Director of Nursing & Quality

Job responsibilities

Main Duties & Responsibilities

To ensure the delivery of excellent professional standards of care and compliance within regulatory frameworks (e.g. CQC, NMC, HPC, BACP) within the organisation, and to act personally and professionally within the NMC Code of Professional Practice.

Professional Leadership

• Leadership of staff and volunteers across the Directorate services (see above), ensuring the highest professional standards that provide excellent outcomes for beneficiaries.
• To ensure all staff and volunteers are supported, developed and led via regular performance review and personal development planning.
• To ensure appropriate and safe staffing levels in all areas of care.
• To work collaboratively with colleagues from partner organisations to deliver Specialist Palliative Care.
• To lead the development and implementation of quality and improvement strategies within the organisation, ensuring coherence with national strategies.
• To provide leadership to and facilitate the development of, research and its application to practice across all non-medical professions.
• Embed a continuous learning ethos whereby errors/near misses and successes inform improvements. Ensure appropriate reporting, monitoring and escalation systems are in place.
• Ensure a process is in place to support revalidation of all clinically registered staff.
• Develop and maintain relationships with higher education, other relevant educational institutions to ensure appropriate education and development for nursing and allied health professionals.
• To develop and review workforce plans consistent with national standards and recommendations for safe and effective staffing levels.
• Lead the pre and post-registration education response to the commissioning of all Non-Medical Healthcare professions.
• Lead the charitys approach to end-of-life care and where possible align with the local system to ensure the ambitions for end-of-life care are delivered.
• Provide overall management of appropriate budgets, encouraging staff to be involved in budgetary decisions.
• Create an environment where collaborative working and partnerships are valued in the organisation and the local system.
• Work with the Senior Management Team and others to involve a wider stakeholders group and the public in organisational planning and developments. Map current provision, identify gaps and duplication and reference to evidence-based models of care.
• To ensure all interactions with any stakeholders are completed to a high standard within required timeframes and reporting effectively on all activity when required.
• To lead the delivery of the patient safety across the organisation thus ensuring delivery and accountability in services.
• Jointly with the Chief Executive, Clinical Development Director to develop and ensure delivery of the Organisational Clinical Strategies and Quality Account.
• Lead Infection Prevention and Control.

Executive Responsibilities

• To work with the Trustees and Senior Management Team in delivering corporate objectives.
• To contribute to the development of the business planning process of the organisation by being aware of and advising on clinical opportunities to deliver new models of care.
• To ensure compliance with the legislative requirements of the statutory authorities and regulatory bodies in relation to the provision of all care.
• To represent the hospice at regional and national levels on professional nursing and corporate issues, developing partnerships, sharing best practice and integrating this knowledge within the organisation.
• Deputise for the Chief Executive and represent Teesside Hospice where appropriate.

Safeguarding Children, Young People and Adults

• To ensure that services to vulnerable adults, children and families are safe and accessible.
• To ensure compliance with National and Local Safeguarding policies and Health Acts.
• To have in place clear priorities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
• To ensure that all employees are trained on safeguarding to level appropriate to their role.
• To ensure all employees understand that they have a duty for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
• To make a clear commitment to safeguarding and ensure all members of staff clearly understand their responsibilities for safeguarding.
• To have clear lines of accountability for work on safeguarding.
• Working closely with the Director of People, to ensure the Hospice does not employ people who are not safe to have contact with children and vulnerable adults and families, and to this end have effective recruitment and human resources procedures in place.
• To maintain and develop good inter-agency and multi-disciplinary working, including arrangements for sharing information.
• To identify staff who have expertise to give safeguarding advice to colleagues.
• To handle allegations about members of staff effectively and maintain a culture that enables safeguarding issues to be addressed.
• To follow the guidance provided in Working Together, and the detailed and local guidance provided by Teesside Safeguarding Adult Board and Tees Safeguarding Children Partnership Procedures.
• To monitor safeguarding referrals and ensure that appropriate and timely notifications are made in accordance with legislation.

Clinical Governance

• Support the Chief Executive and working closely with the medical team, discharge the organisations Clinical Governance responsibilities.
• Lead by example ensuring compliance to the Code of Conduct and maintaining visibility and accessibility across the organisation.
• To lead the processes for achieving, maintaining and monitoring compliance with external and internal standards for quality and safety such as the Care Quality Commission fundamental standards of quality and safety.
• To support the Duty of Candour to be applied across the organisation.

