Job summary
In support of the UK's world-first Antimicrobial Products Subscription Model, we're recruiting academics to join our brand new Antimicrobials Evaluation Panel, with the responsibility of quality assuring the company evidence submissions. We are looking for academics with expertise and experience in critically appraising clinical and in vitro evidence and evidence synthesis. These roles will support the clinical members of the evaluation panel, who have now been fully recruited. For more information, please see the sections titled 'Detailed job description and main responsibilities' and 'Person specification'. Two positions are available.
Two positions are available.
Closing date: Midnight on Monday 5 August 2024.
This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a world-first approach to incentivising development of new antimicrobials that offer significant value to patients and the NHS. It has been devised in response to the UK Government's national action plan for antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
If you have an access requirement that prevents you from applying online, please contact committeeRCT@nice.org.uk and we can provide MS word versions of the forms to complete.
Main duties of the job
In the new Antimicrobial Products Subscription Model, NHS England and participating devolved nations of the UK will offer companies a contract with a fixed annual fee, delinked from product sales, for eligible antimicrobials targeting pathogens designated a global priority by the World Health Organization (WHO). In light of lessons learnt from our pilot project and in the interest of timely patient access, NHS England and NICE have developed a more pragmatic approach to determine the value of the contract payments for eligible products. This will use evaluation criteria with a points-based scoring system, anchored in the learning from the pilot and negating the need for quantitative health economic analyses on a product-by-product basis.
The subscription model will operate as a procurement process led by NHS England, who are commissioning NICE to establish the Antimicrobial Evaluation Panel to assess and score products against the evaluation criteria. The product's score will determine the value of the contract between the NHS and companies, through assignment to one of four contract value bands. The top band (£20 million per year in England) is for innovative breakthrough products offering exceptional value to patients and the NHS. Further details of the proposed evaluation criteria, evidence requirements and scoring system are available to download if you register through the link provided on the NHS England website.
About us
Remuneration and time commitment
The academic panel members responsible for quality assuring company evidence submissions will be remunerated for their time at £300 (gross) per day, for approximately 5 days per drug evaluation. You should be willing to commit to supporting evaluation of 6-10 products in the first year, and probably fewer in subsequent years. You will be responsible for quality assuring the company evidence submission for every product evaluation, and expected to attend all panel meetings (one meeting per evaluation). There will be peaks and troughs in workflow, but evaluations will be staggered to minimise overlapping deadlines between topics.
The work is quality assurance of evidence submissions in support of a tender process. Liability for this process sits with NHS England.
Other expenses
NICE recognises that in some circumstances individuals will need to arrange for carers or support workers, this includes childcare or care of a family member with a disability or other additional needs. The circumstances in which NICE can provide reimbursement for such costs are outlined in the non-staff reimbursement policy.
Panel meetings
Panel meetings are held in private.Meetings are likely to be held virtually.
Standing panels
Membership will be for 3 years and will be eligible for renewal by mutual agreement, up to a maximum of 10 years.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Before you consider applying for the role, please ensure you read theconflicts of interest sectionof the attached Information for Applicants document, and refer to NICEspolicy on declaring and managing interests for NICE advisory committees.
This is a non-voting panel member role and you will not be required to score the products against any of the evaluation criteria. Scoring of products will be the responsibility of the clinical members of the panel, who have already been recruited. For information - the recruited roles include infectious disease consultants, pharmacists, pharmacologists, medical microbiologists and epidemiologists. You will not be required to conduct literature reviews or do any de novo analyses.
The panel members responsible for quality assuring company evidence submissions will be required to:
- independently review the evidence submitted by the company and, if appropriate, request clarification information
- review the companys response to clarification questions
- prepare a report of the results and conclusions from your quality assurance, and submit this to NICE for distribution to the Antimicrobial Evaluation Panel
- contribute to preparing for panel meetings, in collaboration with the panel Chair and NICE technical staff, which may involve a virtual meeting
- attend panel meetings and answer any questions arising about your work
- be available to review evidence for all product evaluations and attend all panel meetings to ensure that, for each annual round of the subscription model, all products are evaluated by the same set of experts to achieve consistency
- contribute positively to the work of the panel
- act in a professional manner, show good manners and be courteous to colleagues and staff at all times (panel members should behave in a polite, efficient and respectful manner and without bias or favour, using the highest standards of conduct expected in public life and service while on NICE duty)
- be impartial and honest in conducting duties for NICE and NHS England, use public funds entrusted to them to the best advantage of NICE and NHS England, and avoid deliberately damaging the confidence of the public or stakeholders in NICE and NHS England
- ensure strict adherence to NICEs Principles andequality policy
- read and adhere to NICEs policies on hospitality, declarations of interests and travel and subsistence
- respect the rights of NICE and NHS England both to:
- publish information on the organisations awarded a contract and the associated value band, including an account of the evaluation panels rationale for the scores given for each of the evaluation criteria and
- receive notification of any proposed publications related to your work on the published outputs.
