Vacancies

Public Health Practitioner

About the role

We are looking to recruit a Practitioner in Public Health – Health Protection, to join the Public Health team in North Northamptonshire Council. This is a relatively newly formed Public Health team, following a split in 2022 from a countywide service serving the whole of Northamptonshire County and the formation of two unitary councils in April 2021. The service is highly dynamic and building a team that is ambitious and aims to be best in class.

The Practitioner role in Public Health – Health Protection, provides an exciting opportunity to work strategically within Health Protection to help shape the innovative ways of working, to frame the value of public health within the council, to prioritise prevention interventions, as well as build strong and trusted partnerships with voluntary and statutory organisations across Northamptonshire. The Public Health Team is dedicated to working with local communities and this role will support us to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for North Northamptonshire residents.

We are looking to appoint a Practitioner with health protection expertise, to provide technical, strategic and systemwide knowledge across the health protection portfolio. As well as bringing a depth of health protection experience, the successful candidate will also work with the wider team to contribute to the broader public health agenda.

North Northamptonshire Council operates a hybrid model of working, and we welcome discussions with potential applicants on working arrangements including part time working.

What will you be doing?

1. To fully manage and commission evidence based public health projects with partners from inception to delivery that deliver improvements in prioritised public health outcomes.

2. To strategically guide and advise decision makers across the Public and Community Sectors to ensure that public health principles are fully embedded in the design of policies and programmes that influence population health.

3. To provide subject matter expertise in response to health emergencies and to inform the commissioning and/or decommissioning of services that impact on public health outcomes.

4. To contribute to the joint strategic needs assessment - developing a clear local understanding of health needs and gaps in evidence-based services.

5. To represent public health in multi-agency forums such as Incident Management Team meetings in response to a health emergency, local Health and Wellbeing forum, Health Protection Committee or relevant safeguarding boards.

6. Where required, to be responsible for the line management of staff in public health who will deliver key public health projects. This includes undertaking recruitment, supervision and development of these staff.

7. To prepare and deliver health protection presentations and briefings conveying complex and sensitive data and other health / health care information to a variety of audiences, including public health specialists and non-specialist audiences and individuals.

8. To provide support to the Senior Public Health Lead and Public Health Principal in delivering the relevant portfolio of public health activity.

About you

Education, Qualifications & Training

Essential Criteria

Degree or Postgraduate qualification relevant to Public Health (e.g. Master’s degree in public health related subject such as Masters in Public Health (MPH) or evidence of equivalent qualifications
Either have or working towards Practitioner level registration with UKPHR

Desirable Criteria

Postgraduate degree (masters level) OR significant experience in a post related post to public health e.g. either in local authority, NHS or voluntary sector
Prince2 Practitioner level

Experience & Knowledge

Essential Criteria

Able to demonstrate a good understanding of NHS and local authority policy, statutory duties and responsibilities.
Able to demonstrate understanding of public health practice, health protection / promotion and health care evaluation.
Able to demonstrate knowledge of evidence based public health practice.
Able to demonstrate experience of working in NHS, local government or voluntary and community sector cultures and structures.
Experience of delivering multi-agency work including experience of responding successfully to the challenges of joint working, representing a public health or organisational view and experience of leading or chairing a multi-agency group.
Demonstration of the ability to develop on public health strategy and policy, including longer term planning.
Experience of developing health improvement strategies and/or action plans.

Desirable Criteria

Able to demonstrate knowledge of data analysis and application in reports and evidence reviews.
Adaptable and able to work well against a background of significant change and uncertainty.

Ability & Skills

Essential Criteria

Good planning and organisational skills to work on concurrent projects delivered on time and demonstrating ability to adhere to deadlines.
Application of excellent interpersonal and motivational skills to negotiate with practical expectation of what can be achieved.
Excellent oral and written communication, ability to present complex information to groups and in a simplified way (for a range of audiences from senior management to the media).

Desirable Criteria

Able to act independently, with minimal guidance from line manager. Experience of line managing staff.

Equal Opportunities

Ability to demonstrate awareness/understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s behaviour, physical, social and welfare needs.

Additional Factors

This is a hybrid role and will require the ability to travel to meetings at various locations in North Northamptonshire including a designated office base.
Occasional attendance at meetings outside of usual office hours may be required

Our benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

a competitive salary
a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy

Our Key Commitments

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

North Northamptonshire Council re-signed the Armed Forces Covenant in June 2024 which highlights the Council’s pledge to support the Armed Forces community. The council obtained the silver status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) and we are now currently working towards achieving Gold status.

We aim to be a carbon neutral Council by 2030.

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)

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