or MRCP
Knowledge and experience
Essential criteria
- Minimum 6 months experience in Health Protection practice
- Practical experience in leading and facilitating change
- Experience of communicable disease control in a wide variety of settings including out of hours on call
- Experience of working with other agencies
- Experience of emergency planning
- Understanding of key agencies involved in health protection
- Knowledge of methods of developing clinical quality assurance, audit, quality improvement and evidence based clinical and/or public health practice
- Understanding of social and political environment
- Understanding of laboratory microbiology services
- Understanding of clinical infectious diseases services
- Understanding of clinical toxicology services
- Understanding of the principles of radiological protection
Desirable criteria
- Experience of budget management and financial processes
- Experience and demonstrable competency in dealing with environmental hazards / chemical incidents
- Ability to undertake prophylaxis, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases of public health importance
- Peer reviewed scientific publications, presentation of papers at conferences, seminars, etc
Skills and capabilities
Essential criteria
- Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills, including management of change
- Able to prioritise work, and work well against a background of change and uncertainty
- Adaptable to situations, can communicate with people of all capabilities and attitudes
- Project management
- Understanding of epidemiology and statistics, public health practice, health promotion, health economics and health care evaluation
- Excellent oral and written communication skills (including dealing with the public and the media)
- Effective interpersonal, motivational and influencing skills
- Ability to respond appropriately in unplanned and unforeseen circumstances
- Sensible negotiator with practical expectation of what can be achieved
- Substantially numerate, with highly developed analytical skills using qualitative and quantitative data
- Computer literate
- Ability to design, develop, interpret and implement policies
- Ability to concentrate for long periods (e.g. analyses, media presentations)
- Resource management skills
Desirable criteria
- People management and training
- Training and mentoring
- Have an awareness of and be working towards the key core competencies set out in Civil Service Competency Framework 2010-2017 and KSF for those on AfC terms and conditions
Behaviours and attitudes
Essential criteria
- Strong commitment to public health principles
- Commitment to team-working and respect and consideration for the skills of others
- Self-motivated, pro-active, and innovative
- High standards of professional probity
Equality and diversity
Essential criteria
- An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships, both in terms of day-to-day working practices, and in relation to management systems
Documents
- Job Description (PDF, 696.3KB)
- Functional Requirements (PDF, 344.6KB)
- Civil Service Recruitment Principles (PDF, 2.6MB)
- Civil Service Nationality Rules (PDF, 195.3KB)
- 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
- Merav Kliner
- Job title
- Regional Deputy Director of Health Protection
- Email address
- [email protected]
No longer accepting applications
Sorry, this vacancy is no longer accepting applications.
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