Principle Health Protection Practitioner

We are seeking to appoint a self-motivated and innovative individual to the role of Principal Health Protection Practitioner (PHPP) in the UKHSA North East England region.

This is a senior role within the health protection team and the post holder will have day to day operational leadership responsibility and oversight of the health protection practitioner function ensuring a consistent approach to health protection activities.

The post holder will actively engage in the strategic work of the health protection team deputising where appropriate and will lead defined areas of work including regional and national workstreams in agreement with the Regional Deputy Director for Health Protection. They will be expected to attend Senior Leadership meetings including the North East Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Clinical Leadership Group (CLG) meetings.

The post holder will have responsibility for developing and maintaining close working relationships both internally and with partner organisations.

The Principal Health Protection Practitioner is a key role within the Health Protection Team and the post holder will work independently within professional boundaries to lead the management of incidents and outbreaks when required including chairing of Incident Management Team meetings. The postholder will also be expected to provide cover for patch consultants while the consultant is away.

The post-holder will lead, manage, motivate, and develop staff to support staff morale and enable career development. They will be expected to take on the lead for one or more programme areas and contribute to the region’s clinical governance, quality, and service improvement programme.

Career Development

A job-plan will be developed which will outline the agreed activities that are necessary to fulfil the duties and responsibilities described.

The post holder will undergo a programme of on-going development to build on existing knowledge and develop skills that will enable them to achieve sufficient clinical independence to be able to join the second on-call rota and work without in-region senior support out of hours.

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.

Expert practice
- Work autonomously within professional boundaries to provide advanced specialist practitioner knowledge and advice in health protection

Consultancy and partnership working
- Manage, develop and sustain key working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders (internal and external) to ensure the HP function works collaboratively and achieves multi-professional engagement that facilitates the continual improvement in the quality of health protection responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate.

Management and leadership
- Lead, manage, motivate and develop staff so as to maintain the highest level of staff morale and to create a climate within the team characterised by the behaviours and values set out UKHSA People Charter.

Governance, quality and service improvement
- Ensure that relevant systems are in place to manage risk, reduce hazards and to continuously improve the quality of the health protection function including governance and quality assurance.

Research, development and education
- Contribute to research activity to complement the health protection evidence base.

Personal and professional development
- Participate in organisational and professional appraisal and revalidation as appropriate.

Professional development
- Participate in organisational and professional appraisal and revalidation as appropriate.

For further details regarding the vacancy please see the attached job description

Application Process Details

**Stage 1 - Application & Sift**:
This vacancy will use competency based questions to assess the experience, ability, technical skills/qualifications and commitment to equality and diversity detailed in the essential person specification.

Stage 2 - Interview

All applicants that progress to interview will be assessed through an interview against a mixture of experience, competency and technical based questions.

UKHSA offers hybrid working for its employees

Whilst the role will be based in one of our UKHSA offices, there will be opportunities for an element of working from home. The balance between home and workplace working is to be agreed with the line manager, determined primarily by business need and in line with departmental policy.

Some business travel may be required to other UKHSA offices. Business travel between base location and any other UKHSA offices will be covered under the UKHSA Travel and Expenses policy.

Please be aware that this role can on