Job overview
This role requires an enthusiastic, population health professional who is passionate about embedding prevention in an acute trust through strategic working, training & education of healthcare staff, & system change. The postholder will be a qualified Public Health Consultant who is expected to lead the development & implementation of the innovative Faculty of Population Health.
The Faculty is a strategic & educational programme that aims to empower staff & patients to have conversations to improve their health. Based on the evidence-based principles of Making Every Contact Count (MECC) the Faculty embeds prevention within clinical services to support culture change amongst all patient-facing staff.
The postholder will support the Trust to develop this cultural change programme & embed a preventative approach by co-developing the Faculty with staff groups across all health units, overseeing bespoke training delivered by an external training provider, establishing a sustainable group-wide training the trainer programme, co-developing a tiered training programme & overseeing both internal & external evaluation of the programme.
The postholder will be responsible for chairing a Data Working Group that supports the roll-out of data & digital intelligence to inform pathway redesign, service planning & workforce optimisation.
They will also be expected to contribute to other population health priorities - smoking cessation programmes, digital & data projects, & research.
Main duties of the job
The postholder will line manage the Population Health programme manager and also line manage the business support manager.
The personal qualities required are to be an excellent communicator with a strong focus on education and training in healthcare population health settings, a strategic thinker and influencer, with a track record of excellent partnership working, delivering and improving population health outcomes and to be a confident whole system leader.
The post holder will be expected:
- To provide population health leadership and strategic support to the Royal Free Group, with a particular focus on the Faculty of Population Health
- To develop and oversee the implementation of the workplan for the Faculty of Population Health
- To have oversight of the Tobacco Dependency Team and smoking cessation strategy
- To deputise for the RFL Director of Population Health
- To be an accredited Educational Supervisor for Public Health Registrars and provide project supervision to Fellows
- To develop and support a community of practice for prevention in the trust
- To monitor and implement the faculty evaluation framework and communication plan for the Faculty of Population Health, in collaboration with external partners.
- To develop productive partnerships and build networks with senior leaders across the Royal Free group, with other acute trusts, and wider partners to learn best practice and implement them at the RFL.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description for more information about this role and working at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
Person specification
Skills
Essential
- Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills and operational nous - Able to demonstrate and motivate organisations to contribute to improving the public’s health and wellbeing through mainstream activities and within resources -
- Ability to lead and manage the response successfully in unplanned and unforeseen circumstances
- Analytical skills able to utilize both qualitative (including health economics) and quantitative information
- Ability to design, develop, interpret and implement strategies and policies
Knowledge
Essential
- In-depth understanding of health and care system and relationships with both local & national government
- In depth knowledge of methods of developing clinical quality assurance, quality improvement, evaluations and evidence based public health practice
- Strong and demonstrable understanding of interfaces between health, social care and key partners (dealing with wider determinants of health)
- Understanding of the public sector duty and the inequality duty and their application to public health practice
Experience
Essential
- Delivery of successful change management programmes across organizational boundaries
- Experience of using complex information to explain public health issues to a range of audiences
Desirable
- Media experience demonstrating delivery of effective health behaviour or health promotion messages
Personal qualities
Essential
- Able to influence senior members including directors and CEOs
- Able to both lead teams and to able to contribute effectively to teams led by junior colleagues
Desirable
- Commitment to work within a political system irrespective of personal political affiliations
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- The National Health Service (Appointment of Consultants) Regulations 1996 (legislation.gov.uk) In line with legislation, inclusion in the GMC Full and Specialist Register with a license to practice/GDC Specialist List or inclusion in the UK Public Health Register (UKPHR) for Public Health Specialists at the point of application. - If included in the GMC Specialist Register/GDC Specialist List in a specialty other than public health medicine/dental public health, candidates must have equivalent training and/or appropriate experience of public health practice
- Any public health speciality registrar applicants who are currently on the UK public health training programme and not yet on either the GMC, GDC or UKPHR specialist register must provide verifiable signed documentary evidence that they are within 6 months of gaining entry to a register at the date of interview Applicants going through the portfolio registration routes (GMC or UKPHR) are not eligible to be shortlisted for interview until they are included on the register. The six-month rule does not apply to these portfolio route applicants. - If an applicant is UK trained in Public Health, they must ALSO be a holder of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) or be within six months of award of CCT by date of interview. If an applicant is non-UK trained, they will be required to show evidence of equivalence to the UK CCT [see shortlisting notes below)
- Applicants must meet minimum CPD requirements (i.e. be up to date) in accordance with Faculty of Public Health requirements or other recognised body - MFPH by examination, by exemption or by assessment, or equivalent - Masters in Public Health or equivalent
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Consultant in Population Health with Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in London, London, England. It is listed as a Consultant Public health professionals Public Health role. The advertised salary is £103,102 - £150,569 per annum (pro rata) inclusive of HCAS/ London weighting pro rata. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 03 Jul 2026.
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