Research Officer

Role Purpose

The purpose of this role within the relevant business unit and for HIQA as a whole:

HIQA exists to improve health and social care services for the people of Ireland. HIQA’s role is to develop standards, inspect and review health and social care services and support informed decisions on how services are delivered. The Health Information and Standards (HIS) Directorate has five teams. As vacancies arise, the successful candidates will join one of the following teams:

• Governance, Research and Strategy: drives quality and consistency in governance, strategy and research related activity across the HIS Directorate.
• National Care Experience Programme: conducts national programmes of engagement across a range of health services, in conjunction with the Department of Health, Mental Health Commission and the HSE.
• Health Information Quality and Assurance: advises on the efficient and secure collection and sharing of health information, assessing compliance against national standards for national data collection and ehealth services, and evaluating information resources to support health and social care services in Ireland.
• Health Information Standards: sets national standards and develops frameworks and guidance to support the exchange of health and social care information.
• National Standards for health and social care services: develops person-centred standards and guidance, based on evidence and international best practice, for health and social care services.

General The successful candidate(s) will work in a team environment to deliver projects. Examples of projects include national standards, implementing a national engagement project and developing national guidance.

They will play a key role in supporting operational, analytical and reporting functions of the team they join, ensuring tasks are achieved in a timely and professional manner. This role requires strong research, writing, organisational and communication skills.

This is a varied and interesting role, encompassing research, stakeholder engagement, administration, operations and coordination of team activities.

There will be a requirement to attend stakeholder engagement events regionally and nationally.

There are excellent opportunities for successful applicants to pursue a postgraduate degree (PhD or Masters) related to their role.

The successful candidate will be required to undergo Garda vetting on appointment and at regular intervals thereafter.

Behavioural Expectations The way that HIQA people are expected to work to role model HIQA values:

The incumbent of this role is expected to demonstrate HIQA’s values in the delivery of every day work and interactions with clients and colleagues, by putting people first, being fair and objective, being open and accountable, demonstrating excellence and innovation and working together.

Common Tasks Team Member

• Seek clarity on the tasks associated with own role
• Complete tasks in compliance with policies and procedures
• Adhere to relevant legislation, standards and internal audits
• Fulfil any mandatory or professional competency requirements
• Maintain confidentiality and a professional approach
• Raise any concerns in relation to workplace health and safety
• Actively identify learning needs and development opportunities
• Actively contribute as a team member
• Follow direction and take on new and different tasks
• Set and achieve performance goals that contribute to HIQA strategy
• Regularly seek feedback to meet performance expectations and goals

Role Specific Tasks The key tasks and activities associated with the role:

The nature of the tasks and activities associated with the role will vary accordingly.

This role encompasses 3 main areas of work – research, stakeholder engagement and operations/administration.

Research:

• Using evidence synthesis, support the development of evidence-based material for health and social care services. Examples include:
• Literature reviews: working with a team, develop the literature search strategy, data extraction, quality appraisal, evidence synthesis and write-up of findings, which will lead to a published report.
• Landscape analysis: Review of international best practice and write-up of findings to inform published reports.
• Feedback from stakeholders: Organisation, thematic analysis and write-up of findings from feedback sessions such as focus groups, key informant interviews, or world cafés to inform standards, guidance and survey development.
• Consultations: organisation, thematic analysis and write-up of findings from programmes of engagement, public consultations and workshops to inform key reports.
• Information analysis and report writing: support the drafting of reports in multiple formats that succinctly and clearly present findings from multiple sources. This may include writing hospital reports outlining the findings from a programme of engagement, preparing a guidance document to support health data holders in relation to data quality improvement, drafting stakeholder involvement reports, evidence reviews for national standards, presentations, and drafting social media posts for a range of audiences.
• Based on analysis of evidence and stakeholder engagement, support the development of guidance and tools to assist implementation of standards or recommendations into practice e.g. FAQs, infographics, digital learning tools, online learning courses, video animations and easy-to-read booklets.

Stakeholder engagement:

• Plan, organise and provide facilitation and administrative support for all stakeholder engagement fora including focus groups, information sessions, workshops, public consultations, advisory groups, steering groups, working groups, conferences and seminars.
• Liaise with relevant stakeholders (internal, national and international) as required. This will include in-person stakeholder engagement events at a regional and national level.

