FINAL Job description 14/12/13
JOB DESCRIPTION
Post:
Innovation Fellow (Alcohol)
Reports to:
Clinical Director & nominated Academic Lead
Accountable to:
Clinical Theme Senior Responsible Officer (SRO)
& CLAHRC Director
Background to the Health Innovation Network
The Health Innovation Network (HIN) – also known as the South London Academic Health
Science Network (AHSN) is a partnership organisation, sharing innovations across the
health system and capitalising on teaching and research strengths to drive lasting
improvements in health and wellbeing across South London.
The HIN works across all 12 South London Boroughs and incorporates university partners
(including two medical schools), mental health trusts, acute hospital providers, primary and
social care, public health, local commissioners, industry, and third sector organisations. It will
build on the success of existing local networks and collaborative projects, such as the Health
Innovation and Education Cluster (HIEC) and the London South Comprehensive Local
Research Network (CLRN).
The four objectives of the HIN are:
1. To bring academic and scientific rigour to service improvement
2. To focus on key public health issues in South London
3. To deliver lasting improvements on a wide scale across the whole of South London
4. To partner with Industry, in order to generate wealth for the local economy and
improvements to patient care at the same cost or reduced investment
Our priorities are:
 Alcohol
 Diabetes
 Dementia
 Musculoskeletal
 Cancer
For each of these priority clinical themes a major transformation programme is being
developed, drawing on clinical, academic and managerial expertise from across South
London and each theme will have an Innovation Fellow. Clinical themes are led by a Senior
Responsible Officer and a Clinical Lead and supported by enabling cross cutting themes,
such as Informatics and Patient Experience.
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FINAL Job description 14/12/13
Background to the South London Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health
Research and Care (CLAHRC)
CLAHRCs are an applied research infrastructure award, made by the National Institute for
Health Research (NIHR), with funding of £9million over 5 years (of which half from NIHR and
half from local partners as matched funding). South London has been successful in its
application for a CLAHRC, to be effective from January 2014. There are 8 themes within the
CLAHRC, and some overlap between the Health Innovation Network Clinical themes and the
CLAHRC priorities. In these areas (Alcohol, Diabetes and Palliative Care) the Innovation
fellow will work within the clinical theme of the HIN, but also be a core member of the
CLAHRC’s academic team. In the areas of the HIN which are not mapped to CLAHRC
themes, academic supervision and support will come from appropriate academic
departments, facilitated by King’s Improvement Science (KIS) (of which HIN is a partner).
South London Innovation Fellows
The HIN and the CLAHRC will be collaborating to improve health services for South London
through applied research and service improvement methodologies. They both recognize that
innovation in complex organizations, such as health care, needs to have strong leadership,
engagement of staff and support implementation through multifaceted approaches.
Therefore an ambitious programme of funding has been agreed to support South London
Innovation Fellows, whose role will be to lead local innovation and change.
The Innovation Fellows will be appointed to work on HIN Clinical Themes and with the
CLAHRC /KIS. They will use an implementation science approach to address unwanted
variation, through building the knowledge base for improving health services and translating
this knowledge into practice to deliver best care. Implementation science requires a
systematic and scientifically rigorous approach to close the gap between current and best
practice and embraces the fields of health services research, sociology, psychology,
organizational behaviour, health economics and statistics. The innovation fellows are likely
to come from a relevant clinical background (or work within the clinical area) and will act as a
bridge or broker, supporting engagement and joint working between researchers and clinical
and managerial practitioners
Innovation Fellow (Alcohol) Job Summary
The HIN Innovation Fellow for Alcohol will work across South London health and social care
settings and organisations as required, supported by clinical and academic supervisors to
deliver service improvement. The role will comprise: leadership, developing the case for
evidence-based change, service user involvement, designing evidence-based interventions,
change management and evaluation of patient, professional, economic and organisational
outcomes. This will be supported by bespoke training and leadership development according
to their personal development needs.
The Innovation Fellow will work with the Alcohol Clinical Director, enthusing others, and
driving change across South London. They will be supported academically by the CLAHRC
academic theme lead. The duration of the fellowship is flexible and is available for up to 3
years (full time or part-time) with the opportunity to study for a higher degree.
