Job responsibilities
LONDON BOROUGH OF MERTON
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title Public Health Intelligence Specialist
GradeBand London Borough of Merton Terms Conditions
Grade ME
Responsible to Principal Public Health Intelligence Specialist
Accountable to Principal Public Health Intelligence Specialist
Location Merton Civic Centre London Road Morden SM DX
Working hours WTE- hours per week
MAIN PURPOSE
The post holder will be employed by the London Borough of Merton as part of
the Merton Public Health Team The post holder will support the Public Health
Information and Children Lifelong Learning Families function assisting in
the development and management of the direction of public health information
to reflect local regional and national priorities The post holder will undertake
specific projects including analysis and reporting on datasets focusing primarily
on children and young people and providing information that will enable a full
understanding of health needs in the area addressing health inequalities
determining priorities for action assisting in the wider understanding of the
characteristics of the local population and actively disseminating the findings of
a wide range of analysis
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The post holder will support Public Health Merton in ensuring the provision of
high quality and often complex information from a range of sources and that it
is appropriately analysed and interpreted for use at operational and strategic
levels to support and inform decision making She will provide statistical and
epidemiological advice to the organisation and other strategic partnerships
often there will be conflicting information which will require a high level of
understanding and advice which data from sources should be used and how
the information should be interpreted The post holder will use specialised
software such as ArcGIS and display analysis in clear and compelling ways
including through ArcGIS and infographics
The post holder will undertake projects on behalf of the organisation and
support long term plans for designated services along with undertaking
research projects to support Public Health Intelligence service objectives
Job Scope
The post holder will
Support the development and training of other staff in statistics and
epidemiological analyses
Present complex statistical information in a clear and engaging way to a
variety of audiences which will include both those with and without an
understanding of statistical techniques
Guide and advise others as appropriate in their decision-making
processes based on sound public health knowledge and evidence
Core Duties and Responsibilities
The postholder will undertake the following
Support Public Health and Children Lifelong Learning Families CLLF
with health intelligence Develop and utilise information and intelligence
systems to underpin public health action across disciplines Council
departments and organisations including supporting the collation
interpretation and dissemination of relevant data and information
Analytical support to the public health intelligence team public health
and CLLF staff and line management of two or more analysts
To monitor data and the surveillance function and produce reports as
required
Analysis synthesis interpretation and presentation of data on for
example childrens health and social care childrens inequalities eg
child poverty and specific metrics eg vaccinations and any other data
that may be required
To have an understanding and the ability to overview all the reports
including local regional analysis
To be able to quality assure the data on reports produced and any other
presentations
Support the design and management of systems to input store and
disseminate public health statistical and epidemiological information
helping to set up systems to integrate and link multiple data sets
Assist in resolving highly complex queries and ad-hoc requests where
there is more than one possible answer and where leading opinion may
conflict and provide professional judgement in deciding the most
appropriate solution in the given situation eg to support the
commissioning process
To participate in horizon scanning where there are new opportunities for
the data
Public health intelligence specialists must be able to work across all topic
areas and adapt to the needs of the department Changes to job plans
will be in consultation with the postholder
KEY TASKS
All the key tasks described below are in the context of supporting the
Principal Public Health Intelligence Specialist andor the CPH in
carrying out their health intelligence function
Communication and relationship
Good communications skills both oral and written are required to
receive and analyse highly complex statistical information
An ability to present highly complex and sensitive information on a
range of public health and CLLF topics to other statistical specialists
and non-specialist audiences and individuals
Presentations will be made to a variety of audiences in both terms of
knowledge and size
Communicate with and establish and maintain relationships with other
members of the Public Health Team and CLLF a range of other groups
or individuals seeking help advice or information on epidemiology
statistics statistical methods research or survey or questionnaire
design related to public health
Write and contribute to reports as appropriate and as directed by the
line manager These reports will vary in length and complexity and will
range from informal summaries to detailed comprehensive reports It
will also be necessary for the post holder to be able to summarise
these reports and help disseminate their findings It will be necessary
to be able to explain complex analyses and findings to specialist and
non-specialist audiences in a way that they can understand the
implications of the report
The post holder will have specialist knowledge in public health
intelligence
To undertake any other duties as may reasonably be determined from
time to time to be commensurate with the range of activities outlined
above
Knowledge Training and Experience
Through masters level qualifications or equivalent qualifications and
experience
Demonstrate specialist and in depth knowledge of epidemiology
statistics and information analysis related to health that will enable the
post holder to support Public Health and CLLFs health intelligence
function in providing timely solutions to a range of analytical and
methodological issues projects and queries
Have knowledge to support the design and management of systems to
input store and disseminate public health statistical and
epidemiological information
Have appropriate levels of knowledge to be able to support the
development and production of major reports eg Public Health
Annual Report JSNA HNAs Bulletins and Profiles This requires well
developed interpretation and report writing skills and the ability to
explain complex information in simple terms
Ability to support regular updates to the online version of the JSNA
Experience of undertaking surveys statistical analyses and
dissemination of findings with the ability to communicate complex
information to specialists and non-specialists
Appropriate levels of knowledge and experience to support undertaking
evaluations using statistical and epidemiological methods to effectively
measure the outcome and benefit of individual public health initiatives
Knowledge of various statistical software packages databases and
spreadsheets and have the technical capability to support data
management and manipulation
Analytical and Judgemental Skills
Support the handling of complex analytical and statistical health
information problems and issues requiring interpretation
Use judgemental skills to derive alternative information sources and
methods of analysis when appropriate
Use specialised software such as ArcGIS and SHAPE tool to create
maps
Use infographics toolssoftware such as piktochart to enable audiences
to visualise the data to explain complex information
Use a range of available data sets including national regional local
authority NHS and other sources such as SafeStats
In conjunction with technical skills a range of analytical skills are
needed to appropriately identify and respond correctly to
epidemiological issues
Analyses may involve sensitive information so the post-holder needs
to ensure that the analyses are completed carefully and correctly This
involves detailed checking and examination of the analyses produced
Support the resolution of complex queries where there is more than
one possible answer and where leading opinion may conflict and
provide professional judgement on the most appropriate solution in the
given situation eg to support the commissioning process
Planning and Organisational Skills
Contribute to the planning and formulation of organisational local and
regional plans and strategies based on sound statistical and
epidemiological information revisiting current strategies where
necessary should the evidence-base change
To support the design and management of systems to input store and
disseminate public health statistical and epidemiological information
setting up systems to integrate and link multiple data sets
Have a number of tasks underway at the same time and it will be
necessary for the post holder to plan and organise their own time
according to deadlines
Exhibit flexibility in order to allow for changes in information format
lack of information provided and delays in receiving requested
information
It may be necessary for the post holder to arrange meetings with
colleagues to plan objectives and work commitments for
multidisciplinary research audits and projects
Physical Skills
The post requires highly developed keyboard skills to input and
manipulate data where accuracy and continuous quality
