Advanced Public Health Practitioner - Smoking Cessation Service

The government has announced new funding to support current smokers to quit smoking, with £70 million additional funding per year for local authority-led stop smoking services (SSS) and support.

West Sussex County Council Public Health (WSCC PH) will be receiving approximately £1.075 million for 2024/25, ring-fenced for smoking cessation. Although the exact amount for each subsequent year is yet to be determined, this funding will continue until 2028/29.

We are seeking an Advanced Public Health Practitioner to establish and lead a highly skilled, and passionate team delivering a new Stop Smoking Service, operating across West Sussex, to support local residents to quit smoking.

The Opportunity

Salary: £45,441 to £48,474 per annum.

Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week.

Location: Northleigh, County Hall, Chichester and hybrid working from home

Interviews: 02 and 03 May 2024

As an Advanced Public Health Practitioner for the Smoking Cessation Service, you will be the lead specialist for smoking cessation service delivery.

Primary responsibilities will include:

• Establishing and overseeing an evidence-based in-house smoking cessation service, taking the lead on planning, developing and monitoring, and all aspects of staff recruitment, training and management.

Other responsibilities may include:

• promoting the involvement of the public in the development and evaluation of your public health improvement activities
• evaluating the effectiveness of your activities by undertaking detailed public health audits and public surveys, and analysing the results
• using evidence to provide highly specialised advice to organisations and communities
• planning, developing and monitoring specialist services (such as smoking cessation, workplace health, obesity)
• communicating important public health messages and marketing their service to relevant groups and communities
• working closely with other agencies to achieve their aims
• monitoring and evaluating the impact and outcomes of health improvement programmes and initiatives

What are we looking for?

You will be expected to manage a budget, and be involved in all aspects of staff recruitment and management.

You are required to have highly developed specialist knowledge of public health, acquired through a relevant degree plus a Master's qualification or equivalent training or experience.

Knowledge and experience of setting up and managing smoking cessation services is desirable.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

Working for us

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this we want to help support your development and provide an great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential,

have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further information

The reference number for this role is CAFHE05100.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Holly Yandall (Public Health Lead for Tobacco Control) at . For issues or queries regarding your application please contact .

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We would also like you to consider the following questions within your covering letter:

1. Describe your experience of managing a team and/or service.
2. What do you feel are the main challenges around smoking cessation in West Sussex?
3. Describe your experience of delivering evidence based smoking cessation/behaviour change services .

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.