Head of Quality Governance and Risk

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Responsibilities

• Act as the formal deputy to the Associate Director of Quality Governance, including representation at senior meetings, committees, and external forums.
• Provide leadership in the absence of the Associate Director, ensuring continuity across quality governance functions.
• Contribute to Board-level and executive reports related to risk, patient safety, complaints, legal, health & safety and regulatory compliance.

Governance and Assurance

• Support the production, publication and delivery of the Trust's Quality Improvement Strategy and Governance Framework, working closely with divisional and corporate teams.
• Oversee the administration and review of the Trust's risk registers, ensuring alignment with the Board Assurance Framework and risk management strategy.
• Coordinate the production of external assurance submissions, CQC evidence preparation, and regulatory reporting.
• Contribute to governance training and development across the Trust.
• Embed improvement methodologies into governance processes.
• Drive the learning culture by supporting knowledge transfer from internal and external reviews, inquiries and national guidance.

JD & Person Specification Head of Quality Governance & Risk; March 2025

Risk Management

• Lead the implementation and monitoring of the Trust's Risk Management Strategy aims and objectives.
• Promote the integration of risk management into operational and clinical processes.
• Lead a culture that supports staff to identify, assess, and manage clinical and non-clinical risks.
• Ensure robust escalation processes are in place.

Patient Safety and Incident Response

• Oversee incident reporting systems and ensure investigations are undertaken in line with the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework.
• Monitor trends, themes, and learning from patient safety incidents, complaints, claims, and inquests.
• Work collaboratively with the Patient Safety Team to ensure that learning from incidents is embedded across the Trust.

Duty of Candour

• Champion the Duty of Candour, ensuring staff are trained and supported to deliver open and honest communication with patients and families following harm events.

Health and Safety and Legal Assurance

• Work in collaboration with the Head of Health and Safety and Legal Services to provide assurance on compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act and NHS Resolution processes.
• Provide input to claims management, coronial processes, and learning from inquests.

Leadership and Team Management

• Provide leadership to teams responsible for patient safety, risk management, complaints & PALS, health and safety, claims and quality improvement & clinical audit
• Ensure staff have access to appropriate training, support, and development opportunities.
• Foster and role model a culture of collaboration, professionalism, and continuous improvement.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Promote patient and public involvement in governance and service improvement initiatives.
• Foster close working relationships with divisional leadership teams to align divisional governance arrangements with governance arrangements ensuring accountability and oversight

Finance

• Ensure value for money and best use of resources when planning and initiating.
• Quality improvement activities in dispensing allocated budgets.
• Responsible for management of managed employees and directorate budget.
• monitoring the budget position within the department to ensure spending is reasonable, of the best value and accurately recorded.
• Seek out opportunities for value improvement / efficiencies within budgets.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Educated to Masters level (in a relevant discipline) or equivalent level, or equivalent experience of working at a senior level
• Quality improvement qualification or equivalent previous experience

Desirable criteria

• Post-graduate governance qualification or previous experience
• Post-graduate management, leadership qualification or previous experience

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working in a patient safety-related role with an understanding of the principles that underpin approaches to improving patient safety in health systems
• Experience and knowledge of the components of clinical governance, incident response, risk management and assurance function; current NHS national policies, standards, requirements and directions that relate to measuring and improving the quality and safety of patient care
• Experience of working in a strategic leadership role supporting Board Executives (includes voluntary experience)
• Experience of implementing national guidelines and the ability to interpret national advice, guidance and requirements to advise the organisation on how these should be implemented
• Experience of developing & delivering training programmes
• Experience of working collaboratively with patients/service/stakeholders to improve quality of service by co-design
• Evidence of post qualifying and continuing professional development
• Experience in providing advice on complex professional and other people issues

Desirable criteria

• Experience of managing and prioritising a budget with solid working knowledge of financial processes and budget setting
• Experience in project/change management in a healthcare environment and driving improvement for the safety of patients which can include techniques and tools such as Agile, Prince 2 or Managing Successful Projects

Skills

Essential criteria

• Ability to interpret complex information (including patient safety incident data, administrative data, mortality data) that may conflict and where expert opinion may differ
• Ability to communicate effectively with clinical, academic and all levels of staff
• Ability to provide senior leadership and work with senior leaders
• Ability to develop and communicate a vision, and convert that into plans, objectives and deliverables working to tight and often changing deadlines
• Ability to develop and maintain collaborative relationships and deal confidently with staff at all levels of an organisation
• Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues
• Ability to manage time effectively and to prioritise
• Ability to use established networks and create new ones to share good practice and facilitate engagement with regional colleagues and the national patient safety team
• Ability to use informed persuasion to influence others
• Able to negotiate and influence at an organisational level and externally with a range of stakeholders
• Demonstrates sound judgement in the absence of clear guidelines or precedent, seeking advice as necessary from more senior management when appropriate
• High quality presentation skills and ability to provide and effectively communicate highly complex, sensitive and contentious information
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office with intermediate keyboard skills
• High level analytical skills and the ability to draw qualitative and quantitative data from a wide range of sources draw appropriate conclusions and present in a clear concise manner

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of systems thinking, human factors understanding and just culture principle
• Knowledge and understanding of the Equalities Act 2010, including the importance of collecting and analysing data on key protected characteristics
• Knowledge and understanding of the factors that contribute to healthcare inequalities and access to services
• Knowledge and experience of developments in quality improvement science
• Knowledge of the NHS patient safety strategy and how it can be implemented
• Knowledge of safeguarding and the legal duties expected

Values

Essential criteria

• Ability to demonstrate the organisational values and behaviours

Other

Essential criteria

• Enables change, viewing it as an opportunity to learn and develop
• Kind and compassionate
• Courage to speak truthfully and challenge appropriately
• Demonstrably involves patients and the public in their work
• Actively develops themselves and supports others to do the same.

The closing date for this post may be extended if there are insufficient applicants or brought forward if there is a high volume of applicants.

Sponsorship Information

We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the

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