Epidemiological Analyst

Job summary

The post-holder will contribute towards the ongoing maintenance and development of vaccine preventable diseases and hepatitis surveillance, which includes the sentinel surveillance of blood-borne virus testing, routine laboratory reports of hepatitis, enhanced surveillance of acute hepatitis A and B and any new hepatitis-related surveillance system. The post holder will support hepatitis outbreak response and incident surveillance activities. She/he will also support vaccine uptake monitoring systems for hepatitis and other vaccine preventable diseases.

Working for your organisation

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.

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

Job description

The post holder will:

• Maintain, develop and document vaccine and hepatitis surveillance systems including databases for each area of responsibility in collaboration with Consultant Epidemiologists, Clinical Scientists, Reference laboratory staff, and Health Protection Teams (HPTs) where appropriate. The main area of focus will be the enhanced surveillance of hepatitis A. Current applications include UKHSAs Case and Incident management System (CIMS), Second Generation Surveillance System (SGSS), MOLIS, Hummingbird for querying Statutory Notifications of Infectious Diseases , MS Access, MS Excel and MS Teams.
• Support outbreak response for hepatitis and vaccine preventable diseases, including developing outbreak databases, providing epidemiological summaries, contributing to situation reports (Sitreps) / outbreak reports, monitoring provider demand for vaccines not centrally procured or supplied, and tracking implementation of control measures.
• Data processing. Create and update queries and data validation checks for the removal of duplicate records, data formatting and ensuring completeness of data. Extraction of data for inclusion in routine reports (eg quarterly and annual Health Protection Reports) and requests for information such as Parliamentary questions. Data analysis will include using CIMS, Second Generation Surveillance System (SGSS), MOLIS, Access, STATA, and Excel applications.
• Liaise with stakeholder staff providing surveillance data (HPTs, reference and routine laboratories providing data for hepatitis)
• Liaise with clinicians, laboratories and HPTs regarding individual cases and outbreaks (above mentioned infection)
• Ensure all appropriate information released from each area of responsibility is up to date and informative.
• Run regular queries on a wide range of databases to prepare quarterly surveillance reports, annual reports, and work-books as appropriate.
• Staff supervision responsibilities for an information officer, assist with appropriate ad hoc queries, data collection, processing and validations and other information requests
• To assist the Information Officer with the preparation of appropriate annual data sets for international organisations eg. World Health Organization (WHO) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
• Contribute to papers for scientific journals and reports for the Department of Health and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, and national hepatitis strategic and operational groups, upon request
• Present surveillance data and study results at in-house and national meetings/conferences, and attend national meetings/conferences as appropriate
• Provide database support for other infectious disease surveillance projects
• Monitor UKHSA’s hepatitis webpages and produce items to be added to the hepatitis webpages and liaise with the UKHSA web team with respect to updating reports, guidance, questionnaires and information pages when required.

Main duties of the job

• Generic roles within routine laboratory reports of hepatitis, acute hepatitis A and B infections and their surveillance.
• Responsible for co-ordinating and carrying out data collection, validation, preparing and disseminating surveillance reports, and interrogating databases (including writing
  database queries) in response to information requests and surveillance publications and incidents.
• Working closely and effectively with clinical, microbiological and other professional scientific and administrative colleagues at UKHSA, local Health Protection Teams (HPTs) and throughout the NHS.
• Administrative tasks to support and contribute to the day to day running of the surveillance systems and outbreak response, contributing to research and scientific journals, and help maintain a scientific literature database.
• The post-holder must have excellent interpersonal skills and an ability to work effectively both autonomously and within a team.
• The post- holder will be expected to supervise an information officer and junior staff.

Please note, this list is not exhaustive.

Person specification

Essential role criteria (including qualifications, licenses and registrations):

• Degree in Epidemiology (or equivalent) or significant experience of working in communicable disease surveillance
• MSc in Epidemiology or allied discipline, or significant post-graduate experience working in epidemiology or in the field of infectious diseases and their control
• Knowledge and experience of a statistical software package (R/STATA etc)
• Data processing skills (e.g. Microsoft Access)
• High standard of data management, analysis and producing reports
• Good interpersonal and communication skills

Desirable role criteria:

• Knowledge of infectious disease surveillance
• Ability to identify and solve practical problems and to work individually and as part of a team
• Good organisation, prioritisation and time management skills
• An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity and good working relationships
• Prepared to work flexibly and to multi-task

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,749, UK Health Security Agency contributes £10,935 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Stage 1: Application & Sift

Success profiles Success Profiles - GOV.UK

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed 6 essential criteria, and this will be in the form of a:

• Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
• 750 word supporting statement.

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.

You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement. (The application form is the kind of information you would put into your C.V –please be advised you will not be able to upload your CV. Please complete the application form in as much detail as possible). Please do not email us your CV.

Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your supporting statement must be no more than 750 words. We will not consider any words over 750 words.

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

If used, the pile ‘Meets all essential criteria’ will proceed to shortlisting.

Shortlisting:

In the event of a large number of applications we may conduct an initial sift, on the lead criteria of:

• MSc in Epidemiology or allied discipline, or significant post-graduate experience working in epidemiology or in the field of infectious diseases and their control
• Knowledge and experience of a statistical software package (R/STATA etc)

Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a large number of applications/large amount of successful candidates.

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

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2: Interview

Success profiles Success Profiles - GOV.UK

You will be invited to a single face to face interview in Colindale.

If face to face interviews are planned, in exceptional circumstances, we may be able to offer a remote interview.

Behaviours and Strengths will be tested at interview.

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

• Seeing the Bigger Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together (Lead Behaviour)
• Developing Self and Others

Interviews dates to be confirmed.

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

Location

This role is being offered as office/lab based at our Scientific Campus in Colindale.

Based at our scientific campus, you will be required to have a Counter Terrorism Check security vetting check as a minimum. For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years as the role requires Counter Terrorism Check (CTC) clearance. In exceptional circumstances UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Future location

UKHSA is investing in a new state-of-the-art National Biosecurity Centre in Harlow, Essex, which will eventually bring together teams currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale and Porton Down. For more details, please see: Huge biosecurity centre investment to boost pandemic protection - GOV.UK.

The new facilities will start becoming operational in the mid-2030s, with full completion by 2038. Staff will move in phases as facilities become available. If you're appointed to a role currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale or Porton Down, please note that we'll continue investing in these sites for the next decade. As we get closer to the transition, we'll provide full information about relocation support available to staff.

Security Clearance Level Requirement

Successful candidates must pass a basic disclosure and barring security check before they can be appointed.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Counter-Terrorist Check.

Eligibility Criteria

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

Salary Information

If you are successful at interview, and are moving from another government department, NHS, or Local Authority, the relevant starting salary principles for level transfers or promotions will apply. Otherwise, roles are offered at the pay scale minimum for the grade, but in exceptional circumstances there may be flexibility if you are able to demonstrate you are already in receipt of an existing, higher salary. Pay increases are through the relevant annual pay award for the role and terms.

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.

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.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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.

Diversity and Inclusion

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

Apply and further information

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 : Chris Williams
• Email : Chris.Williams2@ukhsa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ukhsa.gov.uk

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 the UKHSA Complaints team via email at: Complaints@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 for
further information: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk