1581 - Chief Healthcare Science Officer

at  Welsh Government

JOB SUMMARY

The Chief Healthcare Science Officer (CHSO) supports the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) by providing professional leadership to the NHS Wales healthcare science workforce of around 7000 from over 50 scientific and diagnostic disciplines, located across NHS Wales Health Boards and Trusts.
The role of the CHSO is to ensure the First Minister, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Director General for Health and Social Services, and other senior leaders receive appropriate, timely, high quality and professional advice in respect of health sciences and the professions of healthcare science.

JOB DESCRIPTION

In addition to acting the Head of Profession for Healthcare Science in Wales, the CHSO is also responsible for providing advice on policy development in Health Sciences and Diagnostics, and for overseeing the delivery of related strategies concerning the delivery and transformation of NHS Wales scientific and diagnostic services; ensuring developments are evidence-based. This will be key to ensuring increased access to diagnostics, more rapid diagnosis of conditions and therefore improved health outcomes for the citizens of Wales.
The CHSO is responsible for providing strategic oversight, direction and leadership to the delivery of the ‘Healthcare Science in NHS Wales Looking Forward (2018)’ framework and the recently published ‘Diagnostics Recovery and Transformation Strategy (2023) for NHS Wales’.
The CHSO will be required to work across organisational boundaries and develop strategic relationships with delivery partners including Digital Health and Care Wales, Health Education Improvement Wales and the NHS Wales Executive. They will be integral to the delivery of transformation programmes including the Laboratory Information Network Cymru (LINC) and Radiology Informatics System Procurement (RISP).
The CHSO will work closely with the Welsh Government Chief Scientific Advisor for Health (CSA-H), helping to raise the profile of and provide high quality science advice for policy makers in Welsh Government.
The CHSO will have an important role, bridging across the various divisions within the Health, Social Care and Early Years Group (HSCEYG) and in forming strategic partnerships with stakeholders in the NHS, external organisations, professional bodies, statutory and voluntary regulators, academia, industry, and across the other administrations of the UK in order to deliver shared ambitions.
To successfully achieve this, the CHSO must be a recognised expert in the area with sufficient profile and experience to command respect of peers and engage effectively with the wider scientific community in delivering government business.
The post holder must be a HCPC registered health professional educated to PhD level (or equivalent) with a demonstrable wealth of knowledge and experience in a relevant health science discipline area.

QUALIFICATIONS

Do you have a PhD, or equivalent experience and/or qualifications, in a relevant health science related discipline

TECHNICAL SKILLS

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• PhD, or equivalent qualifications or experience, in a scientific subject that is relevant to the healthcare sciences profession. (CV and in Personal Statement).
• Registered Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Healthcare professional.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Science