Companies will be asked to prepare a written evidence submission detailing how their product meets each of the 17 evaluation criteria, including a description of the supporting evidence. Full details of the proposed evaluation criteria, evidence requirements and scoring system are available to download if you register through the link provided on the NHS England website; and are also available as a supporting document alongside this advert. Only the company will be invited to submit evidence. Companies will be asked to provide the following documents at the same time as their evidence submission, for the purposes of quality assurance:
- Full journal articles for all publications that are cited in the evidence submission.
- Clinical trial reports and protocols for all clinical studies that are cited in the evidence submission.
- Marketing authorisation documentation: a draft/final UK Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) and a draft/final European public assessment report (EPAR).
Panel members may be NHS staff, public health agency staff from the UK Health Security Agency, Public Health Scotland, Public Health Wales or the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency, healthcare professionals or professionals from the academic world. They will use their experience and judgement for the topics considered and contribute to improving the quality and consistency of care provided by the NHS.
Members are appointed because of their experience or their specific technical skills. Members are not appointed to act as representatives of a particular organisation. If members belong to stakeholder organisations, NICE and the panel assume that they bring this perspective to the group, and are not representing their organisation.Please see the attached document and supporting information on evaluation criteria, for further information.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Before you consider applying for the role, please ensure you read theconflicts of interest sectionof the attached Information for Applicants document, and refer to NICEspolicy on declaring and managing interests for NICE advisory committees.
This is a non-voting panel member role and you will not be required to score the products against any of the evaluation criteria. Scoring of products will be the responsibility of the clinical members of the panel, who have already been recruited. For information - the recruited roles include infectious disease consultants, pharmacists, pharmacologists, medical microbiologists and epidemiologists. You will not be required to conduct literature reviews or do any de novo analyses.
The panel members responsible for quality assuring company evidence submissions will be required to:
- independently review the evidence submitted by the company and, if appropriate, request clarification information
- review the companys response to clarification questions
- prepare a report of the results and conclusions from your quality assurance, and submit this to NICE for distribution to the Antimicrobial Evaluation Panel
- contribute to preparing for panel meetings, in collaboration with the panel Chair and NICE technical staff, which may involve a virtual meeting
- attend panel meetings and answer any questions arising about your work
- be available to review evidence for all product evaluations and attend all panel meetings to ensure that, for each annual round of the subscription model, all products are evaluated by the same set of experts to achieve consistency
- contribute positively to the work of the panel
- act in a professional manner, show good manners and be courteous to colleagues and staff at all times (panel members should behave in a polite, efficient and respectful manner and without bias or favour, using the highest standards of conduct expected in public life and service while on NICE duty)
- be impartial and honest in conducting duties for NICE and NHS England, use public funds entrusted to them to the best advantage of NICE and NHS England, and avoid deliberately damaging the confidence of the public or stakeholders in NICE and NHS England
- ensure strict adherence to NICEs Principles andequality policy
- read and adhere to NICEs policies on hospitality, declarations of interests and travel and subsistence
- respect the rights of NICE and NHS England both to:
- publish information on the organisations awarded a contract and the associated value band, including an account of the evaluation panels rationale for the scores given for each of the evaluation criteria and
- receive notification of any proposed publications related to your work on the published outputs.
Companies will be asked to prepare a written evidence submission detailing how their product meets each of the 17 evaluation criteria, including a description of the supporting evidence. Full details of the proposed evaluation criteria, evidence requirements and scoring system are available to download if you register through the link provided on the NHS England website; and are also available as a supporting document alongside this advert. Only the company will be invited to submit evidence. Companies will be asked to provide the following documents at the same time as their evidence submission, for the purposes of quality assurance:
- Full journal articles for all publications that are cited in the evidence submission.
- Clinical trial reports and protocols for all clinical studies that are cited in the evidence submission.
- Marketing authorisation documentation: a draft/final UK Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) and a draft/final European public assessment report (EPAR).
Panel members may be NHS staff, public health agency staff from the UK Health Security Agency, Public Health Scotland, Public Health Wales or the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency, healthcare professionals or professionals from the academic world. They will use their experience and judgement for the topics considered and contribute to improving the quality and consistency of care provided by the NHS.
Members are appointed because of their experience or their specific technical skills. Members are not appointed to act as representatives of a particular organisation. If members belong to stakeholder organisations, NICE and the panel assume that they bring this perspective to the group, and are not representing their organisation.Please see the attached document and supporting information on evaluation criteria, for further information.
