Senior Infection Prevention and Control Clinical Specialist

UK Health Security Agency; London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

The UK Health Security Agency is seeking a Senior Infection Prevention and Control Clinical Specialist committed to enhancing public health. This role involves managing IPC response services, leading teams through incidents, and contributing to policy development. Ideal candidates will have significant expertise in IPC within diverse settings and strong leadership skills, dedicated to improving health outcomes and promoting equity.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Civil Service pension with a 28.97% employer contribution

Commitment to learning and development

Inclusive work culture

Qualifications

• Registered General Nurse or Allied Health Professional.
• Experience in IPC or public health role at a senior level.
• Experience in leading multidisciplinary incident management.

Responsibilities

• Manage the day-to-day acute response service.
• Support the management of incidents and outbreaks.
• Contribute to the development of policies and guidance.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Problem Solving

Stakeholder Engagement

Education

Masters degree in IPC or Public Health

Job description

Senior Infection Prevention and Control Clinical Specialist

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Senior Infection Prevention and Control Clinical Specialist

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Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London- Canary Wharf (Core HQs)

Job Summary

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

The core purpose of the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) team within UKHSA is to develop and sustain system leadership for IPC, so that IPC measures are undertaken, and the acquisition and transmission of infection is prevented and controlled. The IPC team achieve this by providing subject matter expertise to support the control of incidents and outbreaks of infection, contributing to guidance and related supportive resources and by providing expert advice to professionals in a range of settings. The team has a key role in the identification of IPC research gaps and prioritisation, and optimising opportunities to improve the national and global evidence base for IPC.

We are dedicated to providing reliable and responsive subject matter expertise in collaboration with stakeholders, enhancing health outcomes, and protecting communities from infection. We strengthen system leadership through guidance, education, and research while ensuring timely, risk-based responses to biological incidents. Our commitment to compassion, kindness, and transparency underpins all our work.

The senior infection prevention and control clinical specialist is a key member of the UKHSA IPC team. They will provide, and at times lead, the day-to-day acute service response.

The post holder will require demonstrable generic IPC skills and will have specific lead areas of work involving partnership working with external organisations and assisting in the development of system wide priorities for IPC action or improvement. They will contribute to the strategic work of the national IPC team and deputise where appropriate.

Job Description

RESPONSE

• Management and supervision of the day-to-day acute response service to ensure high quality safe and effective delivery.
• Use expertise and knowledge to support and where required to support the management of routine and complex incidents and outbreaks of infectious diseases
• Manage and carry out continuing responsibility for specific workstreams ensuring accurate, up to date records of contacts/action by completion of relevant records and compliance with team handover procedures, in line with UKHSA standards for record keeping.
• To utilise an evidence-based approach to manage clinical/professional advice and discussions within the team and support and participate in the team’s formal case review process.
• To monitor standards, ensuring quality and consistency and to escalate to senior manager and/or take action where any shortfall occurs as appropriate to role.
• Contribute to and support the development of policies and guidance
• Contribute to planning for incident response and resilience.
• Contribute to the UKHSA response during incidents as defined by line manager
• May be required to travel away from usual base or to participate in a local on call rota at local, regional or national level as required.
  
  

SURVEILLANCE

• Contribute proactively to the development and maintenance of effective systems for the surveillance of communicable disease and environmental hazards.
• Proactively use surveillance outputs to inform and influence local and national Public Health actions, policies and strategies.
• Contribute to health needs, health inequalities and health impact assessments.
  
  

PARTNERSHIP WORKING

• Support the development of key relationships with a wide range of individuals and stakeholders and take responsibility as delegated line manager for the maintenance of professional networks relevant to role.
• Employ effective communication and influencing skills to support stakeholder relationships to deliver objectives with:
• External organisations and wider NHS stakeholders to ensure collaboration in the strategy in the Sector
• Internal leaders and staff to gain input to the development of systems, processes and activities
• Deal with at times, highly challenging and/or conflicting subject matter problems or in day workload in workshops, meetings, one to one communications and other events, comprising various parts of the business, referring/escalating to senior manager(s) as appropriate.
• Contribute actively to the development and implementation of system wide priorities and programmes for IPC or improvement.
  
