A data scientist is required to assist with the day-to-day work within a data science team at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The work of the team is varied and includes statistical analysis, data engineering, and producing reports and dashboards that help clinical and managerial staff understand their data.
The team also carries out work that is funded by national bodies and the post holder will be required to assist in the management of data to support these projects. The team has a strong belief in the power of open source to accelerate learning in the NHS and the team and post holder will be able to open source some of their code as well as contributing to relevant open source projects.
The role is based within the organisationâs Population Health Unit and involves assisting with the day-to-day work within this team. The work of the team is varied and includes statistical analysis and producing reports and dashboards that help staff understand their data. The team has a strong belief in the power of open source to accelerate learning in the NHS and the post holder will be able to open source some of their code as well as contributing to relevant open-source projects. The role also supports the wider function of the Trust in public health specialist training and its population health management responsibilities across its Integrated Care Board (ICB) footprint.
Main duties of the role include, but are not limited to:
* Produce analyses of data using appropriate statistical techniques, including public health and epidemiological focused analyses.
* Provide high quality support for analysis and intelligence interpretation. Offering clear explanations in relation to the complex statistical methodologies used. To understand and interpret results of analyses to suggest what conclusions can be drawn.
* Deploy R Shiny & Rmarkdown reports and dashboards in the Posit Connect environment to assist with ongoing project work within the department.
* Helping team members and the wider Trust and partner organisations to develop skills and understanding in the development, deployment, use, and interpretation of data.
* Writing and conducting unit tests for code as well as testing and fixing bugs.
* Communicate effectively to non-technical internal/external contacts in both written and verbal form.
* Analysing and suggesting ways to improve the work of the department with respect to data engineering, reporting, or productionisation of analytic work, including the use of public health and epidemiological based methods.
* Develop, maintain and utilise a range of NHS datasets working closely with other analytic teams and data scientists.
#TeamNottsHC comprises over 11,000 dedicated colleagues who #MakeADifference every day. We deliver intellectual disability, mental health, community health, forensic, and offender healthcare services across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and South Yorkshire. Our care is provided from over 200 sites, spanning community locations, acute settings, and secure environments, including prisons.
We are one of the largest mental health and community Trusts in the East Midlands and one of Nottinghamshire's biggest employers. We also host national and regional services, such as the National High Secure Deaf Service and the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health.
We offer a variety of employee-led staff networks, including Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) groups, the Green Champions network, the Freedom to Speak Up network, the Health and Wellbeing Champions network, and the Menopause Champions network. These networks play a vital role in supporting our diverse workforce and promoting a culture of inclusivity.
The health and wellbeing of our colleagues is a top priority. We invest significantly in this through our in-house occupational health and staff counselling services, supported by a dedicated Health and Wellbeing team.
The Trust is committed to reducing its carbon emissions, with a specialised Energy and Environmental team working to ensure compliance with environmental legislation, enhance our environmental performance, and achieve our net-zero commitment
Further to the duties outlined above, this position includes the following responsibilities:
Analytical skills and knowledge:
* Writing and maintaining code, especially SQL and R/Python, for data analysis.
* Understand and advise on data quality issues and appropriate data validation techniques.
* Develop, maintain, and collaborate on a complex code-base using relevant programming languages and tools, such as Git.
* Design & contribute to scripts or programmes being developed to automate the creation of analysis and reports.
* Summarise & present complex analyses to varied audiences.
* Advanced quantitative analysis skills, statistics and/or machine learning.
* Identify and fix bugs in code.
* Critique and improve existing processes.
* Develop teams ways of working with Git and GitHub.
Communication:
* Managing issues arising from within the Trust and dealing with explaining complex ideas, occasionally of a sensitive/conflicting nature
* Liaise and negotiate with internal and external customers to meet information requirements in an efficient and cost-effective way
* Use tact, diplomacy and clarity of communication to aid in the dissemination of complex information to internal and external customers at all levels
* Use appropriate influencing skills when providing advice and support for internal and external customers in the use and interpretation of data, particularly where such data conflicts or does not support initial assumptions or expectations
* Use statistical and modelling techniques appropriate to the audience to present information and concisely communicate findings
* Present, interpret and explain complicated statistical and analytical theories/models to large groups at meetings and presentations
* Demonstrate developed tools and interactive models to future users
* Communicate effectively with staff across the organisation, especially with those in the clinical development unit, performance, and the data warehouse team, as well as data scientists nationally
* Ability to write documentation and deliver training
* Represent the Trustâs core values in all communication
Service development:
* Keep up to date with best practices in the technical field in order to enable the department to improve the way in which it implements systems, leading to quicker development, easier maintainability and higher quality. Spreading the results of these investigations throughout the department.
* Actively undertaking R&D activities into specialised technical areas as directed by the senior data scientist. Mentoring other staff in the results of these investigations.
* Contributing to recommendations as to the future technical direction of the department as a result of the R&D activities. Influencing key decision makers on these technical matters.
* The post holder will be required to use appropriate software of choice to develop or create reporting mechanisms and must ensure that records are documented, secured, stored and disposed of appropriately and in accordance with the organisationâs policies.
* The post holder will be expected to adhere to Information Governance procedures and any partnership agreements and to raise any issues appropriately.
Planning and organisation:
* Work in an autonomous way, planning and organising tasks effectively for own work and occasionally others, including making short term adjustments to plans in response to changing workloads and priorities.
* Manage workload and competing demands effectively and to prioritise tasks and areas of work, including prioritising and handling urgent requests and assisting other members of the team.
* Take responsibility for own workload and tasks as agreed with the Senior Data Scientist.
* Self-motivated and ability to work effectively autonomously, providing progress reports, reprioritising competing demands and completing work within timelines agreed between stakeholders and the team.