St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

IDT Applications Test Lead

The closing date is 25 May 2025

Job summary

The Applications and EPR team within the IDT Department supports and builds applications for the Trust, with the key application being the Cerner iClip EPR. All applications within the remit of the IDT Department provide significant improvements in patient care through enhanced capacity for system linkages and information sharing.

The post holder will support IDT by designing, executing and managing the testing of all changes within existing IT applications and new applications within the remit of the Department, ensuring that new or modified service products meet the business requirements for which they have been developed or enhanced. They will also ensure that a testing strategy is both devised and applied that is efficient, effective and economic.

The work of the team comprises a number of clinical and technical systems. One of the key requirements in order to provide quality systems is thorough testing to provide assurance that the new systems will be able to support the trust's business requirements and are fit for purpose.

Main duties of the job

o To manage and lead on IT system testing and reporting at all levels in an easily understandable format according to the audience. The information will often be multi-stranded and contentious as it will represent a view of corporate, divisional and/or clinical performance.

o To develop and maintain an excellent working relationship both internally to the trust and externally, including other NHS Organisations, system suppliers and contractors.

o To act as liaison, for the trust on IT Test issues and communicate effectively on complex and multi-stranded issues ensuring understanding throughout.

About us

St George's, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group cares for a population of four million people in South West London and North East Surrey.Our sites include St George's Hospital, one of 11 major trauma centres in the UK and the largest healthcare provider and major teaching hospital in the area; St Helier Hospital, home to the South West Thames Renal and Transplantation Unit and Queen Mary's Hospital for Children; and Epsom Hospital, home to the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre (SWLEOC).

After years of collaboration, our two Trusts became a hospitals group in 2021. While remaining as two separate Trusts, being a hospitals group will help us to collaborate more closely on research, and the development, education, and training of our 17,000-strong workforce.

Date posted

09 May 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

Depending on experience Dependent on experience

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

200-NN-7063770-RB-A

Job locations

St Georges Hospital

Blackshaw Road, Tooting

London

SW17 0QT

Job description

Job responsibilities

To lead or advise in the formation of RFCs (Requests for Change), Packages and fixes and to liaise with suppliers and management regarding them.

To liaise with and advise trainers regarding new workflows and the best way to train staff

To act as a troubleshooter/mediator between suppliers and the trust when test issues/incidents occur.

Participate in organising and leading testing workshops and seminars aimed at improving the use of IT systems by staff to maximise clinical, management and income benefits.

Constantly maintain a high level of awareness and specialist knowledge and expertise in IT systems testing.

Ensure new technologies and standards are researched and developed.

Support projects and change requests and liaise with all areas of the trust to provide advice in relation to methods of testing and train testers as appropriate

Compile and manage the writing of test scripts appropriate for testing the development system.

Act as a point of contact for staff from all parts of the organisation that need testing assistance or advice.

Undergo troubleshooting and root cause analysis activities where required.

Review and maintain trust test strategies

The post-holder will be required to have a detailed knowledge of all systems to be tested and an understanding of their use within the trust.

To use their experience and judgement to design a consistent and flexible IT testing strategy and methodology to be used across the trust.

Much of the output from the testing will be of a complex nature and the post-holder will need to understand this output within the context of the clinical and business requirements of the trust.

The post-holder will need to identify and analyse complex system test issues and develop or assist in developing fixes where appropriate.

The post-holder will analyse user requirements and develop appropriate test scripts to replicate the need.

The post-holder will prepare reports for go-live, outlining decision points and making recommendations to the trust.

Accountable for IT systems testing and for its continual improvement.

Plan, develop, review, update, upgrade and introduce new testing scripts and scenarios to meet user and trust requirements.

Plan and prioritise testing workloads to ensure loads are evenly balanced.

Ensure appropriate documentation is created and maintained throughout the testing process.

Be responsible for regular archiving and maintenance of trust test documentation.

Ensure all testing tasks are carried out in a professional manner.

To suggest testing methodology and software where appropriate; always obtaining best value for the trust.

Always Maintain Information Governance.

Manage the integrity of all trust testing activities.

Promote and embed a culture of continuous quality and service improvement.

Manage and maintain the trust IT testing policy, updating as appropriate.

To act as mentor/manager to locum testing resources introduced to the trust, no current establishment line management responsibilities.

Ensure that all IT systems introduced into and upgraded for use by the trust are tested and comply with trust requirements for information security, activity reporting, clinical record keeping, and business processes are fit for purpose and introduce no risks to the trust.

Validation and QA of testing output.

Ensure that interfaces to and feeds from other systems are always maintained.

Develop, in conjunction with other members of ICT, trust staff and suppliers way of conducting testing, taking advantage of any new technical developments available.

Report relevant issues to system user groups, suppliers, managers, etc. to ensure early resolution.

Develop, in conjunction with other members of ICT, trust staff and suppliers testing scripts to reflect the trusts processes.

To audit test issues to provide an accurate view of issues and resolution (or inability to resolve) for information.

To act autonomously to achieve agreed objectives, guided by broad principles and departmental policies.

To use own initiative in developing testing methodology, reports and deciding responses to issues identified.

To manage the Testing Team, recruit staff, conduct staff appraisals and develop staff. The post-holder will also recruit and manage flex contract resource as needed.

Reports directly to the IDT Applications Technical Manager

Management of Test Analyst team (including interims)

Internal stakeholders: Members of the IDT senior leadership team, including Digital Infrastructure & Technical Support; Informatics & Business Intelligence; Head of Digital

Projects; and Information Governance. Other key internal stakeholders include

Applications & Systems team; Digital Project Managers; Transformation Team; Change

Managers; Workstream Leads, Clinical & Operational Staff; Departmental Application Owners.

External stakeholders: St Georges, Epsom and St Helier Hospital Group; Third party suppliers & service providers including Cerner; St. Georges University of London IT Department; NHS Digital, NHS London Strategic Health Authority, NHS England; Other LHE NHS Trusts; and SWL ICS and SWL Pathology.