Research Fellow / Data Manager

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices provides specialist care and support to families who have a baby, child or young person with a life-limiting condition, or who have been bereaved. Rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, we support families across Surrey, north-west London and south-west London from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional and medical care.

Our specialist care and support is free of charge to families and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It includes specialist nursing in the community, symptom management, overnight respite stays, end-of-life care, specialist bereavement care and a comprehensive range of therapies, groups and clinics for the whole family.

At the heart of what we do are our dedicated staff; their exceptional commitment and professionalism means every family has the opportunity to make every moment count.

It costs £10 million a year to run Shooting Star Children’s Hospices. Just 30% of our funding comes from the government, so we rely on our supporters’ generosity to keep the service running. We employ 175 members of staff, including 98 nursing and medical staff, and support around 700 families.

The Hospice Care Team

An exciting opportunity has arisen at the hospice for a research fellow to work with the specialist palliative care team and wider hospice teams at Shooting Star Children’s Hospices (SSCH). Research is at the core of the services that we offer, and the successful applicant will be required to work with the Research Governance group to continue to develop our research programme, strategy and with the clinical team’s service development and data management projects. This role is able to be offered as a hybrid working pattern with 3 days in the hospice and 2 days remote working.

Scope of the Role

• Be a professional role model and research champion for the organisation.
• Lead and coordinate research ensuring a research culture within the hospice.
• Take responsibility and accountability for research studies.
• Provide specialist advice to support and facilitate high quality research in collaboration with the research governance group and multi professional team.
• Facilitate the development of staff research knowledge and skills.
• Provide an innovative and progressive attitude to the continual improvement of Child/Young Person (CYP) care through research and evidence-based practice.
• Take responsibility for ensuring that any personal data used for research purposes is handled in line with the Data protection Act and its principles.
• Work to deliver the hospice wide research strategy.

Key Working relationships

• Director of Care
• Nurse Consultant
• Medical Director / Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine / Hospice GPs
• Head of Hospice Services
• Head of Family Support Team
• Practice Education and Quality Team
• Research Governance Group
• Trustees for Care
• Hospice care teams – organisation wide
• Safeguarding adults and children Team
• Multidisciplinary Teams
• Children, Young People, their Families
• Research colleagues from external settings

Main duties and responsibilities

Research:

• To be responsible for the day-to-day coordination and administration of research projects
• To participate in the design and preparation of research studies/trials, research ethic committee submissions, patient information sheets and other documentation ensuring that these are reviewed and updated as required.
• To carry out and assist in data collection (including qualitative interviewing techniques) for research projects with CYP and/or their families.
• To design and maintain databases (e.g., using MACRO) and to use specialist statistical packages as appropriate (e.g., SPSS) for the analysis of research data in liaison and consultation with the research group.
• To prepare reports and presentations for review meetings and progress of research projects.
• To comply with research study protocols, standard operational procedures and Hospice / Trust policies related to data security, confidentiality and health and safety.
• Be involved with the financial processes associated with coordinating research studies and grant applications.
• To present research findings in the form of published papers, reports, presentations, or summaries internally, nationally and internationally.
• Act as a resource to staff and contribute to their professional and educational development Act as expert resource for staff and researchers preparing submissions for regulatory approval.
• To support projects for the specialist service (3 days) and the wider hospice (2 days).
• To support the development and compliance of research governance infrastructure in the organisation.
• To ensure the hospice can be a collaborative partner in national research projects and engage meaningfully with the national paediatric palliative care research agenda.
• Report any poor research processes that compromise patient safety and study protocols.
• To ensure that all research is documented, and that all relevant documentation is completed accurately and within agreed timescales using Shooting Star Children’s Hospices approved documentation in line with NMC, CQC and Shooting Star Children’s Hospice standards.
• To lead and take decisions on requests from externals teams for Shooting Star to participate within their research in consultation with the Research Governance Group.

Service development:

• To participate in the parent involvement/research advisory group.
• To undertake presentations and teaching with multi-disciplinary staff to a variety of audiences as required and lead journal club.
• To assist in the design and implementation of service development projects as pertinent to the role, following policies
• To undertake project management, including audit and service evaluation, with colleagues within the care teams to help develop and improve services to patients’ and their families.
• To undertake evidence-based literature searches and reviews to assist the Care teams in implementing evidence-based practice.
• To be active in the research strategy, plan and lead stakeholder events.

