INFORMATION SPECIALIST PAS/NHS/CLINICAL

Information Specialists generally work as a member of clients and client project teams to support a range of activities across Design, Development and Testing, Business Process analysis and change, Training and Support activities enabling successful implementation of the products/solutions in line with the client's business needs.

Information Specialists may have specialised skills in particular areas, but would also be expected to display a broad understanding of issues surrounding the capture, dissemination and analysis of healthcare data as defined in the NHS Data Dictionary.

There is a wide range of competences within the role hence the list below is indicative not exhaustive.

Principal Responsibilities
¦ Assume responsibility on projects as a Subject Matter Expert in the field of NHS Information and associated reporting
¦ Carry out impact analyses against changing reporting requirements - including those mandated by DSCNs - and advise on changes required to ensure compliance
¦ Work with clients to determine information requirements and to validate requirements against statutory obligations
¦ Support and advise teams in other areas of a project, e.g. Data Migration, Configuration, of impacts to reporting across work areas and design workaround solutions
¦ Perform gap analysis work to assess suitability of reporting solutions and identify areas of deficiency
¦ Develop reporting designs to meet client requirements and validate reports built from designs
¦ Develop routines to process and present NHS data into appropriate structures to enable rapid development of NHS reports using local reporting tools
¦ Document scenarios to drive report testing cycles
¦ Design detailed test data to drive report testing cycles









Person Specification: Information Specialist

Qualifications and Knowledge
¦ Fully conversant with health care informatics
¦ Familiar with the NHS Data Dictionary and its application to report design and DSCN impact assessment
¦ Knowledge of the production of statutory returns, CDS and other national datasets
¦ Solid knowledge of hospital PAS and Clinical data, with experience of a variety of systems desirable (particularly iSoft iPM and Cerner Millennium)
¦ Knowledge and experience of software development (e.g. VB/VBA, .NET) would be an advantage
¦ Must also have knowledge of MS Access and MS Excel for data analysis.

Experience
¦ Experience of dealing with end users and technical support teams desirable.
¦ Extensive working experience gained within a hospital information department

Skills and Abilities
¦ Strong consultancy and client facing skills
¦ Ability to work within project constraints to ensure that milestones and delivery dates are met
¦ Able to plan and implement scenarios to test reporting systems against statutory and operational requirements
¦ Skilled in the development and design of reports and reporting systems for end users, using reporting software such as SQL 2005, Business Objects, Crystal Reports, Cognos
¦ Database skills (SQL Server preferred) to include:
¦ Developing data retrieval routines using SQL queries
¦ Creating and amending SQL views, functions and procedures.
¦ Developing and refining data extract, transformation and load routines
¦ Additional skills in any of the following areas, whilst not essential, would be desirable:
¦ Data Migration
¦ Interfacing/messaging
¦ Systems implementation
¦ Change/project management


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