Quality and Patient Safety Lead

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced senior nurse to work closely as part of the Senior Leadership Team within the Surgical Division leading the patient safety and clinical governance agenda within the Division.

You will be responsible for the coordination of clinical governance procedures and frameworks, identifying areas for service improvement as part of continuous improvement and learning. You will line manage the Surgical Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Team in the further development of robust systems and processes supporting the quality of services which underpin safer clinical practice.

If you are passionate about patient safety and risk and if this sounds like you, we would very much welcome an informal discussion with you so that I can talk through the role in more detail and answer any questions you may have.

Interviews will take place at the end of March/beginning of April.

Main duties of the job

Your responsibilities will be varied and would include:

1. Working in conjunction with the Divisional, Specialty and Clinical Leads to make recommendations for quality improvement projects based on learning from incidents, complaints, and claims
2. Using clinical expertise to make assessments of the severity of incidents, requesting additional information as required, and provide patient safety advice to clinicians and managers
3. Ensuring patients/families are inclusive of any investigation/complaint and are kept up to date with progress/outcomes, including Duty of Candour completion
4. Liaising with the Legal Service Team in the preparation of staff for inquests or Court witness services
5. Being responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of the risk management strategy and other relevant clinical risk management initiatives and to ensure that risk is embedded in everyday service delivery
6. In conjunction with the speciality triumvirate, taking responsibility for oversight of all complaints, ensuring that complainants have a positive experience of making a complaint and that every effort is made to resolve the complaint satisfactorily
7. Providing professional leadership and line management to the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Team (QIPS)
8. Managing pay and non-pay budgets ensuring that financial resources are effectively/appropriately allocated

Working for our organisation

At the RUH we put people at the heart of what we do, working together as one team to make a difference for our patients, each other, and our community. No matter what your role is, we value everyone’s contribution in supporting the exceptional, person-centred care we pride ourselves on.

We are proud to be in the top 20 best hospitals to work for in the country.

We are committed to creating a compassionate and inclusive environment. This can be seen in our growing community of staff networks – celebrating successes and creating opportunities to listen and learn. We value our differences, champion kindness and civility, and truly believe that diversity makes us stronger.

A culture of learning, developing and innovating is the thread that runs throughout our whole organisation. We want to support you to thrive, taking your career to its full potential.

We value staff wellbeing, with a well-established programme of support. We believe in a holistic approach spanning all aspects of living a healthy life, including physical, emotional, spiritual and financial wellbeing. We’ve even got a pool!

We are committed to supporting you and hope you want to join our team. In the meantime, find out more about living and working the beautiful historic city of Bath, learn about our extensive package of staff benefits, and read about how we’re providing healthcare fit for the future with the landmark Dyson Cancer Centre and our passion for research.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please find attached to the vacancy a detailed person specification and job description for further information about this role.

Person specification

Knowledge & Experience

• Senior experience in Patient Safety, Risk Management and Clinical Governance
• Ability to conduct effective safety investigations that meet patient safety incident response standards set out in the national Patient Safety Incident Response Framework for England

Specific skills

• Well-developed analytical skills with the ability to present complex data appropriately to different audiences
• Ability to utilise and implement clinical governance strategies to improve patient care

Emotional Effort

• Ability to remain impartial and non-judgemental during situations of sensitivity, stress and conflict
• Frequent requirement to sensitively manage emotional and challenging circumstances regarding patient safety incidents and support clinicians, patients and their families.