Senior Infection Prevention & Control Specialist

Job description

Job responsibilities

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• Formulate and implement the short, medium and long-term strategies for Infection Prevention and Control across operations, research and capacity development and contribute to UK-PHRST business and strategic planning.
• Line manage a small team of IPC specialists and provide specialist technical support when staff are deployed (core team and reservists)
• Expertly lead the management of complex incidents, including conducting IPC assessments, providing technical advice and providing visible, professional leadership to support the rapid implementation of IPC support to the country of deployment and within the UK-PHRST.
• Lead the establishment, monitoring, evaluation and learning of IPC systems and programmes in the context of the host countries healthcare system and in collaboration with partners, aligning preparedness with emergency response to reduce the impact of outbreaks.
• Lead on the development of an IPC research workstream aligned to the UK-PHRST research strategy and facilitate, develop, and implement projects to enable its delivery.
• Proactively collaborate with partners in the research and capacity development community in LMICs to co-identify novel areas for research in response to current and emerging needs.
• Lead the development and delivery of dynamic evidence-based capacity building programme on IPC for colleagues, partners and other audiences from global to local levels.
• Design, deliver and evaluate IPC training materials and courses with and for partner organisations, academic institutions, public health authorities to support the UK-PHRST remit.
• Identify, develop, and nurture key relationships with a wide range of internal (LSHTM and UKHSA) and external individuals and stakeholders taking responsibility for the maintenance of professional networks relevant to role.
• To ensure ODA compliance in all UK-PHRST IPC activities, including sound financial management of the UK-PHRST IPC component including financial forecasts, accounts and where appropriate, undertake data analysis for financial and managerial purposes.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary.

Selection process details

STAGE 1 - APPLICATION & SIFT:

You will be required to complete an application form. This will be assessed in line with the advertised essential criteria please do provide evidence of how you meet this.

Your Statement of Suitability (max 1250 words) should outline your skills, experience, and achievements, providing evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria (outlined in the person specification section).

You will also be asked to provide information within the Employer/Activity history section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to an interview.

STAGE 2 INTERVIEW

This competition will involve an interview by video.

As part of the process, candidates will be invited to interview which will involve an in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.

Expected Timeline:

Advert close: 23:55hrs on 10/08/2023 unfortunately, late applications will not be considered. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Interviews: W/C 28th August 2023

Please note these dates could be subject to change.

Eligibility Criteria

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants)

Nationality requirements

Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rulesThis job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of theEuropean Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• Certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Security clearance level requirement

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Enhanced Personnel Security Standard.

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.

Please Note

This role is to be appointed under Civil Service Terms & Conditions. Full details on the T&Cs are found https://www.ukhsa.reed.com/

Are you already a civil servant, or employed by a Civil Service Commission accredited public body? Please state home department on your application form.

Do you meet the nationality requirements for this post? https://www.ukhsa.reed.com/

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: Complaints1@ukhsa.gov.uk. 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.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

Essential

• PhD or clearly demonstrable equivalent experience specific to the postholder's duties
• Recognised qualification in IPC or demonstrable equivalent experience.
• Significant experience in health protection/ IPC roles at a senior level with specialist knowledge and expertise in IPC both nationally and internationally
• Experience of leading and maintaining quality and clinical governance frameworks such as WHO tools for IPC in healthcare
• Experience of developing and delivering training programmes using a range of methods/formats to a variety of audiences.
• Experience in developing and leading research projects and evidence of writing reports, scientific publications, and policy documents.
• Significant experience in line management, leading and motivating teams during day-to-day operations (including providing professional supervision) and during international deployments to respond to outbreaks of infectious disease.
• Highly effective verbal, written and presentation communications skills; capable of constructing and delivering complex, specialist, individually tailored information clearly and concisely for diverse audiences.
• Proven ability to build trusted stakeholder relationships and networks in politically sensitive and/or changing environments and ability to handle challenging situations pro-actively using problem solving.
• Ability to interpret and analyse incomplete, complex and/or sensitive information in a concise yet insightful way, pre-empting and evaluating issues and recommending appropriate course(s) of action to large and influential groups.
• Ability to develop business cases and strategic documents, planning activities over short medium and long terms and balance competing priorities to deliver objectives.
• Demonstrable commitment to travel and ability to work in austere environments and/or harsh conditions, often in remote areas.

Desirable

• Registered General Nurse, medical professional or allied health care professional with current professional registration e.g. NMC, GMC
• Ability to communicate (speak/read) at a working level in language(s) other than English.

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).

Employer details

Employer name

UK Health Security Agency

Address

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5EA

Employer's website

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-health-security-agency (Opens in a new tab)