Data management support for SPACE team:

• To collect, analyse and present data for SPACE team (specialist paediatric palliative care) which is based at SSCH.
• To use computer-based applications e.g. excel, PowerPoint for entry, analysis and presentation of data.
• To create quarterly reports of service data and present to relevant teams for service monitoring and development and to the SSCH clinical governance group

Other:

• To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies, and issues in relation to the role.
• Taking part in regular appraisal and maintaining an active engagement with current developments in the field of paediatric palliative care and related disciplines.
• To undertake relevant training on advanced communication skills and data collection methods as required.
• To plan and organise own workload, including research, group, and individual work.
• Contribute to monitoring of consent procedures.
• Participate in local, regional, and national forums and networks related to clinical research and the nurse’s role.
• Ensure that processes and procedures for ensuring participant confidentiality are developed and adhered to in line with the Data Protection Act
• Act as an ambassador for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices
• Participate in events or publications that promote SSCH and children’s hospice/palliative care.

Education:

• To foster an environment conducive to learning, enquiry, and research
• Act as a resource to staff, contributing to the professional and educational development their research knowledge and skills.
• Maintain own professional development and mandatory training.

Professional:

• To maintain confidentiality surrounding the child / young person and their family at all times
• To undertake further training and academic qualification as relevant to the role and service requirements

Person Specification
Candidates must be able to demonstrate Essential or Desirable Assessed by
Education/Qualifications
Educated to postgraduate MSc Essential Application form / Interview

Experience
Experience of working with children and young people Desirable Application form/interview/references
Experience of working and interacting with research participants Desirable Application form/interview/references
Up to date Good Clinical Practice training Desirable Application form / interview

Experience of carrying out research in the NHS Desirable Application form / interview

Experience of working in paediatric and/or palliative care research Desirable Application form / interview

Experience of disseminating research findings. Essential Application form / interview

Skills Abilities/knowledge
Excellent administrative and organisational skills with the ability to meet deadlines.
Essential
Interview / References

Excellent IT skills including excel and power point
Essential Application form/ interview/references

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills Essential Application form/ interview/references

Excellent time management and problem-solving skills Essential Application form/ interview/references

Ability to work with data sets Essential Application form/ interview/references

Ability to maintain adherence to written protocols and procedures Essential Application form/ interview/references

Write research protocols and submit grant applications Desirable
Evidence of teaching and presentation skills Essential Application form/ interview/references

Ability to manage projects and demonstrate leadership Essential Application form/ interview/references

Other Requirements
Flexibility to meet the needs of the service Essential
Interview

Able to work across hospital and community settings to meet the needs of the role. Essential Interview
Key: AF = Application Form I = Interview T = Test

OUR VALUES
As a voluntary organisation our ambition is to see highly professional services which place life-limited children and their families at the heart of everything we do.
Therefore capitalising on this opportunity and to achieve this ambition we require that all of our staff share our common values and display behaviours that will enable us to achieve our goal.
Our organisational values are –
Professionalism – we will safeguard our families, each other and our organisation by working to ethical and professional standards at all times.
Respect – We will treat each other with the utmost respect.
Integrity – We will be open, honest and transparent in all that we do.
Diversity – We will respect individuality and ensure inclusion and fairness to all.
Excellence – We will strive for excellence in all that we do.

s and behaviours

What we offer

Pension scheme
• NHS Pension Scheme (eligible employees)
• Stakeholder pension scheme
• Employee contribution 3.5%
• Shooting Star Children’s Hospices contribution 4.5%
• Additional contributions – we will pay 1% above the contribution up to a limit of 7%
Annual leave
• 27 days plus Bank Holidays rising with length of service
• 2 weeks paid sabbatical leave after 5, 10 and 15 years’ service
Contractual benefits
• Generous sick pay scheme
• Enhanced maternity, adoption, and paternity leave pay
• Flexible working arrangements
• Death in service benefits
• Reimbursed professional membership fees
• Employee referral scheme
• Blue Light discount card
Health and wellbeing
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Occupational Health
• Eye care
• Mindfulness sessions
• Cycle to work scheme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Nutritionally balanced meals at Christopher’s (free for employees)
• Parking on site (free for employees)
Equality, diversity and inclusion

Shooting Star Children’s Hospice is committed to inclusion and diversity in everything we do. We know that getting things right is critical for us to live our organisation’s values: Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence.
We are always trying to improve our way of working to be more inclusive and equal. Our vision is for Shooting Star Children’s Hospice to be a place where people of all backgrounds, groups and communities feel welcomed to work and volunteer.

For the full job description: https://www.shootingstar.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/04/Research-Fellow-Data-Manager-Job-description-April-2024.pdf

For more information please visit our website : https://www.shootingstar.org.uk/