Consultant in Public Health (Adult Health Improvement)

Job responsibilities

Appointment;

This is a 0.8 FTE post of Consultant in Public Health (CPH) for Herefordshire Council. The post holder will be based within the Public Health team at Herefordshire Council.

The CPH is a member of the senior management team of the Public Health team in Herefordshire. The CPH will act in an expert advisory capacity on public health knowledge, standards and practice, across the spectrum of public health and lead on the development and implementation of significant public health programmes, in partnership with a range of agencies.

Responsible to:

Managerially and professionally accountable to Herefordshire Council through the Director of Public Health

Dimensions:

Responsible for budgets up to £10,000

Responsible for managing staff, numbers vary and a structure chart is attached

Responsible for the protection and improvement of the health of the Herefordshire population

The employing organisation

As one of the most rural counties in England, Herefordshire has a dispersed population with over half of people living outside of Hereford City or a market town. Herefordshire Council is a unitary authority providing a wide range of services to 192,000 people living in the county.

People who come here consistently comment on the warm welcome they receive and theres a real appetite and commitment to improving our practice and supporting each other in doing so. Our staff tell us how they value the teams they work in and the knowledge and experience of our team managers and heads of service.

Our County plan sets out the Councils ambition and how we are working shape the future of Herefordshire Respecting our past, shaping our future we will improve the sustainability, connectivity and wellbeing of our county by strengthening our communities, creating a thriving local economy and protecting and enhancing our environment.

Herefordshire have recently published their Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy and therefore this is an exciting time to join our organisation and be part of the journey to improve the health and wellbeing of residents.

The Council operate an innovative flexible futures policy that enables and supports staff with flexible working choices.

Public Health Arrangements

The Public Health Team is led by the Director of Public Health. We are a small core public health team who work closely with colleagues across the Council and through our external partners to improve the health and wellbeing of Herefordshire residents.

The Public Health Team is approved for the training of public health specialists (Foundation Programme, SHOs, and Specialty Registrars in Public Health). The Public Health team is part of the West Midlands Public Health Network CPD activities programme and it expects its consultant staff to attend CPD activities as appropriate and as required by the Faculty of Public Health

The post holder will be provided with a laptop and full remote access facility. The council is a flexible employer and is committed to staff working off site with limited requirements to be based in the offices in Herefordshire Plough Lane office. The Council has effective arrangements in place to support home working through its Flexible Futures Programme

Job summary

The post offers an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic Consultant in Public Health who enjoys working closely with partners across the Council, health and social care system to improve the health and wellbeing of our population.

The Consultant in Public Health is a member of the senior leadership team of the Public Health team in Herefordshire. The role offers a great opportunity to work on public health in its widest remit, tackling health inequalities and health improvement. The post holder will be able to work independently without the need for substantial supervision.

The post-holder working with the DPH and other consultant colleagues will lead on improving the health and wellbeing of the residents which is underpinned by the statutory duty placed on local government to take such steps as it considers appropriate to improve health of its residents. The post holder will be expected:

To have responsibility for development and delivery on key areas of public health, as agreed, working with actively at system level including with partners from the NHS, social care, local authorities, police, voluntary organisations, etc.

To utilise information and evidence to underpin public health action across disciplines and organisations

As agreed within work-plans, to be responsible for leading a programme of work to address adult health improvement, strengthening the preventive approach and tacking health inequalities

As agreed within work-plans to be responsible for commissioning relevant services to achieve this, including NHS health checks, smoking cessation, and substance misuse programmes

As agreed within work-plans to be responsible for leading partnership work to address community safety, including sexual violence and tackling substance misuse workstreams

To be responsible for the day to day management of staff, and/or be responsible as a line manager for a single function

To provide professional leadership to staff working in other parts of the Council whose posts are funded through the Public Health Ring-fenced Grant

To be an authorised signatory, budget or delegated budget holder (budget/department/service), and/or monitor or contribute to the formulation of department/service budgets and financial initiatives and/or be a budget holder for a department service

To undertake research or audit and translate research findings into public health practice

To play a key role in ensuring that health and social care services commissioned for Herefordshire residents by the ICB and Council are of high quality, clinically safe, cost-effective, improve health and well-being and reduce inequalities

To be responsible for supervising and delivering public health training in line with national and regional requirements.

