Job Advert
Health Services Researcher – Ref (053075)
Evidence Directorate
Band 7 - £39,693 - £46,467 per annum
Remote working will apply for the foreseeable future.
Two posts within the Health Services Research team (Edinburgh or Glasgow)
X1 Full-time 37.5 hours per week – Fixed Term for one year
X1 Part-time 22.5 hours per week – Fixed Term for one year
One post within the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) (Edinburgh or Glasgow)
X1 Full-time 37.5 hours per week – Fixed Term for 18 months
One joint post with the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) and the Medicines and Pharmacy Team (Glasgow)
X1 Full-time 37.5 hours per week (0.5 Medicines/0.5 SMC) – Permanent post
One post with SMC (Glasgow)
X1 Full-time 37.5 hours per week – Permanent post
Healthcare Improvement Scotland is an organisation with many parts and one purpose – better quality health and social care for everyone in Scotland.
We are seeking to appoint five Health Services Researchers to the Evidence Directorate at Healthcare Improvement Scotland. Three posts are fixed term and would be suitable for someone looking for a secondment opportunity. The remaining two posts are permanent positions. The fixed term posts can be based in either Glasgow or Edinburgh. The two permanent positions are Glasgow-based posts.
For all five posts, the ideal candidate would be familiar with undertaking systematic reviews of published evidence, and have an understanding of both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Experience of rapid approaches to the review of evidence would be beneficial. The positions require experienced, clear thinking individuals with a broad range of research skills, and excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills. In addition to a numerate, biomedical discipline or social science degree, the post holder will be expected to have a postgraduate degree in a relevant subject and/or have extensive health services research experience.
The three fixed term posts, and two permanent posts are described separately below.
Fixed term posts
Two of the posts would be based within the Health Services Research team. One of the main roles would be to support the work of the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG). This would involve reviewing published evidence to develop advice on the use of healthcare technologies to support policy and planning across NHSScotland. The post-holders would also be required to undertake rapid review and topic scoping work, to support the wider Evidence Directorate within Healthcare Improvement Scotland. There may also be a need to undertake evidence review work to support the production of clinical guidelines and standards and indicators, and to provide general research support across the organisation.
The third post would be based within the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) team. The successful candidate would undertake and lead on evidence review work to update clinical guidelines. They would work with, and provide some project management to, guideline development groups. This post-holder may also be required to provide research support to the wider organisation, for example they may need to undertake some rapid review and topic scoping work.
Given the fixed-term nature of the posts, we are looking for someone who can bring relevant knowledge and experience and who can make an immediate contribution to the work of the team. Furthermore, we are currently developing our methods around incorporating the views and perspectives of patients, the public and NHS staff within our guidance and thus would be particularly keen to attract someone who has experience of undertaking qualitative research to the fixed-term posts.
For further information, or to arrange a telephone call, please contact Joanna Kelly, Lead HSR at joanna.kelly@nhs.scot.
Permanent posts
The two permanent Health Services Researcher posts would be suitable for someone who has practical experience of undertaking literature reviews and critical appraisal. One position is a new joint post, created within the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) and the Medicines and Pharmacy Team, both parts of Healthcare Improvement Scotland. The other post would be based full time within SMC.
The remit of SMC is to provide advice to NHS Boards and their Area Drug and Therapeutic Committees (ADTCs) across Scotland about the status of all newly licensed medicines, all new formulations of existing medicines and new indications of established products. SMC also has a horizon scanning function; recent changes to UK medicine regulation and support to the UK RAPID C-19 programme are new key areas of work. As an SMC Health Services Researcher you would provide research and evaluation support to the SMC team. The post holder for the full time SMC or joint post would be required to support all key functions within SMC, with a focus on the new medicines assessment process. This would include leading clinical expert consultation, critical review of literature to validate end of life and orphan status and critical appraisal of clinical studies and indirect treatment comparisons.
The Medicines and Pharmacy team’s work programme includes a range of different work-streams to improve the safe, efficient, and effective use of medicines across Scotland working with key partners both internally and externally. The key area for this post would be supporting the National Cancer Medicines Advisory Programme. The purpose of this programme is to improve consistency, effectiveness and efficiency of process for the safe implementation of new use of cancer medicines including off label use. The programme is intended to work alongside Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) and existing local systems for access to cancer medicines. The work programme will be driven by clinical need in consultation with SGHD National Cancer Recovery Group and stakeholders across NHS Scotland. The postholder would lead critical reviews and appraisals of clinical studies and establish robust and consistent methods and processes to support the delivery of the programme.
For further information, or to arrange a telephone call, please contact Joanna Kelly, Lead HSR at joanna.kelly@nhs.scot.
Closing Date: Friday 28th May 2021 at midnight
It is anticipated that interviews are to be held week beginning 14th of June 2021.