Page last updated: 29-NOV-2006

Careers

Staff Profiles

Click on any of the links below to learn about the variety of jobs at ISD, and a little more about the people who work here.

Data Quality Assurance Manager

Margaret Mason joined ISD in May 2003 having worked as Health Records Manager with Fife Primary Care for nine years. Prior to that she was the Medical Records Officer at King's Cross Hospital in Dundee for five years. Whilst in Tayside Margaret studied and passed her Institute of Health Record and Information Management (IHRIM) Certificate and Diploma.

"Since starting in ISD I've come to appreciate the real importance of good quality information. My experience of working in hospitals is that you get so involved in the day to day business you sometimes forget that the data you provide nationally is used at a high level by, for example, the Scottish Executive. As part of the feedback process from our quality assurance work we try to get this message across to the hospital coding staff in the hope that it gives them the same satisfaction as it gives us.

"The role of data quality assurance is moving away from the old traditional style of QA where SMR01 was the main focus of work. We have been getting more involved in the programme work in ISD which is both interesting and challenging. It also gives us the opportunity to meet lots of different people out in the service."

Clinical Coding Tutor

Liz Williamson joined ISD in January 1995. She has an HND in Business Studies, an IHRIM (Institute of Health Records and Information Management) Certificate & Diploma and has passed the National Clinical Coding Qualification to become an Accredited Clinical Coder.

"There isn't a typical day in this job, I could be training, running a workshop, assisting in a quality assurance exercise or responding to any number of queries about clinical coding.

The best things about my job are getting out and meeting people. I really enjoy the training element and get a real sense of satisfaction when I'm able to solve a problem for someone.

In future I'm sure my role will diversify but the core of the job, to provide a consistent high quality training service, will remain the same".

Principal Pharmacist

Richard Clark joined ISD in April 1998. He has a BSc and is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the College of Pharmaceutical Practitioners and has recently completed an MSc in Public Health Sciences, with support from ISD.

"I have worked as a sub-editor of a pharmaceutical journal and as a community and hospital pharmacist, but over the past 10-15 years I have been involved with providing information about medicines to the NHS. Currently my main involvement is with the body that advises the NHS on the introduction of new medicines. Our job is to take a critical look at the evidence for the benefits and possible disadvantages of the new therapy. This is a fairly new initiative, and it was exciting to work with something in its formative stages. I've also been involved in research involving prescribing statistics, which is possible because ISD collects information on all GP prescriptions dispensed in Scotland. The research involves interpretation of prescribing trends in the light of other data from ISD and other bodies.

"Joining ISD was a natural progression of what I was doing. Here, however, I am able to see things from a national perspective and make use of the wide range of data sources available. I like the fact that I am part of the NHS. Looking to the future, I think the services which ISD provide will broaden".

Systems Support Manager

Karen Smith Joined ISD in January 1998. She has an IHRIM (Institute of Health Records and Information Management) Certificate.

"Before joining ISD I worked in a Medical Records Department where everything I was involved in eventually ended up at ISD.I wanted to find out what happened to that information so when the chance of a job in ISD came up I jumped at it.

"There are good career opportunities within ISD, plus good training is offered, as are the chances to participate in secondments to other parts of the NHS or within ISD.

"I see myself staying with ISD but with a changing role, which will allow me to learn new skills and broaden my experience".

Data Monitoring Analyst

Helen Hoskin joined ISD's predecessor in 1971.

"I've been with ISD since it was created in 1974 so I'm pretty much part of the bricks & mortar. There isn't a typical day in my job, there's a huge variety of work. Since I started there have been phenomenal changes within the NHS, and plenty of opportunities to move around the division which is one of the main reasons why I have stayed so long.

"I am currently involved in monitoring the quality of the data in the Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR) data schemes, which are received by ISD, checking that the validation (quality assurance) rules are being correctly applied by suppliers of Patient Administration Systems/Hospital Information Systems and providing advice on how any problems can be rectified.

"I also spend time helping colleagues with the interpretation and checking of historical SMR data sets. We are currently looking at neonatal data (SMR11) from 1975-1979 and have recently finished checking maternity data (SMR2) from 1975-1996. This work proves quite challenging as it relies in part on my ever-fading memory!

"I still see plenty of work heading my way and I haven't stopped looking out for opportunities which may present themselves."

Senior Statistician

Jillian Campbell joined ISD in in 1996 with a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science

"I started working life as a systems engineer and mathematical modeller for GEC Marconi (now BAe). I then decided that engineering wasn't the direction that I wanted my career to follow, so I then decided to try the NHS, namely ISD, and have been here ever since.

"In 1999, I started work as a statistician in the Acute Group (or Workforce And Comparative Information Unit as it was known then), working on the Clinical Outcome Indicator Report which looked at survival after Hip Fracture, Acute Myocardial Infarction and Stroke, using the Scottish Morbidity Record Inpatient and Daycase (SMR01) linked database. When the four Scottish national audit projects (Hip Fracture, Surgical Mortality, Trauma and Renal) were integrated into ISD, my role diversified into providing the audits with statistical support, particularly in giving assistance when compiling their annual reports. Then in February 2001, I changed role to work on Clinical Governance. This involved working to provide a package of information for Acute Trusts which would meet the needs of their clinical governance agenda. In April 2002, I began work as a senior statistician within the Cancer Group in ISD, in the Cancer Surveillance team. My role within the cancer group is to work on projects and publications. Initially I worked on research projects, using the SMR01 linked database and information from the Cancer Registry system SOCRATES. Now I am developing skills in Geographical Analyses using a Geographical Information System (GIS), to map various health profiles from simple static maps showing MMR uptake to more detailed travel-time analyses for the Scottish Executive's planning work.

"I am looking forward to continuing the GIS work within the Cancer Group, ISD's new Public Health Programme and NHSScotland."

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Main contact: Email Damian Sefton