Job summary
Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) activities and policies for UKHSA are led by the Director of EPRR, which is an operating division with the Agency's Chief Medical Adviser's Clinical Public Health (CPH) Group. The Directorate is responsible for the strategic leadership of all aspects of EPRR across the different operating Groups within UKHSA and as well as engagement and interface with key national partners and international stakeholders. The EPPR Directorate's work is central to the UKHSA's mission "to keep the public safe" from public health hazards and threats and in ensuring that UKHSA's EPRR activities are assessed as being world-leading.
Main duties of the job
The Senior Medical Advisor will work as part of a team of Senior Medical staff in the EPRR Directorate to provide additional resilience in the provision of medical/clinical advice to internal and external stakeholders in the areas of emergency preparedness, resilience and response and CBRN.
- The key elements of the service are to:
- Review and analyse clinical and other intelligence relating to CBRN threats and incidents on a national and international basis in order to inform and improve Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response
- Work closely with others in the wider CBRN community to interpret the threat to the UK and provide leadership to a partner agency as agreed
- Provide public health /medical /clinical input into the work of other parts of ERD, UKHSA, DHSC and other government departments, other agencies and organisations
- Contribute to UKHSA's response to major incidents
- Contribute to the on-call rota for the ERD Senior Medical Advisor
- Contribute to the management of the Department's staff on the
- Promote professional standards including training, research and audit
About us
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.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Candidates should refer to the Job Description for a full overview of the remit and responsibilities for the post.
Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants)
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.
For further information or an informal discussion about the post, please contact: Paul Sutton via email to paul.sutton@ukhsa.gov.uk
Job description
Job responsibilities
Candidates should refer to the Job Description for a full overview of the remit and responsibilities for the post.
Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants)
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.
For further information or an informal discussion about the post, please contact: Paul Sutton via email to paul.sutton@ukhsa.gov.uk
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- 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
- 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 [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
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Strong commitment to public health principles
- Able to prioritise work, and work well against a background of change and uncertainty
- Adaptable to situations, can handle people of all capabilities and attitudes
- Commitment to team-working, and respect and consideration for the skills of others
- Self-motivated, pro-active, and innovative
- High standards of professional probity
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Understanding of epidemiology and statistics, public health practice, health promotion, health economics and health care evaluation
- Understanding of key agencies involved in health protection and emergency response
- Knowledge of methods of developing clinical quality assurance, 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
- Understanding of potential CBRN agents and methods of dissemination
- Understanding of the public sector duty and the inequality duty and their application to public health practice
- Project management
- Practical experience in facilitating change
- Experience of the control of communicable disease outbreaks and environmental hazards in a wide variety of settings including out of hours on call
- Experience of working with other agencies
- Experience of emergency planning
- Training and mentoring
Desirable
- Staff management and training
- Budget management
- Scientific publications, presentation of papers at conferences, seminars, etc
Skills and Capabilities and Behaviours
Essential
- Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills
- 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
- Skilled at dealing with the public and the media
- Application of epidemiological methods and statistics
- Grant development and research methodology
Equality and Diversity
Essential
- An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- 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
- 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 [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
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Strong commitment to public health principles
- Able to prioritise work, and work well against a background of change and uncertainty
- Adaptable to situations, can handle people of all capabilities and attitudes
- Commitment to team-working, and respect and consideration for the skills of others
- Self-motivated, pro-active, and innovative
- High standards of professional probity
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Understanding of epidemiology and statistics, public health practice, health promotion, health economics and health care evaluation
- Understanding of key agencies involved in health protection and emergency response
- Knowledge of methods of developing clinical quality assurance, 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
- Understanding of potential CBRN agents and methods of dissemination
- Understanding of the public sector duty and the inequality duty and their application to public health practice
- Project management
- Practical experience in facilitating change
- Experience of the control of communicable disease outbreaks and environmental hazards in a wide variety of settings including out of hours on call
- Experience of working with other agencies
- Experience of emergency planning
- Training and mentoring
Desirable
- Staff management and training
- Budget management
- Scientific publications, presentation of papers at conferences, seminars, etc
Skills and Capabilities and Behaviours
Essential
- Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills
- 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
- Skilled at dealing with the public and the media
- Application of epidemiological methods and statistics
- Grant development and research methodology
Equality and Diversity
Essential
- An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships
Additional information
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).