Person Specification
Ability to contribute to the work of the Antimicrobial Evaluation Panel
Essential
- Experience in critical appraisal of clinical and in vitro evidence and evidence synthesis, including experience conducting and appraising systematic literature reviews and network meta-analyses
Desirable
- Expertise in the different laboratory methods and clinical breakpoints used to assess antimicrobial susceptibility, which are set by different organisations (for example, European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing [EUCAST] and Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute [CLSI])
- An understanding of the rationale for implementing a delinked payment model (the 'subscription model') for antimicrobials and the history of this work, including the learnings from the pilot project led by NICE and NHS England
- An understanding of the proposed approach to awarding contracts under the new NHS England Antimicrobial Products Subscription Model, including the evaluation panel's role in this
- An understanding of the evaluation criteria and evidence requirements against which the panel will score each product
Ability to understand and interpret clinical and microbiological data
Essential
- Ability to interpret, analyse and critique complex clinical, in vitro and microbiological data, as evidenced by relevant experience and/or academic qualifications
Equality, diversity and inclusion
Essential
- Commitment to eliminating unlawful discrimination, advancing equality and an understanding or awareness of the issues of inequality in health, public health and social care settings
Eligibility
Essential
- Are you happy to commit to work within the NICE equality scheme?
- Do you commit to keeping panel discussions confidential as needed?
- Do you have the time to commit to this panel's work? (This includes attending meetings, reading papers, commenting on draft documents, and other work as required)
- Have you worked, or do you work as a healthcare, social care or public health professional? If yes, please give details including profession, specialty and dates:
- Have you received a prison sentence or suspended sentence of 3 months or more in the last 5 years (this will usually lead to disqualification unless NICE is actively seeking lay member candidates with this experience, for example, prison health topics)?
- Are you the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or interim order?
- Have you been dismissed (except by redundancy) by any NHS or social care body?
- Have you had an earlier term of appointment with NICE terminated?
- Are you under a disqualification order under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986?
- Have you been removed from trusteeship of a charity?
- Are you employed by the Department for Health and Social Care?
- Are you employed by NHS England's national commissioning functions?
- Are you appointed by NHS England as a National Clinical Director, National Specialty Lead, or Clinical Reference Group chair?
Person Specification
Ability to contribute to the work of the Antimicrobial Evaluation Panel
Essential
- Experience in critical appraisal of clinical and in vitro evidence and evidence synthesis, including experience conducting and appraising systematic literature reviews and network meta-analyses
Desirable
- Expertise in the different laboratory methods and clinical breakpoints used to assess antimicrobial susceptibility, which are set by different organisations (for example, European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing [EUCAST] and Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute [CLSI])
- An understanding of the rationale for implementing a delinked payment model (the 'subscription model') for antimicrobials and the history of this work, including the learnings from the pilot project led by NICE and NHS England
- An understanding of the proposed approach to awarding contracts under the new NHS England Antimicrobial Products Subscription Model, including the evaluation panel's role in this
- An understanding of the evaluation criteria and evidence requirements against which the panel will score each product
Ability to understand and interpret clinical and microbiological data
Essential
- Ability to interpret, analyse and critique complex clinical, in vitro and microbiological data, as evidenced by relevant experience and/or academic qualifications
Equality, diversity and inclusion
Essential
- Commitment to eliminating unlawful discrimination, advancing equality and an understanding or awareness of the issues of inequality in health, public health and social care settings
Eligibility
Essential
- Are you happy to commit to work within the NICE equality scheme?
- Do you commit to keeping panel discussions confidential as needed?
- Do you have the time to commit to this panel's work? (This includes attending meetings, reading papers, commenting on draft documents, and other work as required)
- Have you worked, or do you work as a healthcare, social care or public health professional? If yes, please give details including profession, specialty and dates:
- Have you received a prison sentence or suspended sentence of 3 months or more in the last 5 years (this will usually lead to disqualification unless NICE is actively seeking lay member candidates with this experience, for example, prison health topics)?
- Are you the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or interim order?
- Have you been dismissed (except by redundancy) by any NHS or social care body?
- Have you had an earlier term of appointment with NICE terminated?
- Are you under a disqualification order under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986?
- Have you been removed from trusteeship of a charity?
- Are you employed by the Department for Health and Social Care?
- Are you employed by NHS England's national commissioning functions?
- Are you appointed by NHS England as a National Clinical Director, National Specialty Lead, or Clinical Reference Group chair?
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.
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).
Additional information
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.
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).
Employer details
Employer name
NICE – The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
Address
Manchester (meetings to be held virtually)
Manchester (meetings to be held virtually)
M1 4BT
Employer's website
https://www.nice.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)