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Key responsibilities
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Clinical Academic Leadership
visible leader with experience of health services and or clinical care
work half time (flexibility negotiated) in direct patient care or in the health or social
care delivery (managers and applicants from the independent sector)
agree priorities with clinical leader
conduct a situational analysis of the clinical pathway to identify enablers and barriers
to change to inform an action research approach to evaluation
Review the evidence for change
review evidence base
review existing innovative practice across teams and new service models in alcohol
engage with local and national patient groups
support Clinical Director, with input from a Clinical Reference Group, to design
“optimal” care pathways and models of care, including “tool kit” approach to elements
of care packages
collect base-line data
Design and implement evidence-based intervention
identify areas to prioritise for implementation – recognising organisational/clinical
complexity – the need for multifaceted interventions
develop and implement intervention, with due consideration to elements such as
achieving clinical buy-in, ensuring adequate infrastructure support (e.g. IT system)
training needs assessment for professionals/team to support effective
implementation
Evaluate outcomes
repeat baseline measures to establish outcomes
collect qualitative data through interviews with patients/public/expert groups to
establish progress
Analysis
Produce reports to the HIN Board and Members Council
Disseminate to the clinical pathway
Person Specification
Applications will be welcomed from:
 clinicians/practitioners from any of the health professions
 doctors – at some stage during their higher professional training, or new general
practitioners or consultants
 nurses or allied health professionals with at least 2 years clinical experience and a
postgraduate qualification (preferably MSc Clinical Research)
 social workers with a postgraduate qualification
 Health service or social care managers
 Professionals in relevant industry roles
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FINAL Job description 14/12/13
Applicants will be leadership potential and have:
 Good communication and strong interpersonal and teamwork skills and motivated to
improve services in South London
 Project management skills and understanding of research design
 Change management skills
 Confidence with clinical outcomes data handling
 Enthusiasm for improving practice and developing skills in improvement science
 Understanding of diffusion and dissemination methods
 Commitment to leadership development
Support provided by HIN
HIN will fund the salary and course fees. There will be support in terms of leadership
development and protected time for participating in facilitated learning sets and a fellows
network across South London. The Innovation Fellow will be expected to develop a personal
development plan and to undertake bespoke training to support his/her research/doctoral
study, preferably accessed from universities within the South London HIN eg leadership
development, health informatics statistics, health economics, change management,
evaluation methods. As the HIN and the CLAHRC develop capacity and momentum, it is
envisaged there will be opportunities for national networking and dissemination.
Key Points:
 Salary for up to 3 years, although the role will be formally reviewed annually at
appraisal
 Full time and part time applicants will be considered, and the job may also be
undertaken as a job-share (e.g. between hospital clinician and GP)
 Clinical and academic supervision provided, with joint appraisals
 Opportunities to register for a appropriate qualification (e.g. MSc/PhD/equivalent)
and protected time for study and professional development
 Support with fees for a personalized training programme accessed from universities
within HIN/CLAHRC (e.g. leadership development, health informatics, Support from
HIN Education Lead)
 Mentorship and facilitated learning sets that bring Fellows together in a network
 Job base with HIN / CLAHRC teams, with a requirement to travel across South
London and some commitments outside routine working hours
The HIN/CLAHRC would be interested to consider flexible secondment arrangements with
industry to support rising stars linked to one of our service improvement programmes. This
approach will help to build partnerships between the NHS and industry for knowledge
exchange and developing wider research programmes. We would also look at developing
similar links with the third sector with opportunities for knowledge exchange.
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The following statement forms part of all job descriptions for Guy’s and St
Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (and will only apply if a secondment is not
arranged) :The post holder is required to follow Trust policies and procedures which are
regularly updated including:
Confidentiality / Data Protection / Freedom of Information
Post holders must maintain the confidentiality of information about patients, staff and
other health service business in accordance with the Data Protection Act of 1998.
Post holders must not, without prior permission, disclose any information regarding
patients or staff. If any member of staff has communicated any such information to
an unauthorised person those staff will be liable to dismissal. Moreover, the Data
Protection Act 1998 also renders an individual liable for prosecution in the event of
unauthorised disclosure of information.
Following the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2005, post holders must apply the
Trust’s FOI procedure if they receive a written request for information.
Information Governance
All staff must comply with information governance requirements. These includes
statutory responsibilities (such as compliance with the Data Protection Act), following
national guidance (such as the NHS Confidentiality
Code of Practice)
and compliance with local policies and procedures (such as the Trust's
Confidentiality policy). Staff are responsible for any personal information (belonging
to staff or patients) that they access and must ensure it is stored, processed and
forwarded in a secure and appropriate manner.
Equal Opportunities
Post holders must at all times fulfil their responsibilities with regard to the Trust’s
Equal Opportunities Policy and equality laws.
Health and Safety
All post holders have a responsibility, under the Health and Safety at Work Act
(1974) and subsequently published regulations, to ensure that the Trust’s health and
safety policies and procedures are complied with to maintain a safe working
environment for patients, visitors and employees.
Infection Control
All post holders have a personal obligation to act to reduce healthcare-associated
infections (HCAIs). They must attend mandatory training in Infection Control and be
compliant with all measures required by the Trust to reduce HCAIs. All post
holders must comply with Trust infection screening and immunisation policies
as well as be familiar with the Trust’s Infection Control Policies, including those that
apply to their duties, such as Hand Decontamination Policy, Personal Protective
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Equipment Policy, safe procedures for using aseptic techniques and safe disposal of
sharps.
Risk Management
All post holders have a responsibility to report risks such as clinical and non-clinical
accidents or incidents promptly. They are expected to be familiar with the Trust’s use
of risk assessments to predict and control risk, as well as the incident reporting
system for learning from mistakes and near misses in order to improve services.
Post holders must also attend training identified by their manager, or stated by the
Trust to be mandatory.
Flexible Working
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best
suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be
asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the
evenings or at weekends.
Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults
Post holders have a general responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable
adults in the course of their daily duties and for ensuring that they are aware of the
specific duties relating to their role.
Sustainability
It is the responsibility of all staff to minimise the Trust’s environmental impact by
recycling wherever possible, switching off lights, computers monitors and equipment
when not in use, minimising water usage and reporting faults promptly.
Smoking Policy
It is the Trust’s policy to promote health. Smoking, therefore, is actively discouraged.
It is illegal within Trust buildings and vehicles.
Review of this Job Description
This job description is intended as an outline of the general areas of activity and will
be amended in the light of the changing needs of the organisation. To be reviewed
in conjunction with the post holder.
Initials and date of Preparation
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