Patient Experience and Patient and Public Involvement

The Director of Nursing and Quality will actively ensure that the voice and needs of patients and carers are at the heart of all service improvement activity in the organisation.

• To improve the quality of the patients experience by involving, and learning from, patients and the wider public via continuous acquisition and monitoring of patient experience, involvement and feedback.
• To lead on the effective management of patient complaints and ensure that public and patients perceptions are used to improve services.
• Ensure the Clinical Directorate has an effective plan for customer feedback and uses patient survey/public experience data in its performance management arrangements.

Health and Safety Responsibilities

Teesside Hospice recognises that health, safety and the environment is its number one priority and takes seriously its responsibilities. The Director of Nursing and Quality also has the responsibility for their own and others health and safety as outlined in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and other relevant health and safety legislation.

• Have a thorough knowledge of the charitys Risk, Health & Safety Policies and Procedures.
• Ensure all clinical team members adhere to all safe working practices.
• Report all accidents, near misses, incidents and hazards to the relevant people in a timely and constructive manner.
• Identify and raise any, health, safety and environment improvements in a timely manner.
• Ensure Clinical Risk Assessments are conducted in a timely manner and recorded appropriately.
• Ensure that the organisations policies in relation to Risk, Health and Safety, People Governance, standing financial instructions and complaints/compliments are understood and implemented within the organisation.

• To ensure the appropriate use of equipment and facilities and that the working environment is maintained in good order.
• To take the necessary precautions to safeguard the welfare and safety of yourself, patients, visitors, and staff, in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
• To undertake appropriate health and safety training to support safe working practice, including where appropriate, its management.
• To demonstrate a practical understanding of risk assessment in relation to their areas of responsibility and to ensure safe systems of work are in place.
• To lead on incident investigation and ensure that corrective action is taken as necessary and/or reported to Senior Management Team, specialist advisers, the Board of Trustees in accordance with internal governance arrangements.

For full Job Description, please visit our website

Skills & Knowledge

Essential

• - Ability to lead, manage and motivate others
• - Ability to devise and implement relevant strategies and plans
• - Knowledge of how to set and monitor a departmental budget, and
• experience of managing services to an agreed budget
• - Sound knowledge of the national palliative care agenda
• - Ability to communicate convincingly and effectively to internal and external stakeholders, using influencing and negotiation skills where necessary
• - The ability to devise and maintain relevant audit processes
• - Ability to deliver presentations and training
• - Ability to use Microsoft office and other software packages
• - Able to meet the requirements of registration and periodic re-validation with a recognised professional body including DBS and CQC
• - Ability to fulfil the Registered Manager role
• - A solution-focussed and creative approach to work
• - Ability to travel independently throughout the geography covered

Desirable

• - Sound knowledge of the local palliative care agenda
• - Research skills

Qualifications

Essential

• - Qualified to degree level in a health-related subject, or significant demonstrable competence
• - Knowledge of relevant legislation, best practice and guidance relating to the provision of Hospice care services

Desirable

• - Management qualification
• - Cancer or Palliative Care related post registration qualification e.g.
• Certificate in Palliative Care
• - Qualification in Communication skills

Experience

Essential

• - Significant experience in provision of health and social care services
• - Experience of working in a regulated environment
• - Demonstrable experience of working within a multidisciplinary team
• - Experience of operating as a Senior Manager, including planning and
• project management
• - Experience, understanding and application of the principles of clinical
• governance to drive continuous clinical / care quality and service
• improvement
• - Experience of leading effective large-scale change
• - Ability to undertake risk assessments in a clinical / care setting

Desirable

• - Experience in a Hospice or other Specialist Palliative Care setting
• - Experience of clinical / care / service-related Audit
• - Experience of being accountable to Trustees
• - Experience of using information derived from:
• NICE Guidance
• Recognised and validated palliative outcomes
• Clinical audits and incidents
• Patient and carer experience to drive improvement in clinical quality
• - Experience of meeting commissioner quality contract reporting
• requirements and/or producing the annual Quality Account

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).