  

RESEARCH, TEACHING AND TRAINING

• Contribute to research activity to complement the IPC evidence base
• Develop and deliver appropriate teaching resources and activities across a range of audiences with support from senior manager(s) as appropriate.
• Ensure appropriate clinical supervision and mentorship systems are in place.
• Provide clinical/professional supervision and mentorship as appropriate.
  
  

Please see attached job description for a full list of duties and responsibilities.

RESPONSE

• Management and supervision of the day-to-day acute response service to ensure high quality safe and effective delivery.
• Use expertise and knowledge to support and where required to support the management of routine and complex incidents and outbreaks of infectious diseases
• Manage and carry out continuing responsibility for specific workstreams ensuring accurate, up to date records of contacts/action by completion of relevant records and compliance with team handover procedures, in line with UKHSA standards for record keeping.
• To utilise an evidence-based approach to manage clinical/professional advice and discussions within the team and support and participate in the team’s formal case review process.
• To monitor standards, ensuring quality and consistency and to escalate to senior manager and/or take action where any shortfall occurs as appropriate to role.
• Contribute to and support the development of policies and guidance
• Contribute to planning for incident response and resilience.
• Contribute to the UKHSA response during incidents as defined by line manager
• May be required to travel away from usual base or to participate in a local on call rota at local, regional or national level as required.
  
  

SURVEILLANCE

• Contribute proactively to the development and maintenance of effective systems for the surveillance of communicable disease and environmental hazards.
• Proactively use surveillance outputs to inform and influence local and national Public Health actions, policies and strategies.
• Contribute to health needs, health inequalities and health impact assessments.
  
  

PARTNERSHIP WORKING

• Support the development of key relationships with a wide range of individuals and stakeholders and take responsibility as delegated line manager for the maintenance of professional networks relevant to role.
• Employ effective communication and influencing skills to support stakeholder relationships to deliver objectives with:
• External organisations and wider NHS stakeholders to ensure collaboration in the strategy in the Sector
• Internal leaders and staff to gain input to the development of systems, processes and activities
• Deal with at times, highly challenging and/or conflicting subject matter problems or in day workload in workshops, meetings, one to one communications and other events, comprising various parts of the business, referring/escalating to senior manager(s) as appropriate.
• Contribute actively to the development and implementation of system wide priorities and programmes for IPC or improvement.
  
  

RESEARCH, TEACHING AND TRAINING

• Contribute to research activity to complement the IPC evidence base
• Develop and deliver appropriate teaching resources and activities across a range of audiences with support from senior manager(s) as appropriate.
• Ensure appropriate clinical supervision and mentorship systems are in place.
• Provide clinical/professional supervision and mentorship as appropriate.
  
  

Please see attached job description for a full list of duties and responsibilities.

