Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced clinical governance professional to be Head of Quality and Safety at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Working within the Quality and Assurance team, this role will take the operational lead on matters relating to patient safety, quality assurance, complaints, clinical audit and risk and resilience. In particular, the post holder will take the lead on the Trust's ongoing implementation of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework and will be an expert resource in this area. A dynamic self-starter, the post holder will be a compassionate leader with a strong analytical focus, able to effect positive change whilst dealing with a workload which contains sensitive issues.
Reporting to the Deputy Director of Quality and Safety, the role holder will directly line manager the Quality Assurance Lead, Risk and Safety Lead and Matron for Quality Improvement. The Quality and Assurance and Risk teams cover the following workstreams: Patient Safety, Risk, Complaints, PALS and Bereavement, Patient Information, Clinical Audit & Effectiveness, Quality Improvement, Accreditations & Compliance, Patient Experience, EPRR, Health & Safety, Document Control.
For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Tom Kirby, Deputy Director of Quality and Safety via tom.kirby@rmh.nhs.uk
Main duties of the job
The Head of Quality and Safety will be accountable for providing compassionate and collaborative senior leadership, visibility and expert advice for patient safety and incident response within the organisation.
As the lead specialist the Head of Quality and Safety will advise and support the Executive Team to understand and explore the most effective approaches to improving patient safety and ensure that any patient safety-related responsibilities are effectively aligned.
About us
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals - one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey - as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital.
At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.
At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work life balance. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.
Job description
Job responsibilities
For further information on this role, please see the attached detailed Job Description and Person Specification.
The Head of Quality and Safety is responsible for and will directly lead patient safety understanding, involvement and improvement activity and ensure that systems thinking, human factors understanding and just culture principles are embedded in all patient safety processes. This includes ensuring that the organisation has effective processes in place that cross divisional structures and that this links effectively to national safety systems. This role includes supporting the organisation to ensure that the patient is at the centre of all patient safety activity.
The post holder will deputise for the Deputy Director of Quality and Safety when required. They will oversee and line manage the Quality Assurance Lead, Matron for Quality Improvement and Risk & Safety Lead. They will also oversee the Emergency Preparedness workstream. Please refer to the structure chart on the following page.
Job description
Job responsibilities
For further information on this role, please see the attached detailed Job Description and Person Specification.
The Head of Quality and Safety is responsible for and will directly lead patient safety understanding, involvement and improvement activity and ensure that systems thinking, human factors understanding and just culture principles are embedded in all patient safety processes. This includes ensuring that the organisation has effective processes in place that cross divisional structures and that this links effectively to national safety systems. This role includes supporting the organisation to ensure that the patient is at the centre of all patient safety activity.
The post holder will deputise for the Deputy Director of Quality and Safety when required. They will oversee and line manage the Quality Assurance Lead, Matron for Quality Improvement and Risk & Safety Lead. They will also oversee the Emergency Preparedness workstream. Please refer to the structure chart on the following page.
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to Masters degree or equivalent experience
Desirable
- Clinical registration for example with the NMC or Allied Health Professional equivalent
- Risk Management/Patient safety qualification e.g. Level 3 and 4 NHSE Patient Safety Syllabus
Experience
Essential
- Extensive experience in patient safety, risk management, clinical governance or other aspects of quality management within an NHS setting
Desirable
- Extensive experience in patient safety, risk management, clinical governance or other aspects of quality management within an NHS setting
- Experience of Emergency Planning
- Experience of complaints management
- Experience of managing senior staff with responsibility for outcome delivery
- Experience of delivering clear, succinct plans and reports and of reviewing the plans and reports of others
- Understanding of the wider issues in relation to cancer care for people affected by cancer
Skills Abilities/knowledge
Desirable
- Sound knowledge of the principles of health care governance
- Comprehensive understanding of PSIRF and systems-based learning
- Excellent presentation skills
- Evidence of good leadership qualities including delegation and coordination.
- Able to initiate, sustain and evaluate change
- Evidence of commitment to patient focused care initiatives
- Budget management experience Excellent written
- Understanding of Assurance, governance and Risk Management within a complex organization
- Highly developed interpersonal skills, with tact and diplomacy in influencing staff, partners and relevant organisations at all levels
- Ability to assimilate information quickly, and analyse a wide range of complex data to develop impact analysis readily.
- Demonstrate political judgement and astute approach to handling diverse interests and complex relationships at senior level - clear about referring upwards where necessary
- Intellectually robust and self motivated to deliver against challenging strategic targets and project plans
- Demonstrable credibility in working with internal audit staff and Director level staff responsible for the effective delivery of risk assurance
- Ability to define and drive high quality standards through others and to know when to progress issues of malpractice or failure to deliver
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to Masters degree or equivalent experience
Desirable
- Clinical registration for example with the NMC or Allied Health Professional equivalent
- Risk Management/Patient safety qualification e.g. Level 3 and 4 NHSE Patient Safety Syllabus
Experience
Essential
- Extensive experience in patient safety, risk management, clinical governance or other aspects of quality management within an NHS setting
Desirable
- Extensive experience in patient safety, risk management, clinical governance or other aspects of quality management within an NHS setting
- Experience of Emergency Planning
- Experience of complaints management
- Experience of managing senior staff with responsibility for outcome delivery
- Experience of delivering clear, succinct plans and reports and of reviewing the plans and reports of others
- Understanding of the wider issues in relation to cancer care for people affected by cancer
Skills Abilities/knowledge
Desirable
- Sound knowledge of the principles of health care governance
- Comprehensive understanding of PSIRF and systems-based learning
- Excellent presentation skills
- Evidence of good leadership qualities including delegation and coordination.
- Able to initiate, sustain and evaluate change
- Evidence of commitment to patient focused care initiatives
- Budget management experience Excellent written
- Understanding of Assurance, governance and Risk Management within a complex organization
- Highly developed interpersonal skills, with tact and diplomacy in influencing staff, partners and relevant organisations at all levels
- Ability to assimilate information quickly, and analyse a wide range of complex data to develop impact analysis readily.
- Demonstrate political judgement and astute approach to handling diverse interests and complex relationships at senior level - clear about referring upwards where necessary
- Intellectually robust and self motivated to deliver against challenging strategic targets and project plans
- Demonstrable credibility in working with internal audit staff and Director level staff responsible for the effective delivery of risk assurance
- Ability to define and drive high quality standards through others and to know when to progress issues of malpractice or failure to deliver
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).
Additional information
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).
