Medical Statistician - Band 7

at  Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) National Ophthalmology Database (NOD) conduct The National Cataract Audit which currently has data for more than 2.6 million cataract operations from 204 centres, and the National neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Audit which has data for more than 190,000 eyes from 80 centres.
The audits follow an annual cycle of data submission, processing and analysis. Results are reported in annual reports and on the audit website (www.nodaudit.org.uk). Data is transferred to the Care Quality Commission, the Getting It Right First Time programme, and uploaded to www.data.gov.uk.
Secondary analyses focus on aspects of the treatment for longer time periods than an audit year, with analyses published in peer review journals and presented at relevant conferences and meetings.
The RCOphth NOD statistical team are based in Cheltenham General Hospital, with other team members located elsewhere. This requires the ability to work with colleagues in the same office and with team members in other locations.
Responsibilities include cleaning, formatting, combining, and analysis of data submitted to the RCOphth NOD, writing sections of annual reports and peer reviewed publications, creating data sets for uploading to the audit website, and for transfer to other reporting destinations.
The role would ideally suit a statistician starting their career after completing study or someone within the first 3 years of their career.
The role requires the ability to process, clean, format and analyse data sets, including converting data from different systems into a common format, to communicate statistical ideas, data issues and interpretation of results to clinical colleagues, and to create the outputs for the suitable level of reporting, writing sections of the annual reports and peer reviewed publications, creating data sets for uploading to the RCOphth NOD website, and for transfer to other reporting destinations such as the CQC, GIRFT and www.data.gov.uk.
Secondary analysis focus on aspects of AMD treatment or cataract surgery, with results presented in peer review publications and at appropriate ophthalmology or statistics meetings, this can involve presenting a poster or a talk.
This role requires the ability to work with others from differing professional backgrounds, and the ability to work independently at times is a must as clinical input is not always immediately available. The successful candidate will be based in an office and will use a computer, thus needs to be able to work in an office environment and be able to use a keyboard.
Occasionally there are opportunities to assist Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust staff who require statistical support for their audit, service evaluation or research projects.
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest employer in the county and with over 8,000 staff, we are one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK. We offer a generous annual leave allowance, excellent bank rates, access to the excellent NHS Pension Scheme, discounts for local shops, restaurants and services, access to our health and well-being hub, access to our two on-site nurseries, flexible working options, discounted public transport, reward and recognition schemes, exercise and activity classes and membership to our popular hospital choir.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists National Ophthalmology Database (RCOphth NOD) conducts two annual national audits, the National Cataract Audit and the National Age-related Macular Degeneration Audit (www.nodaudit.org.uk). The RCOphth NOD staff are based in different locations, with the statistical team based based within the Gloucestershire Retinal Research Group (GRRG) office.
The GRRG is led by Professor Peter Scanlon who is the chair of the team which is a collaboration of ophthalmology staff at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust including clinical and research staff. The GRRG also work on projects with people based elsewhere or from other organisations.
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ (RCOphth) National Ophthalmology Database (NOD) receives annual submissions of pseudonymised data collected as part of routine clinical care from multiple centres using different data collection systems. The RCOphth NOD conducts two national audits, one for cataract surgery and one for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The data has to be cleaned, formatted and combined during processing in order to create analytical data sets.
Results for centres and surgeons are presented on the RCOphth NOD website. Results for centres are reported in annual reports, and provided to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) and uploaded to www.data.gov.uk.
Secondary analysis focus on aspects of AMD treatment or cataract surgery, with results presented in peer review publications and at appropriate ophthalmology or statistics meetings, this can involve presenting a poster or a talk.
The post holder will be based in the Gloucestershire Retinal Research Group (GRRG) office in Cheltenham General Hospital. Statistical supervision will be provided by Paul Donachie (Senior Medical Statistician for the RCOphth NOD), and line management from Professor Peter Scanlon (Consultant Ophthalmologist, GHNHSFT).
The clinical lead for the National Cataract Audit is Dr John Buchan (Consultant Ophthalmologist, Leeds and Programme Director - MSc Public Health for Eye Care at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and the clinical lead for the National AMD Audit is Mr Martin McKibbin (Consultant Ophthalmologist, Leeds). The RCOphth NOD administrators and project managers are based in the RCOphth offices in London. As the RCOphth NOD team are based in different locations, the majority of communication is electronic.
Responsibilities include cleaning, formatting, combining, processing, and analysis of data submitted to the RCOphth NOD, writing sections of the annual reports and relevant sections of peer reviewed publications, creating data sets for uploading to the RCOphth NOD website, and for transfer to other reporting destinations such as the CQC, GIRFT and www.data.gov.uk.
The post requires the ability to explain statistical methodology and issues with supplied data to ophthalmology staff in centres participating in the RCOphth NOD, to help them improve the quality of their centres data, and to help their staff use the produced results for the benefit of their centres ophthalmology service, and patient care.
This post requires computer literacy, particularly with regard to specialised statistical, graphical, word processing and presentation packages, an understanding of statistical requirements for audit, research and reporting, and the ability to find solutions for analytical challenges.
There is intensive PC use requiring highly developed keyboard skills, occasional travel to meetings across the United Kingdom, and delivery of oral presentations to medical professionals and staff from participating audit centres.
Occasionally there are opportunities to assist Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust staff who require statistical support for their audit, service evaluation or research projects.
The post holder will be presentable, confident, able to work with people from differing professional backgrounds, able to work independently at times as clinical input is not always immediately available, able to communicate in person and electronically, to work to agreed deadlines

Please refer the Job description for details