Consultant in Public Health Medicine

Job responsibilities

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides acute and community services from one district general hospital, one community hospital and a number of other community facilities to an ageing, rural population. It also runs one general practice.

The trust is on an ambitious long-term change programme comprising vertical integration of services, quality improvement, digitisation and partnership working with the West Suffolk Alliance.

Strong relationships already exist with the public health team in Suffolk County Council and with the wider public health workforce and commissioned services.

The Consultant in Public Health/Consultant in Public Health Medicine will work in an adaptive and realistic way to embed the principles of prevention and population health across all the trusts activities.

This is a hands-on role, which requires energy and pragmatism to make good use of existing resources and achieve demonstrable improvements to the populations health.

Strategic responsibility and key tasks

The postholder will be able to move comfortably between working at an operational, tactical and strategic level. The role requires an appreciation of the challenges of translating strategy and policy into meaningful changes in practice, and the post-holder will have the hard and soft skills required to overcome those challenges. They will demonstrate a sensitivity to the competing incentives that NHS providers face. The post-holder will have the ability to work alongside colleagues from all professions and to engage diverse partners effectively. The post requires authentic and inclusive leadership and tenacity in the pursuit of public health goals.

Underpinning many of these duties are public health tasks such as:

1.Interpreting and applying health needs assessments and the evidence base to enable actions to be taken to improve the quality of health services.

2.Helping clinical services to develop care pathways and service improvements which achieve better outcomes for the population

3.Effective communication of complex concepts, science and data and their implications for local communities and patient cohorts, to a range of stakeholders with very different backgrounds.

4.Understanding evaluation frameworks and applying those frameworks to the benefit of local communities

5.Raising awareness of sources of intelligence, evidence and benchmarking amongst clinical services and work with them to formulate clear practical evidence-based actions to drive improvement

6.Understanding human and organisational behaviour and culture and applying this knowledge for the achievement of change.

7.Inspiring commitment to public health outcomes and to prevention as a core feature of NHS service delivery

The post-holder will also:

• Develop the link between the trust and the Suffolk County Council public health team and be a conduit for information sharing and joint working at alliance level
• Participate in the national network of public health professionals who work in NHS providers, for peer support, CPD and sharing of best practice
• Evaluate the success of specific interventions and work programmes, and disseminate that experience and learning through informal and formal routes
• Participate in the organisations job planning, staff appraisal scheme and quality improvement programme, and ensure appraisal and development of any staff for which they are responsible
• Undertake an annual professional appraisal including completion of a programme of CPD, in accordance with Faculty of Public Health requirements, or other recognised body, and undertake revalidation, audit or other measures required to remain on the GMC/GDC Specialist Register or the UK Public Health (Specialist) Register or other specialist register as appropriate
• Practise in accordance with all relevant sections of the General Medical Councils Good Medical Practice (if medically qualified) and the Faculty of Public Healths Good Public Health Practice and UKPHR requirements
• Contribute to professional leadership within the trust and Alliance

Professional obligations

It is a duty of a health professional to foster scientific integrity, freedom of scientific publications, and freedom of debate on health matters, and public health professionals have a further responsibility to promote good governance and public involvement

Public health practice must be carried out within the ethical framework of the health professions.

The postholder will be expected to maintain effective, courageous, and responsible public health advocacy.

The Trusts Global Digital Exemplar status means we have succeeded in implementing a broad and ambitious programme of work to make best possible use of data, information and technology in the ways we design and deliver healthcare in West Suffolk. The post holder will be expected to advocate for the use of health intelligence and digital technology to improve quality of care and align public health and digital objectives.

The replacement of the West Suffolk Hospital is an enormous programme of work which will necessitate pan-organisation change; not just in terms of the physical move of services but also the re-imagining of the role of an acute hospital within a sustainable health and care system for the future. The post-holder will need to be comfortable operating in an environment of uncertainty and be ready to embrace the opportunities it presents.

The public health team values working practices that promote staff wellbeing and the trust is well set up to support remote working. Applications will be welcomed from candidates who would like to job-share, work to a flexible pattern or work part time.

The role may be combined with other professional activities either within the West Suffolk system or elsewhere, by agreement.

Timetable (please see JD attached)

A job plan will be agreed with the Clinical Lead in the first instance and approved by the Medical Director on behalf of the Chief Executive. Consultants are appointed on 10 programmed activities. Applicants wishing to work part-time will have an individualised job plan. The job plan will be agreed at the time of appointment / start of the post, reviewed after 3 months and updated annually in line with the service objectives.

