Consultant Midwife, Immunisation and Public Health Programmes

Job responsibilities

The Consultant Midwife will contribute to the development and coordination of content for an annual meeting of staff involved in immunisation, which will involve specialists in NHS England, immunisation leads in UKHSA and key providers. In discharging these responsibilities, the post-holder will maintain and develop effective working relationships with the wide variety of individuals and organisations involved with immunisation. He/she will need to work closely with staff in the national Immunisation and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Division of UKHSA (based at Colindale), the Department of Health and Social Care and with other government departments such as Education as appropriate. He/she may also need to liaise with other stakeholders such as the Royal Colleges and other professional bodies and to work closely with others in the local, regional and national immunisation partnerships including staff in UKHSA regions, local authority public health, ICSs and NHS providers.

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

• You will lead the work on the development of the optimal delivery models for a potential RSV neonatal programme, working closely with pilot sites (if relevant) and with commissioning leads in national and local NHS teams.
• You will support the national team in providing clinical input to the national service specifications, national professional guidance and communications, national PGD templates, national training materials and national public information for the programmes that target pregnant women and neonates. This includes antenatal screening for infection (including HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B), and immunisation/vaccination programmes for pertussis, flu, COVID-19, hepatitis B, TB (BCG) and RSV.
• You will advise on and help to develop a set of national processes and systems for the regular monitoring, performance management and quality improvement of the commissioning of the relevant programmes targeted at pregnant women and neonates.
• You will provide specialist technical and clinical/public health support to enable realistic and supportive responses to questions on commissioning of immunisation programmes from the screening and immunisation leads and their local teams.
• You will provide clinical/public health advice and specialist expertise to local screening and immunisation teams and to other national and regional teams in NHS England on the commissioning of services relevant to the target groups e.g. maternity, healthy child, child health record information system (CHIS), paediatric services and immunisation training service providers.
• You will establish and chair specific project boards as agreed and delegated by National Immunisation Programme Manager.
• You will supervise non-clinical project managers in projects to support the delivery of and improvement of immunisation programmes.
• You will deputise for the National Immunisation Programme Manager and for the Nurse consultant in Immunisation, and for other senior clinical staff in the Immunisation and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Division and Public Health Programmes Directorate as required.
• The post holder will develop working relationships and communicate regularly with a wide range of individuals, clinical and non-clinical, internal and external to UKHSA.
• You will support the development of national networks to undertake service improvement in topic specific areas (e.g. the neonatal hepatitis B programme, management of the cold chain) as appropriate.

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 and statement of suitability (1000 words max). This will be assessed in line with the essential/desirable criteria please do provide evidence of how you meet this.

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. Candidates will also be asked to participate in a session where they will be required to prepare and deliver a timed 5-minute presentation to the panel. This will be followed by a question-and-answer segment. The presentation will be designed to assess each candidates experience in line with the requirements of the role. Full details will be provided prior to the interview.

Expected Timeline:

Advert close: 23:55hrs on the 14th of November 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.

Shortlist: From the 15th of November 2023

Interviews: w/c 27th of November 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 Basic Personnel Security Standard. People working with government assets must complete Basic Personnel Security Standard checks.

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 NHS 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/

Complaint process:

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.

Qualifications

Essential

• Relevant professional qualification e.g. NMC Registered Midwife
• Higher degree or equivalent experience in a public health related topic
• Evidence of continuous professional and academic development

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• Experience in service development and quality improvement in immunisation
• Extensive experience in the management or coordination of local Immunisation Programmes
• Experience in chairing local committees and in negotiations with local providers
• Experience in chairing local committees and in negotiations with local providers
• Experience in teaching and training
• Detailed knowledge of UK health care system especially primary care and maternity services
• Demonstrable experienHigh level clinical and technical expertise in indications and contra-indications to vaccinesce of project management skills and of leading complex projects

Desirable

• Experience in supporting Immunisation from the national level
• Experience of the commissioning of Immunisation programmes
• Experience in chairing local committees and in negotiations with local providers
• Experience of providing external assessment and support of immunisation programmes
• Experience in course development and accreditation
• Knowledge of principles and practice of public health including health needs assessment and evidence base strategies to address health inequalities
• Detailed understanding of immunisation programmes and their local implementation
• Understanding of data systems for collection of coverage data

Skills / capabilities/ behaviours

Essential

• High level leadership skills
• Commitment to and focused on quality, promotes high standards in all they do
• Consistently thinks about how their work can help frontline teams to deliver better outcomes for patients
• Values diversity and difference, operates with integrity and openness
• 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).