Person specification

Essential Role Criteria

• Registered General Nurse or Allied Health Professional in relevant clinical discipline with current professional registration (e.g. NMC, HCPC) (lead criteria)
• Educated to a minimum level of Masters degree in IPC or Public Health (lead criteria)
• Substantial experience in an IPC or public health role at a senior level with specialist knowledge and expertise in IPC including antimicrobial resistance, environmental IPC e.g. the microbiological safety of water; ventilation and infection transmission dynamics; environmental cleaning and disinfection; the decontamination of reusable medical devices, and application of these principles to health as well as non-healthcare settings (lead criteria)
• Extensive experience and expertise in leading and contributing to multidisciplinary incident and outbreak investigation and management, in a diverse range of settings, applying principles of epidemiology and understanding the wider public health agenda. Ability to interpret and analyses complex and sensitive information in a concise yet insightful way, pre-empting and evaluating issues and recommending appropriate course of action. Ability to undertake on call responsibility for public health
• Proven experience and ability to prioritise own work effectively, with capability to plan over short, medium and long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly, including being able to direct activities of and to others.
• Evidence of ability to handle challenging issues taking a problem-solving approach to ensure proactive and effective resolution
• Ability to identify areas for policy development and experience of delivering these for service improvement utilising a variety of literature and resources
• Development, delivery, and evaluation of education and training programmes and events, research, and quality improvement projects ensuring alignment with national and strategic objectives
• An understanding of and ability to work under the current Health and Social Care Act (e.g. safeguarding vulnerable adults; data protection, information governance) and experience of leading and maintaining quality and governance frameworks including robust audit and quality improvement initiatives
• Effective verbal, written and presentation communication skills; capable of constructing and delivering clear ideas and concepts concisely and accurately for diverse audiences. Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office including Teams, Word, Powerpoint, and Excel
• An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships, both in terms of day-to-day working practices, and in relation to management systems and the ability to take actions which support and promote this agenda
• Ability to travel away from base (including occasional overnight stays) when necessary to meet UKHSA and stakeholder business objectives.
• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
  
  

Selection process details

This vacancy will be assessed using a competency-based framework which will assess your qualifications, knowledge, experience, skills and ability as outlined in the essential criteria.

Stage 1: Application & Sift

Competency-based

Required

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed 12 essential criteria, and this will be in the form of a:

• Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
• 1250 word Statement of Suitability.
  
  

This should outline how your skills, experience and knowledge provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

The Application form and Statement of Suitability will be marked together.

Longlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:

• Meets all essential criteria
• Meets some essential criteria
• Meets no essential criteria
  
  

Piles meets all essential criteria and meets some essential criteria will proceed to shortlisting.

Shortlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will shortlist on the lead criteria listed above.

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

Please do not exceed 1250 words. We will not consider any words over and above this number.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2: Interview

Competency based

You will be invited to a single remote interview.

Knowledge, experience, skills & abilities will be tested at interview.

You will be given an IPC scenario where you will have 10 minutes to present on the scenario.

Interviews will be held week commencing 30th June. 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.

Selection Process

Please note you will not be able to upload your CV. You must complete the application form in as much detail as possible. Please do not email us your CV.

Eligibility Criteria

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

For Fixed Term Posts

For Temporary Appointments, if you are not currently a civil servant, you will take up the post on a Fixed Term appointment. You may be able to take this role up as a Secondment. If you are an existing Civil Servant, based outside of the UKHSA, you will take up the post as a loan which you will need your department to agree. You cannot take the post up as a fixed term. If you are an existing UKHSA member of staff, you will take up the post as either a level transfer or a temporary promotion as per the UKHSA’s Pay policy.

Location

This role is being offered as hybrid working based at any of our Core HQ’s. We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, 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 one of UKHSA's core HQ’s (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and London).

Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport link and benefit from benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Security Clearance Level Requirement

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Personnel Security Standard.

Reasonable Adjustments

The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, we will consider any reasonable adjustments that could help you. An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work. This is separate to the Disability Confident Scheme. If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs.

You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

International Police check

If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and it could be time accrued over that period.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Your application may be rejected and/or you may be subject to disciplinary action if evidence of plagiarism is detected. Examples of plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence (AI), as your own.

Internal Fraud check

If successful for this role as one aspect of pre-employment screening, applicant’s personal details – name, national insurance number and date of birth - will be checked against the Cabinet Office Internal Fraud Hub and anyone included on the database will be refused employment unless they can show exceptional circumstances. Currently this is only for External candidates to the Civil Service.

Careers website

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

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.

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

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

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 Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

• Name : Jude Robinson
• Email : [e-mail]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [e-mail]
  
  

Further information

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: [e-mail] 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: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

http://www.healthjobsuk.com/vacancy/7231349

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

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• Industries

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