The following will be incorporated into the timetable:

A daily team briefing at 9.30am

Monthly business meeting

2 days at the end of each quarter for team learning and service plan review

1.5 PAs for supporting professional activities such as CPD, audit, teaching and research

Protected time for clinical supervision

There is no on-call requirement.

This is a sample 10 PA job plan.

Qualifications

Essential

• Inclusion in the GMC Full and Specialist Register with a license to practice/GDC Specialist List (or be eligible for registration within six months of interview) or
• Inclusion in the UK Public Health Register (UKPHR) for Public Health Specialists (or be eligible for registration within six months of interview)
• If included in the GMC Specialist Register/GDC Specialist List in a specialty other than public health medicine/dental public health, 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/GDC Specialist List in dental public health/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/GDC/UKPHR specialist registers
• If an applicant is UK trained in Public Health, they must ALSO be a holder of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), or be within six months of award of CCT by date of interview
• If an applicant is non-UK trained, they will be required to show evidence of equivalence to the UK CCT
• Applicants must meet minimum CPD requirements (i.e. be up to date) in accordance with Faculty of Public Health requirements or other recognised body
• MFPH by examination, by exemption or by assessment

Desirable

• Masters in Public Health or equivalent

Experience

Essential

• Delivery of successful change management programmes across organisational boundaries
• Experience of influencing others to achieve outcomes without direct managerial responsibility
• Experience of using complex information to explain public health issues to a range of audiences
• Experience of change management working in or directly with an NHS trust

Desirable

• Media experience demonstrating delivery of effective health behaviour or health promotion messages

Knowledge

Essential

• In depth understanding of the health and care system in England, the relationships between NHS providers, commissioners and regulators and the public health duties of NHS trusts
• - In depth knowledge of methods of developing clinical quality assurance, quality improvement, evaluations and evidence based public health practice
• - Strong and demonstrable understanding of interfaces between health, social care and key partners (dealing with wider determinants of health)
• - Understanding of the public sector duty and the inequality duty and their application to public health practice
• - Commitment to maintain knowledge and keep skills up to date
• All applicants to have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English that are adequate to enable effective communication about medical topics with relatives, carers and colleagues which could be demonstrated by one of the following:
• - that applicants have undertaken undergraduate medical training in English; or
• - have the following scores in the academic International English Language Testing System (IELTS)-Overall 7.5. Speaking 7, Listening 7, Reading 7, Writing 7.
• - If applicants believe that they have adequate communication skills, but do not fit into one of the examples they need to provide evidence

Desirable

• Knowledge and understanding of transformation and change theory in practice

Technical Skills

Essential

• Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills and operational nous;
• Ability to plan, organise and deliver of complex programmes of work;
• Able to motivate organisations to contribute to improving the publics health and wellbeing through mainstream activities and within resources;
• Advanced change management skills, able to implement and sustain change in a complex evolving system environment;
• Advanced problem-solving skills, able to creatively apply knowledge and experience in new ways;
• Ability to lead and manage successfully in unplanned and unforeseen circumstances;
• Analytical skills - able to utilize both qualitative and quantitative information;
• Ability to design, develop, interpret and implement strategies and policies;
• Good written communication skills, including the ability to summarise clearly and accurately;
• Good oral communication skills, including active listening skills, the ability to understand and summarise a discussion, ask appropriate questions, provide constructive challenge and give effective feedback;
• IT literacy;
• Excellent presentation skills

Probity

Essential

• Excellent personal integrity

Motivation & Personality

Essential

• Commitment to the vision, values and ambitions of the trust and the goals of integrated care;
• Commitment to the principles of continuous improvement, inclusive leadership and co-production;
• Commitment to personal development and applying public health skills and expertise in novel ways to achieve objectives;
• Commitment to working collaboratively with other agencies to improve quality and outcomes for the whole population;
• Ability to work well independently;
• Ability to lead, motivate and manage a team;
• Strong networking skills and a clear ability to engage colleagues at all levels throughout the system with confidence;
• Openness to new ways of thinking, creative collaboration and flexibility of approach

Teaching/Education/Research

Essential

• Teaching or training experience;
• GMC accreditation as a clinical supervisor or willingness to become accredited;
• Research skills and experience

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).