THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

 

NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

STRATEGY DIVISION

 

Job Title:                                Research Associate/Fellows (Two posts)

 

Contract Status:                   These full-time posts will be offered on a fixed-term contract until 

                                                31 March 2012.

 

Salary:                                   £24,273 - £32,620 depending on qualifications and experience.

 

Location:                                Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham

 

Responsible to:                      Professor Ruth McDonald

 

Background

CQUIN (the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation payment framework) is a nationally mandated but locally adaptable framework to embed the overall vision of High Quality Care for All into commissioning and contracting in the NHS. CQUIN will link a modest proportion of providers’ income to quality goals, with local discretion to negotiate the goals to be achieved, the time over which they will be achieved, and the nature of the link between performance and reward. It is important to evaluate the impact of CQUIN, yet research suggests it is overly optimistic to expect rapid impacts on measurable quality improvement from such schemes. Any evaluation in the early stages will involve identifying other ways of assessing impacts, which will in part involve proxies or indicators of likely future impacts. The research will evaluate CQUIN, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Specifically the research aims to provide:

 

1.    a national CQUIN picture containing structured qualitative and quantitative information regarding the content, goals, processes of agreement and changes in these over time to permit systematic long run assessment and monitoring of CQUIN schemes in England.

 

2.    recommendations on further data to collect to maintain the national dataset and enable evaluation of the full impact of the CQUIN payment framework.

 

3.    a multi-method evaluation  of the impact of CQUIN on behavioural change, processes and relationships and observed and hypothesised impacts (desired and otherwise) on quality and the wider NHS.

 

The Purpose of the New Roles:

The key role of the successful candidates will be to undertake longitudinal, qualitative fieldwork, encompassing interviews and observation in NHS Trusts, which provide care to patients, Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities in England. The post holders will be employed by the University of Nottingham, but the fieldwork will involve travel to case study sites across England. The focus is on behaviour change in complex organisations, so that although experience of the NHS is desirable, candidates who lack this, but are experienced in studying complex organisations are encouraged to apply. The post holders will be part of a wider team of researchers from Nottingham, Manchester, York and Dundee.

 

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

·         Arranging and undertaking qualitative interviews and observational data collection (of meetings and working practices).

 

·       Analysing qualitative data from interviews, observation and documents.

 

·       Ensuring that project milestones and deadlines are achieved.

 

·       Contributing to reports, papers and articles for publication arising from the research and             assisting  other researcher team members in the preparation of research outputs for      publication.

 

·       Disseminating research at NHS meetings and conferences.

 

·       Other duties appropriate to the skills and expertise of the researcher and the needs of the         project.

 

 

 

Person Specification:

	Essential	Desirable
Qualifications/ Education	A relevant PhD (awarded or submitted) or have the equivalent in academic/professional qualifications and experience.	Some academic or healthcare industry research experience.
Skills/ Knowledge	Knowledge and understanding of change management issues in complex organisations.   Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).   Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills.	The ability to gather and manage qualitative data and carry out analysis using research software such as N-Vivo or Atlas.   The ability to manage research to deadlines.   The potential to publish in good quality academic journals in relevant fields.   Knowledge and understanding of healthcare.
Experience	Experience of independent research activity in relevant areas (with health professionals and/or managers or in complex organisations).   Experience of gathering and analysing primary and secondary qualitative data.   Experience of conference publication or report writing in relevant areas.	Experience of managing research projects.     Experience of an NHS or other non-academic environment.
Personal Attributes	Ability to work well with NHS stakeholders.   A self-starter you will have the ability to work independently and as part of a team.   Highly organised, able to undertake and arrange fieldwork in a large number of organisations, working to deadlines and prioritising tasks.   Flexible and willing and able to travel to sites across the whole of England and spend up to a week at a time there.

 

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor R McDonald,  tel: 0115 823 0588 or  Email: [log in to unmask]. Please note that applications sent directly to this Email address will not be accepted.

 

Please quote ref. LSS/222.

 

 

Ruth McDonald

Professor of Healthcare Innovation and Learning

B Floor

Sir Colin Campbell Building

University of Nottingham Innovation Park

Triumph Road

Nottingham NG7 2TU

Tel: +44(0)115 823 0588

Fax: +44(0)115 823 1289