Dear All,  

Please see the following job advertisement and job description for an Applied Statistician \ Epidemiologist to work at Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Registry.  Please do not reply to me, but to the personnel department for job descriptions and application forms, and Kath Chester for informal enquiries.  Please note the closing date is 26th August, with interviews on 3rd September.

Many thanks,

Iddy.


MERSEYSIDE & CHESHIRE CANCER REGISTRY

APPLIED STATISTICIAN / EPIDEMIOLOGIST

£28,000 - £33,000 p.a.


Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Registry (MCCR) provides information, intelligence and research for cancer control. MCCR seeks a committed, enthusiastic individual to provide statistical and analytical expertise. 

The successful candidate will have: a masters or doctorate level education; expertise in and experience of advanced data analysis including statistics, preferably in a health related area; and a desire to develop the analytical and intelligence function of the registry to the full. 

Informal enquiries please contact Kath Chester, Deputy Director, on 0151 794 5695.

Application form and job description are available from the Personnel Department, Prescot Street, Liverpool, L7 8XP or telephone 0151 706 3030/3893.

PLEASE QUOTE REFERENCE NUMBER  2294

Closing date: 26th August 2004   
Interviews on: 3rd September 2004



Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust

JOB DESCRIPTION 

Title of post:          APPLIED STATISTICIAN / EPIDEMIOLOGIST 

Department:             MERSEYSIDE AND CHESHIRE CANCER REGISTRY 

Salary:         £28,000 - £33,000 p.a.

Job summary:

Provide statistical and analytical expertise for the Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Registry (MCCR).

Background:

The key objectives of MCCR are to:

*       register, store and retrieve data on all cases of cancer occurring in Merseyside and Cheshire residents and Trusts;
*	
*       act as a source of information and advice about cancer to stakeholders including cancer Networks, Trusts, health professionals, researchers and members of the public;
*	
*       deliver cancer intelligence to stakeholders and;
*	
*       initiate an agreed programme of research into the causes, distribution, diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of cancer.

To achieve these objectives, data are derived from a variety of sources, including hospital case records, and entered onto a computer system, for subsequent retrieval.

The posts within MCCR are the Director, Deputy Director/Manager, Applied Statistician/ Epidemiologist (current vacancy), IT Manager, Secretary, Intelligence Officer, Quality Assurance Officer, IT Officer, 2 Deputy Managers, and 6 Cancer Registration Officers.  

Location on the University site, and close links with academic departments, mean that project work supervised by the MCCR Director is undertaken by a variety of students studying for Master's degrees, higher degrees such as PhDs and MDs, as well as professional examinations such as Membership of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine. As well as conducting in-house research and audit/quality assurance, MCCR contributes to the audit and research of others, collaboratively and/or through the provision of data, information, intelligence and expert advice.

MCCR is an active member of the United Kingdom Association of Cancer Registries (UKACR).

Located on University of Liverpool premises, the post of Applied Statistician/ Epidemiologist is a permanent NHS position. The contract is with the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.


Duties of the post:

1.      Information and Intelligence Service

                        Meet requests for information from cancer networks, clinicians and other stakeholders, e.g. Primary Care Trusts, researchers and others, including contributing to the assessment of health needs, monitoring the quality of care, and audit through appropriate data analysis and interpretation.

                        Initiate data analyses relevant to the business needs of MCCR, cancer networks, and other stakeholders as agreed with the MCCR Director.

                        Report information and intelligence to all stakeholders in an appropriate format, through the use of the cancer information system (CIS) and other analytical tools as appropriate.

                        Provide expert advice on the interpretation, statistical analysis and presentation of registry data.

2.      Data

                Contribute to the efficient and effective operation of the registry activity management system eg maintaining records appropriate to this area of work.

                Develop effective and efficient procedures for data analysis and provision in line with regulations on data protection, confidentiality and security.

                Process ad hoc enquiries for MCCR data.

                Provide the analytical input into quality assurance within MCCR.

                Provide data to agencies including: 
                        *       Office for National Statistics (ONS) - the National Cancer Registration Scheme;
                        *       International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - for Cancer Incidence in Five Continents and the pan-European Eurocare project;
                        *       Specialist tumour registries where appropriate - e.g. the National Registry of Childhood Tumours at the Childhood Cancer Research Group in Oxford.

                Provide data to assist in the management and monitoring of Screening Programmes.

                Make subsets of data available, where appropriate, to cancer networks, clinicians and other stakeholders as agreed with the MCCR Director.

                Regularly and routinely prepare, format and quality assure data to populate the CIS.

                Ensure that "reference" datasets, eg relating to mortality, population, and deprivation, remain contemporary and available for analytical use.

1.      Reports

                        Make a major contribution to data analysis, interpretation and narrative for MCCR's annual report 

                        Provide regular analyses and written reports on for example incidence, survival, treatment patterns and quality assurance, for multi-media distribution.

                        Produce ad hoc reports on topics of special interest e.g. targeted at specific groups, which may include the general public, to monitor the effects of cancer service reorganisation, and monitor progress towards national health strategy targets.

2.      Research

                        Provide statistical and analytical support to in-house and collaborative research as agreed with the Director.

                        Provide statistical and analytical support to researchers working in MCCR.

3.      Others

                Assist in the on-going development of MCCR computerised systems.

                Contribute to education for MCCR staff and others e.g. on issues arising from quality assurance, and on cancer related topics.

                Be an active member of appropriate local and national groups as agreed. 

                Other duties as may be required by the MCCR Director.


Key Working Relationships:

Accountable to the Director of MCCR and as required to the Deputy Director.

With the MCCR Manager on data processing issues including quality assurance.

With the MCCR IT Manager on issues relating to information technology, including system development, the storage and retrieval of data, quality assurance, CIS and website.

With the Intelligence Officer on analytical matters, and other members of the information team as appropriate. 

With providers and users of data on technical and other issues, as required by the Director.

The job description will be reviewed and may be subject to some variation.  Any substantial changes will be discussed with the postholder prior to implementation.