Senior Health Economist

Department: Based in Health Informatics Team with close working with Delivery team

Hours of work: Full time or minimum 0.8wte. Flexible working hours/ options compatible with the role can be discussed.

Base: Cambridge.

We offer flexible working arrangements. Our staff combine on-site and remote working, enabling us to come together when it matters most and promote a healthy work-life balance.

Reports to: Data Ops, Analyst and Research Support Lead

Closing date for applications: Noon, 5 August 2024

Date of Interview: 15 August 2024 (TBC)

About Health Innovation East (trading as Eastern AHSN)

Great ideas only make a difference for our health when they are put into practice.

We are one of 15 regional Health Innovation Networks that support the introduction of innovative technologies, devices and care pathways to transform health and care.

Health Innovation East, the innovation arm of the NHS in the region, comprises of a team of over 60 clinicians, data scientists, life sciences industry experts and skilled programme leaders passionate about helping the best innovations in health and care reach the people, places and problems where they bring the most benefit. 

https://healthinnovationeast.co.uk/ 

Our values and commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

Health Innovation East is fully committed to being an inclusive employer, affording equity of opportunity and welcoming applicants from broad and diverse backgrounds.

Staff at Health Innovation East have come together to co-produce our values and expected behaviours. Our values focus on providing trusted expertise, being inclusive, kind and collaborative in all our working relationships and implementing innovations that truly matter to our communities and partners.  

What are we looking for?

We are looking for colleagues who share not only our values but also our enthusiasm and commitment to making a difference for our communities. We are united by being dynamic, curious, creative and adaptable. We appreciate the value of evidence and also enjoy trying new and different approaches to solving problems and are comfortable with ambiguity, often-changing plans and unanticipated challenges. 

Job summary and purpose

The Health Informatics team has specialist skills in delivering programmes of work that include providing secure environments for storing and accessing health and other sensitive data to support health and care delivery, research, and innovation.

One of Health Innovation East’s key objectives is to evaluate the impact of new innovations in the real-world to support their spread and adoption. We carry out and commission a wide range of mixed methods evaluations covering a breadth of innovation and health and social care areas.

The Senior Health Economist will ensure that Health Innovation East designs and develops transparent and user-friendly economic models such as budget impact models and cost-effectiveness models. The post holder will have in-depth specialist knowledge of modelling applied to experience of health and care settings or in commercial settings. It is essential that the post holder has a good understanding of the challenges faced in healthcare and the role of real-world evaluation in healthcare.

The post holder will be expected to contribute to expanding Health Innovation East’s commissioned evaluation work. For example, there is an emerging project where the post holder will be partly embedded in the Strategic Commissioning Unit at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB whilst also collaborating with the Health Economics lead in the ICB.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

As a Senior Health Economist, the post holder will:

• Lead the design, delivery and management of high-quality return on investment and business impact evaluations
• Produce high quality reports
• Develop measurement plans, impact measures and productivity analyses that can be applied consistently for new evaluation programmes
• Analyse economic growth data from innovator support activities
• Communicate and disseminate evaluation report findings, including through the development of communications materials such as blogs and impact stories, to inform future implementation efforts
• Provide expert advice to colleagues in Health Innovation East and to organisations in the wider healthcare landscape in the East of England on the methodology of evaluating the economic impact of health innovations. This will involve communicating highly complex information to people both with and without specialist knowledge in evaluation
• Develop and deliver specialist training sessions, resources and tools on evaluation to build the capacity and capability of colleagues to undertake evaluations
• Ensure evaluation projects / programmes are managed effectively, leading and being accountable for their successful delivery from start through to completion
• Provide project / programme leadership on multiple evaluation projects
• Ensure evaluation projects are delivered in line with agreed milestones
• Build and nurture relationships with relevant stakeholders to support the successful delivery of projects
• Monitor progress across the evaluation programme and produce regular project reports and updates for national, regional and local governance mechanisms 

Corporate and personal responsibilities 

• Promote equal opportunities and affirm that staff, colleagues, patients, and others who encounter Health Innovation East are afforded equality of access, experience and outcomes
• Observe Health Innovation East’s equity, diversity and inclusion pledges in every aspect of your work, avoiding any behaviour which discriminates against colleagues, potential employees, patients, or partners on any grounds
• Uphold and promote the organisation’s values
• Work flexibly and collaboratively with others to achieve the organisation’s goals and support its values
• Support the organisation in creating an environment that values risk management and promotes the highest standards of health and safety for Health Innovation East’s employees, supported by policies and procedures as appropriate
• Ensure up to date knowledge is maintained and comply with current data protection laws and company data protection and confidentiality policies and procedures
• Ensure that we only operate within our remit of not offering clinical advice
• Adhere to all company policies and procedures and any applicable legislation 

Person specification 

Competence

Qualifications and training

Essential requirements

Postgraduate qualification (PhD or MSc) in health economics, or with equivalent professional experience in healthcare evaluation

Desirable requirements

Membership of a professional body such as HESG

Competence

Knowledge

Essential requirements

Awareness of strategic challenges facing the NHS (with a working knowledge of Eastern region preferred)

Knowledge of information governance, security, GDPR legislation and guidance

Knowledge of health economics and methodologies for the analysis of patient-reported and other health outcomes

Knowledge of advanced statistical analyses

Desirable requirements

Experience of project management methodologies

Competence 

Skills

Essential requirements 

Strong analytical skills to analyse and interpret complex and varied data for qualitative and quantitative evaluations

Using software tools (eg SAS, R) to manipulate data and perform analyses

Desirable requirements 

Ability to create compelling offers for paid work

Competence  

Experience 

Essential requirements 

Experience of managing complex programmes and multiple projects 

Significant experience in generating and analysing data, conducting complex analysis on bid data particularly in health and social care 

Confident presenter, able to communicate complex economic concepts to lay persons

Competence  

Right to work in the UK

Essential requirements 

Applicants must be able to provide evidence of their right to work in the UK at the point prior to interview.

Personal development responsibilities 

• Understanding and awareness of own personal development needs
• Maintenance of a compliant professional portfolio where required 

Key relationships 

Internal - all Health Innovation East’s employees will be expected to form key relationships within the organisation relevant to the role. 

External - in addition, the successful appointee will need to develop and build relationships with external colleagues as relevant to the role. These may include, but are not limited to, relationships with: 

• Operational colleagues within partner organisations may include but not exclusively:
• NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts
• Care Quality Commission
• Local Government
• Integrated Care System and Integrated Care Boards etc.
• NHS England & NHS Improvement
• Third Sector Organisations
• Patient Advisory Groups/Services 

Benefits of working at Health Innovation East 

As part of the benefits package, Health Innovation East’s employees are entitled to 27 days of annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rata for less than wholetime equivalent) and are offered a company pension (employer contribution up to 10% of annual salary) as well as a cycle to work scheme. In addition, all employees are covered by our group life insurance (after passing probation) and have unlimited access to the company’s well-being programme which is fully confidential. Team members on secondments will remain on their employer’s terms and conditions. 

How to apply

To apply please submit your CV and a covering letter by Noon, Monday 5 August 2024 via the 'Apply' button above specifying your motivation for applying and how you meet the person specification. For an informal discussion, please contact sarah.robinson@healthinnovationeast.co.uk 

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. This document was developed by Health Innovation East EDI group and approved by the senior management team on 18/10/2023.