Imperial College London
Job Description
Job Title: Clinical Research Fellow
Centre: Centre for Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Division: Experimental Medicine
Department: Medicine
Job Family/Level: Clinical Academic
Salary Range: £31,523 - £55,754 plus £1,505 London allowance per annum
Reporting To: Professor Derek Bell
Professor of Acute Medicine
Accountable To: Professor Derek Bell
Professor of Acute Medicine
Key Working Relationships: Academic and research staff working on the CLARHC programme hosted by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and across Northwest London
Location: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Campus
Duration: Fixed-term for two years
Background:
The nine recently appointed National Institute of Health Research Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRCs) are an exciting new national development aiming to harness the power of academia to support the NHS in delivering healthcare improvements.
The NIHR CLAHRC for Northwest London is a five-year collaborative research improvement programme that will facilitate and accelerate the translation of research innovations into practice. It has been awarded £20 million in funding: £10 million from the National Institute of Health Research with a minimum of a further £10 million committed in matched funding from partner organisations and sponsors.
The NIHR CLAHRC for Northwest London programme is hosted by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, who led the application in partnership with Imperial College London. Partners of the programme include all eight primary care trusts and all six acute trusts in northwest London and mental health and ambulance services. The programme will actively engage the local community and is, uniquely amongst the CLAHRCs, partnered with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, NHS Direct, Chelsea and Westminster Health Charity and with commercial sponsors including McKinsey & Co. and Pfizer.
The aim of the NIHR CLAHRC for Northwest London is to devise an evidence based and systematic approach to the implementation of new interventions into clinical practice to close the ‘second translational research gap’ (Cooksey). The programme aims to empower healthcare staff and engage patients and public to deliver continuous improvement utilising evidence based research.
The programme is designed to support the implementation of specific research projects into practice. The five-year programme consists of three overlapping rounds lasting eighteen months each, with round one starting in April 2009. There will be a minimum of eighteen new research projects over the life span of the programme. Projects for round two and round three will be decided through an open, peer-reviewed competition across Northwest London.
Round one projects are:
· Medicines management after discharge from acute care
· Care bundle approach to:
o Community Acquired Pneumonia treatment
o Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
· Access to HIV testing in non-specialist care settings
· Case management of chronic disease pathways
Three cross-cutting themes working across all projects to support implementation and delivery:
· Collaborative Learning and Delivery Pathway: training and support for the multi-professional teams (including patient/public members)
· Patient and Public Involvement: development of networks across northwest London to increase public awareness of the role of research in healthcare and to engage patients and public with healthcare research and service improvements, with the aim of encouraging experience-based co-design
· Evaluation: to support the robust and on-going evaluation of all aspects of the CLAHRC programme, at project level, theme level and of the overall programme
For further information on the CLAHRC programme see www.clahrc-northwestlondon.nihr.ac.uk or contact the Research Strategy Manager Dr Julie Reed at
Summary of Post
The post-holder will support the development of a number of discrete research projects across Northwest London within the NIHR CLAHRC programme.
The post-holder will focus on understanding the nature and effectiveness of care bundles and process of care within the UK health system to promote better patient outcomes and reducing variation in care. Key areas of interest in line with the CLAHRC programme are the ability of care bundles and care pathways to support the implementation of evidence based medicine, improve the sustainability of new interventions and effects on spread and adoption of new practice.
The utilisation of real-time data collection to support evidence based implementation will be a key driver for the CLAHRC and the post-holder would be expected to play a critical role in ensuring robust data collection and analysis. The CLAHRC aims to increase the capacity and capability of frontline staff to engage with research and service improvements and the post-holder would be expected to support staff development in these areas.
The post-holder will directly engage with existing project teams (including Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) admission care bundle and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) discharge care bundle) and support the development of new care bundles and care pathways in line with the development of the CLAHRC programme. The post-holder will also be expected to compare local practice to national and international examples of care bundle including investigation as to the robustness of previous data reported.
The main purposes of the post are to:
· Work with CLAHRC project teams across Northwest London to support frontline change supported by robust data collection and analysis
· Investigate the impact of care bundles both within and outwith the CLAHRC programme as a tool for reducing variation of care and improving patient outcomes
· Work with managers, clinicians, frontline staff and patient/public forums across Northwest London to identify potential high-impact areas for future care bundle development
· Explore areas of overlap and tension between the use of evidence for research and improvement
The post-holder will be part of the Acute Medicine Section (Head, Professor Derek Bell) and will work as part of the NIHR CLAHRC for Northwest London core team and have working relationships with the Department of Primary Care and Social Medicine (Head, Professor Azeem Majeed) and other departments within Imperial College.
