Director of Public Health (Health & wellbeing)
Job Description
Job summary
A member of the Senior Management Team of the Authority having key responsibility and accountability for improving the health & wellbeing of Telford & Wrekin residents, reducing inequalities in health outcomes and protecting local communities from public health hazards.
To be the statutory chief officer of the authority and the principal adviser on all population health matters to elected members, officers and partners, with a leadership role spanning health improvement, health protection and healthcare public health.
To be a visible system leader in health and wellbeing partnership arrangements within Shropshire Telford Wrekin Integrated Care System.
Professionally accountable to the Council (and the OHID/DHSC Regional Director of Public Health)
Managerially reports to: Directly to Executive Director of Childrens Services & Public Health.
Responsible for : Consultant in Public Health & Service Delivery Managers
The post holder will be responsible for performance of specific services within the directorate including:
o Public Health & Commissioning
o Health Improvement
o Health Protection including Civil Resilience and Corporate Health & Safety
Main duties of the job
The Director of Health & Wellbeing will -
Represent the Council on all Population Health Matters
Manage circa 55 staff
Manage budgets up to £15m
Manage and participate in on-call arrangements for Senior Management Team and communicable disease control/health protection as appropriate
Ensure appropriate management and support for Specialty Registrars (in Public Health)
Manage other allocated teams as directed by CEO.
About us
Telford & Wrekin Council has a population of 185,800 and is a place of contrasts, a distinctive blend of urban and rural areas, with green open spaces alongside contemporary housing developments and traditional market towns. On the face of it, the Borough is a prosperous place but there are clear differences across the Borough. Some neighbourhoods and communities in the Borough are among the most deprived areas nationally. 26% of Telford & Wrekins LSOAs are among the 20% most deprived and 11.1% are among the 20% least deprived LSOAs in England (IMD,2019).
Telford & Wrekin Council is part of Shropshire Telford & Wrekin Integrated Care System.
Job responsibilities
Statutory Role
The Director of Public Health is the system leader for improving the health and wellbeing of residents, reducing inequalities in health outcomes, and protecting local communities from public health hazards (infectious diseases and environmental threats). As such, the Director of Public Health is a statutory chief officer of the authority and the principal adviser on all health matters to elected members, officers, and partners, with a leadership role spanning health improvement, health protection and healthcare public health. Section 73A(1) of the NHS Act 2006, inserted by section 30 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, gives the Director of Public Health responsibility for:
all their local authoritys duties to improve public health.
any of the Secretary of States public health protection or health improvement functions that s/he delegates to local authorities, either by arrangement or under regulations these include services mandated by regulations made under section 6C of the 2006 Act, inserted by section 18 of the 2012 Act.
exercising their local authoritys functions in planning for, and responding to, emergencies that present a risk to public health.
their local authoritys role in co-operating with the police, the probation service, and the prison service to assess the risks posed by violent or sexual offenders.
such other public health functions as the Secretary of State specifies in regulations.
producing an independent annual report on the health of local communities.
In order to deliver their responsibilities on behalf of the residents of Telford & Wrekin the DPH will need to be a visible system leader in the health and wellbeing partnership arrangements. The DPH will be expected to use all the resources at their disposal to ensure that the local public health system is able to tackle the full range of determinants of health affecting communities in Telford & Wrekin, to improve population health. Working with local communities, he/she should be able to inspire development of innovative solutions that support improvements in health and wellbeing and reduction in health inequalities whilst at the same time maintaining the confidence of Councillors and government.
HEALTH & WELLBEING DIRECTORATE
The DPH leads a small directorate with three teams Public Health & Commissioning, Health Protection (including Food Health & Safety, Civil Resilience and Corporate Health & Safety) and Health Improvement. The Health Improvement service area includes directly managed Healthy lifestyle and smoking cessation service.
The Corporate Insight Team work with the DPH to develop and deliver the JSNA. The Corporate Communication Team support Public Health communications and the Community Participation team support a range of volunteer-led programmes.
Key responsibilities
- Support the Chief Executive and Councillors in developing and delivering the Councils strategic agenda.- Be the chief officer and principal adviser on public health to the Council, local communities, and local partners.- Operate strategically as a member of the Senior Management Team and across the Council influencing policy and practice.- To deliver commission, and or deliver services which are effective, value for money and meet quality standards.- To act as a leader across the local system of public services, influencing change and enabling a culture of continuous improvement in health and wellbeing, innovation and evaluation.- Utilise the public health resources imaginatively and cost effectively across all domains of public health in order to improve health and wellbeing of local communities and reduce inequalities in health outcomes.- Accountable for both the shaping and delivery of the Health and Wellbeing agenda taking account of the national agenda and benchmarking (using the national outcomes frameworks; public health, NHS and social care).- Deliver an independent annual report on the health and wellbeing of local communities for publication by Telford & Wrekin Council to stimulate debate and/or action by the Council and partners.- In delivering these responsibilities, the postholder and their team will undertake the following tasks:
1. Strategic Leadership
Working with the Councils Insight Team delivery of a system to support surveillance, monitoring and evaluation of health and wellbeing and inequalities in health outcomes of local communities (including an easily accessible Joint Strategic Needs Assessment System).
Ensure all activity undertaken by the Council takes account of both, the need to reduce inequalities as well as the requirements of the Equality and Diversity Act.
To ensure scientific principles are applied to assessing need, exploring interventions and assessing progress of the Councils strategic agenda.
Ensure as a core member of the Health and Wellbeing Board and in partnership with a wide range of teams across the council, partners and the public, the development of plans to enable local communities to become healthy, sustainable and cohesive.
Collaborate to ensure a programme of action to impact on the wider determinants of health that will promote improvements in health and wellbeing of local communities and reduction in health inequalities.
Provide assurance that the health protection system for local communities is fit for purpose.
2. Directorate Specific Accountabilities
To be an advocate for improving health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities.
Exercise the statutory responsibilities including the delivery of the mandated services.
To advise Telford & Wrekin Council on its statutory and professional public health obligations.
Work with the UKHSA Centre and NHS partners to ensure local communities are protected from infectious disease threats (including food and water borne disease, pandemics, etc.) and environmental hazards.
Ensure the development and delivery of a credible plan to improve health and wellbeing of communities in Telford & Wrekin and reduce health inequalities.
Ensure that the Council has implemented its EPRR responsibilities and as part of the Local Health resilience Forum, that partner organisations (UKHSA, OHID, NHS England and the ICSs) have delivered their EPRR responsibilities.
Provide system leadership to the ICB to support their prevention and inequalities responsibilities.
Collaborate with the ICB and Directors of Adults and Childrens Social Care to develop placed based arrangements to deliver improvements in health ...
