Public Health Intelligence Analyst

Closing Date: 25 July 2021

We are looking for an enthusiastic, self-motivated individual to join our public health intelligence team. We encourage innovative approaches to our work, with an emphasis on accuracy, efficiency and making it fun.

At Medway Council we believe that well-presented intelligence is a vital component in improving the health and wellbeing of Medway residents. The Public Health Intelligence Team has a strong track record of delivering high-quality work, so we would welcome all applicants who are motivated to continue this.

We often use the R statistical programming language, so some familiarity with R will be a benefit, but is not essential as we can provide training. If you would like to immerse yourself in a wide-ranging public health analyst role as part of a dynamic team, then please take a look at the job profile.

MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB

To support the Public Health Directorate of Medway Council to improve the health and wellbeing of Medway residents by delivering a high-quality public health intelligence service. They will provide public health data and information to support the Public Health programmes, business planning, and the Council’s strategic priorities.

The key duties and responsibilities of this post will include:

• Analyse, interpret, and present public health related data to different audiences in ways that are clear, meaningful, and accessible, both verbally and in writing.
• Collate, monitor, and review performance management data provided by Public Health England, other national agencies, and Medway Council to enable performance to be monitored against relevant outcomes and priorities.
• Manage the process of corporate performance monitoring in the Public Health directorate by supporting colleagues to report and review indicators in a timely manner. Identify any areas of concern and highlight these to senior managers within Public Health.
• Support our health improvement teams to monitor performance and improve services by creating and maintaining dashboards and reports containing key metrics.
• Regularly update and validate core datasets from various sources, applying data quality checks to identify errors or omissions in data and propose corrective solutions to ensure accurate and up-to-date information is maintained.
• Maintain and develop Medway’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) by sourcing, analysing and summarising data on the population, lifestyle risk factors, wider determinants of health, and patterns of disease and mortality.
• Plan and produce analyses and respond to ad hoc requests from the Public Health Directorate, wider Public Health colleagues, and external partners to support effective decision making in relation to service improvement, commissioning, and strategic planning activity.
• Ensure the timely submission of monthly, quarterly, and annual reports for national, local and management performance indicators, both internally and externally via relevant systems and processes.
• Assist with the development, design, and improvement of databases related to public health as appropriate to reflect the information and intelligence needs of the Council and its partners.
• Utilise current and emerging technologies and tools to present public health intelligence that is innovative and engaging.
• Assist colleagues to identify appropriate data sources and evidence, and provide proactive, expert advice and guidance to interpret this information.
• Interpret statistics appropriately.
• Training and development of others in information skills.
• Participate in the recruitment, induction and guidance of interns and apprentices.
• Such other responsibilities allocated which are appropriate to the grade of the post.

2.    PERSON SPECIFICATION

Qualifications

Essential

• Good general level of education (five good GCSEs or equivalent, including Maths and English).

Desirable

• Educated to degree level, NVQ Level 4 or equivalent.
• Recognised qualification in numerate discipline, e.g., statistics, information systems / technology.
• Evidence of continued professional development.

Experience

Essential

• Proven experience of working autonomously and as part of a team, with access to advice and guidance when necessary.

Desirable

• Experience of analysing data from a variety of sources and systems, including manual and computer-based records.
• Ability to demonstrate the practical and/or procedural knowledge in a specialist area, as well as the ability to turn theoretical knowledge into practical applications, or an equivalent level of organisational, procedural and policy knowledge.
• Working with public health related data sources, particularly data related to population, disease and mortality, and/or hospital activity.
• Using statistical and epidemiological methods for analysing and interpreting public health or NHS related datasets.
• Experience in the development of systems for the inputting, storing and dissemination of information.
• Experience of performance monitoring and improvement activity.

Skills

Essential

• Demonstrable ability to use analytical skills to interpret complex information and situations, such as identify trends, patterns, and relationships.
• Ability to prioritise and manage their own workload, producing accurate work within deadlines.
• Flexible approach and willingness to adapt to changing needs of the organisation.
• Ability to remain calm and think clearly under pressure, dealing with several tasks during a period of time.
• Proficient in the use of desktop applications, such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Ability to use, or a desire to learn about, analytical tools, such as R, R Studio, Microsoft Power BI, and SQL.

Desirable

• Demonstrable developed communication skills with the ability to present complex and/or sensitive information in an understandable way, using a variety of methods across a range of audiences.
• Good planning and organisation skills with an eye for detail. Develops solutions or plans which take several months up to a year to formulate.
• Undertakes work that requires a range of imaginative solutions and responses and involves application of fresh and innovative thinking.
• Demonstrable ability to work within recognised procedures and respond independently to problems where there are no recognised procedures and decisions have to be made without access to a manager.
• Demonstrates the ability to spend the equivalent of periods of hours at a time (e.g., a morning or afternoon) undertaking repeated manual calculations or other work with figures, or report writing or preparing for a presentation.
• Can demonstrate dexterity, co-ordination or sensory skills, where there is some demand for precision in the use of these skills, for example data processing and/or general use of a computer during the working day.
• Demonstrable ability to show common courtesy or consideration when encountering members of the public per chance during the course of their duties but has limited, or no, direct impact on the wellbeing of individuals or groups of people.
• Is not required to supervise other employees normally, however can allocate straightforward tasks to others when needed.
• Demonstrable ability to handle small (i.e., £250 per day) amounts of cash, process cheques, invoices or equivalent.

Knowledge

Desirable

• Understanding of data quality, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the principles of information governance, and how to apply them.
• Knowledge of current public health interventions, policies, strategies, and legislation.
• Knowledge of statistical techniques relevant to the analysis and interpretation of health datasets, such as standardisation and confidence intervals.

 Find out more and how to apply