About the job

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Health Protection Practitioner to join the North East Health Protection Team. The post is substantive and based in our Newcastle City Centre office.

The post holder will be part of the multi-disciplinary team contributing to the day-to-day provision of the health protection function, including management of communicable diseases and environmental, chemical and radiological threats, and contributing to major incidents, including enhanced incident response.

The post holder will undergo a programme of on-going development and education to build on existing knowledge and to develop skills to provide specialist health protection advice, and meet competencies required to undertake the role. Once a period of training and induction has been completed, they will be expected to actively contribute to the development, training, and supervision of others within the team, and participate in the out of hours on-call rota

Job description

The post holder will be part of the multi-disciplinary team contributing to the day to day provision of the health protection function, including the management of infectious and environmental hazards and contributing to the response to major incidents. They will use specialist knowledge and skills to undertake case management, liaise with, and provide health protection advice and response across a range of partner organisations, professionals and the public. They will actively contribute to the wider provision and development of the health protection function, including the development, training and supervision of others within the team. The post holder will also develop areas of expertise within regional programmes, working with relevant leads to take this work forward.

The post holder will undergo a programme of on-going development and education to build on existing knowledge and develop skills to provide specialist health protection advice and meet competencies required to undertake the role.

Main duties of the job

• Under supervision, contribute to the day to day running of the acute response function to ensure high quality, safe and effective delivery of the health protection service.
• Provide first point of contact for specialist knowledge, support and advice to health professionals on health protection matters.
• Undertake initial assessment and management of routine acute response work and non-complex incidents.
• Escalate and refer challenging or complex incidents and outbreaks of infectious diseases and non-infectious environmental hazards to senior colleagues as appropriate.
• Manage and carry out continuing responsibility for a caseload ensuring accurate, up to date records of contacts/action by completion of relevant records and compliance with team handover procedures, in line with UKHSAs standards for record keeping.
• To utilise an evidence based approach to manage clinical/professional advice and discussions within the team, seeking senior advice as/when appropriate.
• Contribute to the UKHSA response during incidents in line with UKHSAs Emergency Planning and Resilience Response (EPRR) arrangements as part of the region’s responsibilities under the Civil Contingencies Act.
• Participate in a local on call rota at regional level as required.

Please review the attached Job Description for full list of responsibilities.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• First degree (Health Related) or demonstrable equivalent experience
• Registration with an appropriate health or science related professional body (e.g., NMC)
• Post registration experience as a practitioner in a related field
• An understanding of and ability to work under the current Health and Social Care Act (e.g. safe guarding vulnerable adults; data protection, information governance)
• Experience of building and developing effective stakeholder relationships
• Effective verbal and written communication skills including report writing and presentations
• Ability to work independently, manage and prioritise own workload and cope with competing demands
• Ability to problem solve whilst working in an unpredictable environment, often under pressure and to tight timescales

Desirable Criteria 

• Professional Public Health qualification and registration e.g. Specialist Community Public Health (SCPHN) part of the NMC Register or UK PH Register for practitioners
• Recognised teaching qualification, e.g. ENB 998/PGCE or NVQ Level 4 Certificate in education or equivalent experience
• Recognised qualification in Infection Prevention and Control or demonstrable equivalent experience

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,724, UK Health Security Agency contributes £10,455 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Stage 1: Application & Sift

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on essential criteria, and this will be in the form of a: 

• CV/ Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application) 
• 1000 words 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 CV and Statement of Suitability will be marked separately, and you must pass both to move forward to interview.

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

Please do not exceed 1000 words.  We will not consider any words over and above this number. 

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

STAGE 2 – INTERVIEW

Interviews will be held at our Newcastle upon Tyne site (Newcastle Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH).

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.

Interviews will be held week commencing 20th and 21st May. Please note, these dates are 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.

Location information   

UKHSA operates a hybrid working model where business needs allow. You will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month) working at our Newcastle City Centre office based in the Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked from within the UK. Relocation expenses are not available.

Eligibility Criteria 

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

Disability Confident scheme  

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.  

Reserve List  

Candidates who pass the interview criteria but are not offered a post will be kept on a reserve list for 12 months and may be contacted if similar roles become available.   

If you are interviewed for the post and do not meet the required threshold for the specified grade, your application may be assessed against a similar, lower grade role and you may be offered the post should one be available.

Starting salary  

If you are currently employed on Agenda for Change (AfC) terms you will be offered AfC Band 7 £43,742 – £50,056.

Civil Service candidates will join on our SEO salary £37,056 - £42,481.

Entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.    

The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase.    

Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.   

For further details please refer to the Information Sheet- Starting Salaries & Benefits attachment  

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. 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.