Operational:

• Support the team in relation to document management, including project management documentation, website content, stakeholder engagement databases, and document management system (SharePoint).
• Manage meetings and correspondence – drafting of letters and minutes in relation to advisory groups, working groups, meetings and follow-up with participants.
• Administrative support for team and directorate meetings, conferences and seminars.
• Support invoice management and budgetary control.
• Support information governance and data management requirements, policies and processes, including data protection impact assessment (DPIA) and Data Sharing Agreements.
• Support engagement with the public, for example, requests for materials, information email.

Undertake other duties and responsibilities as may be determined by the relevant Manager and/or the relevant Deputy Director/Director.

The contents of any role description are not exhaustive and are intended to be indicative of the scope of the role.

Qualifications The qualifications that are essential to effectively meet the requirements of the role:

In determining your eligibility the following are the essential qualifications that will be assessed as part of the shortlisting stage of the selection process.

• Degree qualification (minimum of Level 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications or equivalent) in health or social care-related areas, health services management, a health-related science with a high content in health services research, or a discipline deemed relevant to the role by the Authority.

The qualifications that are desirable to effectively meet the requirements of the role:

• Additional post-graduate qualification (Level 9 or higher on the National Framework of Qualifications or equivalent or equivalent) in a specialist area relevant to the role Public Health, Health Services Research, Social Care, evidence-based healthcare, health psychology, epidemiology, health informatics, healthcare quality, quality improvement, project management, statistics, business information systems, implementation science, learning technology, Health Services Management, Risk Management or a discipline deemed relevant to the role by the Authority.

Experience The experience that is essential to effectively meet the requirements of the role:

In determining your eligibility the following are the essential knowledge and experience that will be assessed as part of the shortlisting stage of the selection process.

A minimum of 12 months relevant post-graduate work experience in the following areas: (note: work conducted as part-fulfilment of an academic award at degree or masters level should not be included here).

• Practical experience in undertaking research, for example, literature reviews, scoping reviews, systematic reviews or collection or analysis of survey data, (e.g. for public consultations or interrogation of findings from focus groups, interviews or other methods.)
• Demonstrable experience in writing, reviewing, editing and proofing documents and reports for a variety of audiences.

Other knowledge and experience that are deemed necessary for the role.

• Ability to communicate confidently and articulately, both verbally and in writing with a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to use initiative and work independently and multi-task in a dynamic environment.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office toolset, in particular a high proficiency in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Ability to plan and manage own workload and meet deadlines.
• Strong organisational and administrative skills.
• Proven ability to build effective relationships with stakeholders.

The experience that is desirable to effectively meet the requirements of the role:

Knowledge

• Knowledge of the health and social care environment in Ireland.
• Knowledge and understanding of the importance and use of health information, standards and the voice of people that use the services to inform service delivery, quality improvement, monitoring and planning.

Experience

• Experience of working on health information systems, developing evidence-based standards, guidance or surveys.
• Experience in design and development of learning materials and digital learning tools and dashboards.
• Experience in relation to stakeholder engagement: patient and public involvement, facilitation of groups, consultations.
• Experience in organising and facilitating a broad spectrum of engagement with stakeholders. For example, team meetings, advisory groups, focus groups, assisting with conferences and seminars.
• Experience interrogating large datasets using analytical tools e.g. Power BI, SPSS, NVivo.

Other

• Full and current driving licence and have access to your own transport

Principal Conditions of Service

Probation A probationary period of six months applies to this position.

Pay Candidates will be appointed on the minimum point of the salary scale (€40,374) and in accordance with the Department of Finance guidelines. The rate of remuneration will not be subject to negotiation.

The incremental progression for this scale is in line with Government pay policy. The salary scale for this position is as follows:

Engineer Grade III (PPC) €40,374 €42,921 €43,602 €47,001 €50,412 €53,886 €57,526 €59,823 €62,132 €64,461 €66,776 €69,097 €71,418 €73,732 €76,066 €78,644¹ €81,218²

Entry will be at the first point of the scale. An exception may occur where an appointee has been serving elsewhere in the public service in an analogous grade and pay-scale. In this case the appointment may be assimilated to the nearest point of the advertised salary scale with their incremental date adjusted accordingly.

Please note the rate of remuneration may be adjusted from time to time in line with Government pay policy.

Superannuation Pensionable public servants (new joiners) recruited on or after 1 January 2013 will be members of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme. Please note that the Single Public Service Pension Scheme applies to all pensionable first-time entrants to the public service, as well as to former public servants returning to the public service after a break of more than 26 weeks. In certain circumstances, for example, where the public servant was on secondment or approved leave or remains on the same contract of employment, the 26-week rule does not apply. The legislation giving effect to the Scheme is the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012.