Key relationships/Functional links with:

Internal and External :

Health and Wellbeing Board

Integrated Care Board / Integrated Care System

All Directorates across Herefordshire Council

Primary Care Networks/Integrated Care Teams

Wye Valley NHS Trust, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and Taurus Healthcare Limited, Senior Management Teams and Lead Clinicians

West Midlands Public Health Network

OHID/UK Health Security Agency

NHS England

Voluntary Community Sector

Private Sector Organisations

Informal Community Groups and Operators

Herefordshire Healthwatch

Professional obligations

These include:

Participate in the organisations staff appraisal scheme and quality improvement programme, and ensure appraisal and development of any staff for which s/he is responsible

Contribute actively to the training programme for Foundation Year Doctors/ Specialty Registrars in Public Health and LAs management trainees as appropriate, and to the training of practitioners and primary care professionals within the locality In agreement with the DPH, becoming an Educational Supervisor.

Undertake an annual professional appraisal including completion of a programme of CPD, in accordance with Faculty of Public Health requirements, or other recognised body, and undertake revalidation, audit or other measures required to remain on the GMC/GDC Specialist Register or the UK Public Health (Specialist) Register or other specialist register as appropriate. In agreement with the DPH, contribute to the wider the public health professional system by becoming an appraiser or practitioner appraiser

Practise in accordance with all relevant sections of the General Medical Councils Good Medical Practice (if medically qualified) and the Faculty of Public Healths Good Public Health Practice and UKPHR requirements

Public health practice must be carried out within the ethical framework of the health professions and specifically in line with Good Public Health Practice

The post-holder will be expected to maintain effective, courageous, and responsible public health advocacy

Personal Qualities

The post-holder will deal with complex public health and wellbeing challenges in a multi-organisational environment with widely differing governance and finance system and organizational cultures. It is expected that the post-holder will be able to cope with such circumstances as well as multiple and changing demands, and to meet tight deadlines.

A high level of intellectual rigour, political awareness and negotiation and motivation skills as well as flexibility and sensitivity are required. The post holder will advise the health and wellbeing board and make recommendations regarding services, residents care and wider determinants of health and therefore a high level of tact, diplomacy and leadership is required including the ability work within the local political and at the same time maintain the ability to challenge and advocate for effective working and on specific issues in order to achieve public health outcomes. Contributing towards good public health outcomes and the successful pursuit of change are the purpose of the job and the metric against which performance will be assessed.

Knowledge

Essential

• High level of understanding of epidemiology and statistics, public health practice, health promotion, health economics and health care evaluation.
• Understanding of NHS and local government cultures, structures and policies
• 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 interfaces between health and social care

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, able to 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

Qualifications

Essential

• Inclusion in the GMC Specialist Register/GDC Specialist List/UK Public Health Register (UKPHR) for Public Health Specialists
• If included in the GMC Specialist Register/GDC Specialist List in a specialty other than public health medicine/dental public health, candidates must have equivalent training and/or appropriate experience of public health medicine practice
• Public health specialty registrar applicants who are not yet on the GMC Specialist Register/GDC Specialist List in dental public health/UKPHR must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they are within 6 months of gaining entry at the date of interview
• Applicants must meet minimum CPD requirements (i.e. be up to date) in accordance with Faculty of Public Health requirements or other recognised body

Desirable

• MFPH by examination, by exemption or by assessment

Experience

Essential

• Project management skills
• Staff management and training
• Practical experience in facilitating change
• Budget management skills

Desirable

• Training and mentoring skills
• Scientific publications, presentation of papers at conferences, seminars etc

Skills

Essential

• Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills
• Excellent oral and written communication skills (including dealing with the media)
• Effective interpersonal, motivational and influencing skills
• Ability to respond appropriately in unplanned and unforeseen circumstances
• Good presentational skills (oral and written)
• 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

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).