Consultant Medical Virologist

Job description

Job responsibilities

Main Responsibilities

a) To contribute to the consultant clinical service for the Virus Reference Department, including participating in the weekday duty consultant virologist rotab) To participate in the out of hours duty doctor rota (1:8 frequency or lower)c) To participating in medical audit and quality improvement and other matters relating to clinical governance.d) To have managerial, including budgetary, responsibilities where appropriate.e) To lead responses to outbreaks, incidents, events and queries relevant to the Reference Virology Department and the wider Science Group; including acting as the co-lead for Virology Cell when established in response to national incidents.f) To support teaching and training initiatives related to reference virology.

Specific duties and responsibilities of the post

a) Support the UKHSA national programme of work related to development and improvement of surveillance, investigation, prevention and control of vaccine preventable diseases.

b) Lead clinical aspects including risk management and clinical governance for vaccine preventable diseases including measles, mumps, rubella, parvovirus B19, VZV and rabies.

c) Lead/co-lead the WHO Global Specialised Laboratory for Measles and Rubella, including managing the laboratory and reporting regularly to WHO.

d) To provide general clinical support dealing with outbreaks, incidents, events and queries relevant to Reference Virology Department and the wider Science Group

e) To provide support to the senior managers and Deputy Directors on all aspects of work associated with vaccine preventable disease.

f) To support teaching and training initiatives related to vaccine preventable diseases or reference virology/microbiology.

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

Stage 1 - application

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on essential criteria, and this will be in the form of Application form (Employer/ Activity history section on the application) a (1500) word Statement of Suitability.

This should outline how you consider your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

The Application form and Statement of Suitability will be marked together.

Unfortunately, late applications will not be considered .

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview & assessment

Please do not exceed 1500 words. We will not consider any words over and above this number.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2 - Interview

You will be invited to an in person interview; remote attendance may be permitted in exceptional circumstances.

Knowledge, experience, skills & abilities will be tested at interview .

A 5 minute presentation will be required, the subject will be provided prior to interview. Slides can be used.

Interviews will be held week commencing 31st March 2025; please note, this dates is subject to change.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Candidates must be included on the GMC Specialist Register or UK Public Health Register or be eligible for registration within six months of interview. Applicants will be expected to have relevant qualifications (including CCT or equivalent); and FRCPath or equivalent (i.e. MRCP and PhD if applying as an ID physician with a special interest in Virology).

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years as the role requires Counter Terrorism Check (CTC) clearance. UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder / Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered medical practitioner, with full and specialist registration with the GMC (and a licence to practice) in Medical Microbiology and Virology and/or Infectious Diseases. Applicants that are UK trained, 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. Applicants that are non-UK trained, will be required to show evidence of equivalence to the UK CCT OR HCPC registered Clinical Scientist with FRCPath in Virology and PhD.
• Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath) in Virology
• Further qualification, such as postgraduate doctorate (PhD or MD in virology or evidence of equivalent qualification)

Desirable

• Relevant additional qualifications e.g. teaching, management or prevention and infection control.

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• Training and experience in clinical virology, with relevant specialist experience of and expertise in vaccine preventable disease and immunology
• Public health experience, including working with other agencies, emergency planning, writing and formulating public health guidance
• Experience of working at regional, national or international level in a multi-stakeholder environment
• Evidence and experience in management of virology services, staff management and training of both medical and non-medical staff
• Demonstrates use of evidence-based practice

Desirable

• Research experience, presentations, publications, prizes and honours

Skills / capabilities/ behaviours

Essential

• Competent to work without direct supervision where appropriate; ability to organise self and own work and to prioritise clinical need, and to show awareness of their own limitations
• Decisiveness/ accountability (ability to take responsibility, show leadership, make decisions, exert appropriate authority)
• Interpersonal skills (see patients as people, empathise, work co-operatively with others)
• Flexibility (able to change and adapt, respond to rapidly changing circumstances)
• Commitment to and focused on quality, promotes high standards in all they do
• Consistently thinks about how their work can help and support clinicians and frontline staff deliver better outcomes for patients
• Works well with others, is positive and helpful, listens, involves, respects and learns from the contribution of others
• Consistently looks to improve what they do, looks for successful tried and tested ways of working, and also seeks out innovation
• Actively develops themselves and supports others to do the same

Equality and diversity

Essential

• An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships.

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).

Employer details

Employer name

UK Health Security Agency

Address

Colindale

61 Colindale Avenue

London

NW9 5EQ

Employer's website

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