Policy and Public Affairs Officer

Royal College of Anaesthetists; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 64,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 26 days

Birthday leave

Healthcare support

Pension contribution up to 12%

Hybrid working

Wellbeing hour

Cycle to work

Employee discounts

Training and development

Mental Health First Aiders & EAPs

Job summary

The Royal College of Anaesthetists is seeking a motivated policy and public affairs professional to join the Centre for Perioperative Care. You will develop credible, evidence-based policy proposals and influence UK government, NHS bodies and others to adopt them, by collating research and commissioning new studies where needed.

This full-time, hybrid role requires excellent organisation, strong collaboration with diverse stakeholders, and the ability to translate research into concise

Qualifications

• Experience developing credible, evidence-based policy proposals.
• Ability to conduct and collate quantitative and/or qualitative research to support policy.
• Excellent ability to influence senior stakeholders and stakeholders across organisations.

Responsibilities

• Collating and analysing existing qualitative and quantitative research to generate policy proposals and facilitate their implementation.
• Conducting and/or commissioning new research, such as surveys or interviews, to fill evidence gaps where necessary in support of policy and influencing work.
• Proposing and implementing influencing plans related to policy work, including meeting stakeholders and developing influencing materials.
• Preparing and drafting responses to consultations and reports relevant to the work of Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC) and the College, ensuring responses are evidence-based and aligned with policy strategy.
• Developing effective and impactful briefings for meetings, events and engagements.

Skills

Policy development

Stakeholder engagement

Research methods

Project management

Education

Degree level education or equivalent experience

Job description

About the Role

We are looking for a motivated, capable and experienced individual to join our dynamic Policy and Public Affairs Team. The postholder will play a key role in developing credible, evidence based policy proposals and influencing UK governments, NHS organisations and other relevant bodies to adopt them.

• Collating and analysing existing qualitative and quantitative research to generate policy proposals and facilitate their implementation.
• Conducting and/or commissioning new research, such as survey work or interviews, to fill evidence gaps where necessary in support of policy and influencing work.
• Proposing and implementing influencing plans related to policy work, including meeting stakeholders and developing influencing materials.
• Preparing and drafting responses to consultations and reports relevant to the work of Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC) and the College, ensuring responses are evidence-based and in line with on-going policy work and strategy.
• Developing effective and impactful briefings for meetings, events and engagements where necessary, ensuring that information is presented in concise, clear and accurate information.

About You

To succeed in this role, you will be highly organised and able to deliver high-quality work at pace while effectively managing competing priorities.

You will be eager to learn and confident in building strong, collaborative relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.

You will have demonstrable experience of developing credible, deliverable and evidence-based policy proposals, alongside experience of conducting and collating quantitative and/or qualitative research to support policy development. You will also be able to demonstrate your ability to use research and evidence to effectively influence senior stakeholders.

A good understanding of current UK health policy and the wider health policy environment is essential.

You will need to be educated to degree level or have equivalent relevant experience.

The Package

This is a full-time, permanent position with a competitive employee benefits package, which includes (but is not limited to):

• 26 days of annual leave, plus bank holiday.
• 1 additional paid day of leave for the purpose of celebrating your birthday.
• Healthcare support through Benenden Health.
• Up to 12% pension contribution.
• Hybrid and flexible working.
• Wellbeing hour once a week.
• Cycle to work and employee discounts schemes.
• Training and development opportunities.
• Access to Mental Health First Aiders and Employee Assistance Programmes.

About the College

The Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) is the professional body responsible for the specialty throughout the UK. We are the third largest medical royal college in the UK by membership. With a combined membership of more than 24,000 Fellows and Members, we ensure the quality of patient care by safeguarding standards in the three specialties of anaesthesia, intensive care and pain medicine.

At RCoA equality, diversity and inclusion is an integral part of our culture so it is important to us that this is reflected in everything that we do. We welcome applications from all individuals irrespective of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or belief, disability, marital status, or parental responsibilities to ensure we actively embrace an inclusive and representative culture that encourages, supports and celebrates our differences.

What We Want to Achieve

We want to see an NHS that delivers good outcomes for patients and makes the best use of available resources.

Our current main priorities are:

• Optimising the surgical pathway. Anaesthetists don’t just work in the operating theatres they are often involved with the care patients receive before and after their operations – known as ‘perioperative care’. Good perioperative care can prevent surgical cancellations, complications, and unnecessarily long hospital stays. To this end, we host the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC). CPOC advocates policies such as ‘prehabilitation’ to ensure that patients arrive in hospital on the day of their surgery in the healthiest state possible so their operation can go ahead without problems, and they can recover quickly. We are doggedly pushing for such polices to be adopted.
• Supporting the anaesthetic workforce. Most operations require an Anaesthetist in order to take place, but each of the four UK nations faces a chronic shortage of Anaesthetists. We are determined to see this changed.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK and be resident in the UK at the time of application.