Associate Director of Public Health HCC616935

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Summary:

• The post will have a focus on the leadership elements of this portfolio including taking a lead for delivering the relevant aspects of the Public Health strategies, providing system leadership and advocating for public health across the Councils and the wider health and care system. In addition to the leadership responsibilities described below, precise areas of responsibility for this very senior post will be negotiated according to organisational requirements, key priorities and expertise within the directorate. As a member of the Public Health senior leadership team, you will:
• Share responsibility for ensuring delivery of the Councils public health duties to promote and protect the health of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight populations and to reduce health inequalities.
• Work with the Director of Public Health and the consultant team to make best use of Public Health department resources as well as influence the resources in the Council as a whole.
• Be an advocate for a public health approach across the wider health and care system, both at local system level and Integrated Care System (ICS) geography.
• Share the leadership across both organisations promoting cross-council solutions to deliver the Councils outcomes for their residents, customers and clients.
• Be responsible for setting the strategic direction and leading the development, commissioning and quality improvement of key public health services.
• Be proactive in working with district councils and other partners, including the voluntary sector to support delivery of the Public Health strategy.
• Specific portfolio responsibilities for this role will include:
• Leading across the system on key public health responsibilities, with a focus on the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICS and Hampshire Place Prevention and Inequalities programme and place based prevention programme leadership.
• This role will work closely with the NHS to develop and lead the programme of prevention interventions in line with the long term plan.
• Take a lead role in developing academic partnerships and relationships with local universities including the embedded research programme with the University of Winchester.

Hampshire County Council is a two-tier Authority with a population of about 1.42 million people who are served by one County Council and eleven district councils. The population has a higher-than-average age profile and is becoming increasingly diverse. Despite being relatively healthy and wealthy compared to England, there are pockets of significant deprivation.

The Isle of Wight is a Unitary Authority with a population of about 142,000 people who are served by one unitary Council. The population is diverse, consisting of the urban centres such as Newport and Ryde, rural areas such as West Wight and seaside towns such as Sandown and Ventnor. The population has a higher-than-average ageing profile. It is relatively affluent with pockets of deprivation in the urban areas, and issues of access in the more rural ones.

Public Health Arrangements:

The Public Health team in Hampshire is part of the Directorate of Adults Health and Care. The Director of Public Health reports to the Director of Adults Health and Care for Hampshire and the Chief Executive for the Isle of Wight. The Director of Public Health has joint leadership for Population Health Management for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICS and provides public health leadership to the Frimley Health and Care ICS.

The Public Health team is a multi-disciplinary team of about 65 staff including Public Health Practitioners, Public Health Principals and a Public Health Intelligence team supported by strong project management and business support functions. The department is approved for the training of public health specialists for the Wessex training scheme and a programme of work-force development is in place.

The department has strong links with the Universities of Southampton, Portsmouth and Winchester developing research and linking on teaching programmes. A partnership with the South Coast Post Doctoral Partnership has enabled the team to provide placements for PhD students.

We have a history of successful bids for money from national funds, for example to improve mens mental wellbeing and for tackling domestic abuse. NIHR funding has recently been received to employ an embedded researcher within the team.

Management arrangements:

The postholder will be professionally accountable to Hampshire County Council.

The post will be managerially accountable to the Director of Public Health for Hampshire County Council and the Isle of Wight Council.

The post is part of the Senior Management Team for Public Health and the wider senior management team for Adults Health and Care.

The postholder will:

• Be responsible for and manage staff (this will include line managing public health registrars and other staff as agreed) and will be accountable for recruitment, appraisals, disciplinary and grievance procedures for directly line managed staff. The precise number of staff will be dependant on the current functional responsibilities agreed in the annual job plan.
• Manage delegated budgets in line with functions outlined in the agreed annual work programme.
• Be expected to deputise for the Director and Associate Director as required.

Professional obligations

The postholders will be expected to:

• Participate in the organisations staff appraisal scheme and departmental audit and ensure appraisal and development of any staff for which s/he is responsible.
• Pursue a programme of CPD in accordance with Faculty of Public Health requirements, or other recognised body, and undertake professional appraisal, 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.

This Job Description sets out responsibilities at the time it was drawn up, but these may vary from time to time without changing the general character of the duties or the level of responsibility involved.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• 5 years Public Health experience.
• Able to influence senior members including directors and CEOs with the ability to respond appropriately in unplanned and unforeseen circumstances.
• Commitment to team working, and respect and consideration for the skills of others with experience of staff management and training and able to both lead teams and to able to contribute effectively in teams led by junior colleagues.
• Commitment to work within a political system irrespective of personal political affiliations.
• High standards of professional probity and strong commitment to public health principles.
• Able to prioritise work, and work well against a background of change and uncertainty.
• Sensible negotiator with practical expectation of what can be achieved.
• Delivery of successful change management programmes across organisational boundaries.
• Experience of using complex information to explain public health issues to a range of audiences. Excellent oral and written communication skills (including dealing with the media) and good presentational skills.
• Substantially numerate, with highly developed analytical skills using qualitative and quantitative data.
• Effective interpersonal, motivational and influencing skills, with the ability to communicate with able people of all capabilities and attitudes.
• Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills and operational nous.
• High level of understanding of epidemiology and statistics, public health practice, health promotion, health economics and health care evaluation. Substantially numerate, with highly developed analytical skills using qualitative and quantitative data.
• Ability to respond appropriately in unplanned and unforeseen circumstances.
• Project management skills.
• Able to demonstrate and motivate organisations to contribute to improving the publics health and wellbeing through mainstream activities and within resources.
• Resource and budget management skills.
• Training and mentoring skills.
• Ability to lead and manage the response successfully in unplanned and unforeseen circumstances.
• Ability to design, develop, interpret and implement strategies and policies.
• In depth understanding of the health and care system and the relationships with both local national government and an understanding of the social and political environment in which the role operates.
• 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).

Desirable

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

Qualifications

Essential

• Inclusion in the GMC Specialist Register/GDC Specialist List/UK Public Health Register (UKPHR) for Public Health Specialists -This entails a masters programme plus further postgraduate medical specialist training.
• 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 medicine 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 [see shortlisting notes below for additional guidance].
• 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.

UK Registration

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

Employer details

Employer name

Hampshire County Council

Address

Elizabeth II Court

The Castle

Winchester

Hampshire

SO23 8UB

Employer's website

https://www.hants.gov.uk/jobs (Opens in a new tab)