Key Responsibilities
The post-holder will be required to:
· Support the Acute and Chronic Programme Leads in the management and delivery of research projects
· Support and contribute to publications and dissemination of results
· Present data and key findings at national and international conference and through high-impact publications
· Liaise with lead clinicians and Imperial College library to develop robust systematic reviews relevant to both project and programme level goals
· Support staff at project sites across northwest London. There are two acute projects already in progress with new projects due to start in April 2010. Each project team will have a clinical lead, project manager and information analyst who will work closely with the post-holder
· Liaise with NHS staff across Northwest London to support extraction and analysis of relevant acute and primary care data
· Support the development of a high-quality web-based reporting tool to feed back information on outcomes and improvement data
· Support the application for additional funding to develop the CLAHRC programme of work further including targeting the NIHR and other NIHR Portfolio recognised funding bodies
Management
The post-holder will be responsible for accurate record keeping and documentation of results, and for preparing research reports and papers arising from his/her research.
Clinical Responsibilities
The post-holder will hold an honorary clinical contract with the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and will be expected to take clinical responsibilities appropriate to their level of experience and expertise.
Committees and Meetings
To attend meetings and report progress on the project, (written and oral) both within Imperial and externally.
Other Duties
· To undertake appropriate administration tasks
· To attend research meetings and seminars
· To undertake any necessary training and/or development
· Any other duties commensurate with the grade of the post as directed by the PIs
· The post-holder will be expected to contribute to the intellectual activities of the Department and to keep up to date with scientific advances in the field
Please note that, as this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, a satisfactory enhanced level Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Disclosure will be required for the successful candidate.
Further information about the Disclosure service can be found at www.crb.gov.uk or by contacting the CRB information line on 0870 90 90 811.
Job descriptions cannot be exhaustive and so the post holder may be required to undertake other duties, which are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.
The post holder is expected to observe and comply with all College policies and regulations, for example Health and Safety, Data Protection etc.
Imperial College is committed to equality of opportunity and to eliminating discrimination. All employees are expected to adhere to the principles set out in our Equal Opportunities in Employment Policy, Promoting Race Equality Policy and Disability Policy and all other relevant guidance/practice frameworks.
Person Specification
Applicants should be medically qualified and ideally have experience of conducting both clinical and scientific research. The post holder should have demonstrated his/her technical ability, accuracy, dependability and attention to detail. It is expected that the post holder will be able to work in several different laboratories/environments and that he/she will possess excellent communication skills, working closely with a range of different people.
The post holder should possess the following attributes:
Qualifications
Essential
· Medical degree and full GMC registration.
Experience and Knowledge
Essential
· Specialty Registrar level.
· Excellent communication skills and the ability to work with a diverse group of collaborators.
· Experience of research methodology or and information technology research.
· Undertaken effective clinical audit.
· Understanding of the use of Read and ICD codes.
· Experience in the management and analysis of data (e.g. from health services research).
· Record of publications in peer-reviewed journals.
· Presentations at National meetings.
· Evidence of working as part of a multi-professional team.
Desirable
· Teaching experience at postgraduate and undergraduate level.
· Management course experience.
·
Skills
Essential
· Ability to deal with a wide range of people in an appropriate manner.
· Ability to write reports in a clear and concise manner.
· Attention to detail.
· Good statistical skills.
· Proficient in Microsoft Word, Access, Excel and Outlook.
· Ability to work constructively and effectively within a team.
· Ability to work independently and use initiative.
· Ability to prioritise a varied workload and work under pressure to meet deadlines while maintaining a high level of accuracy.
· Ability to adhere to research protocol and maintain study deadlines.
Application Guidance
Please read the person specification carefully and describe, as part of your application, how much you feel you meet each of the criteria. If you need more space, please attach additional sheets to the application form.
The recruitment monitoring section of your application will be detached and will be used only for monitoring and audit purposes as a basis for supporting our commitment to Equal Opportunities.
An application form and full CV quoting reference number HM2010090 should be sent, by the closing date of 6 July 2010 online via the Imperial College iRecruitment website.
Short listed candidates will be contacted as soon as possible after the closing date.
Thank you for your interest in this post. We look forward to receiving your application.