The Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust

Patient Safety Specialist

The closing date is 20 February 2026

Job summary

We are looking to appoint a Patient Safety Specialist to provide dynamic, senior leadership, visibility and expert support to the patient safety work in the organisation. You will support the development of a patient safety culture and safety systems and work in networks to share good practice and learn from each other.

You will lead, and may directly support, patient safety improvement activity and ensure that systems thinking, human factors understanding and just culture principles are embedded in all patient safety processes. You will promote patient safety thinking beyond why things go wrong in healthcare (Safety I), to examining why things routinely go right and how that can be maximised (Safety II). This includes ensuring that the Trust has effective processes in place that cross directorate or divisional structures and that these link effectively to national safety systems. This role includes supporting the Trust to ensure that the patient is at the centre of all patient safety activity.

Main duties of the job

The Patient Safety Specialist will:

Be an integral part of the Chief Nursing Officers team, showing leadership in relation to all elements of Patient Safety and to deputise for the Head of Patient Safety and Risk where required.
Work collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders, to ensure that there is a robust and coherent Patient Safety Strategy, convert that strategy into plans, objectives and deliverables for the organisation. To influence and motivate staff at all levels to ensure delivery of these plans and support the continued development of the patient safety culture.
Develop and deliver education to increase Patient Safety understanding and capability across the organisation aligned to the National Patient Safety Strategy. Provide expert support and guidance to learning response leads/lead investigators in the completion of complex system-based investigations.
Promote patient safety insight as an approach that incorporates understanding all sources of patient safety intelligence, including from incidents, risk assessments, investigations, mortality and morbidity reviews, inquests, clinical audits, patient experience, compliments and complaints, litigation, patient and staff surveys, in line with the measurement principles set out in the NHS Patient Safety Strategy. Work in partnership with the Organisations Patient Experience team to recruit, manage, develop and support the patient safety partners in accordance with the Patient Safety Partner Framework.

About us

We are an acute trust caring for over one million people in Wakefield and Kirklees. Our 10,000 staff members work in patients homes, the community, and our three hospitals in Pontefract, Dewsbury, and Pinderfields (Wakefield). Committed to continuous improvement, we prioritise our people and values so we can deliver excellent patient experience. Our team is friendly, passionate and always seeking better ways to work through research and innovation. We support work-life balance and foster a diverse, inclusive environment where everyone belongs. Our staff networks offer safe spaces for honest conversations and to share ideas, thoughts and concerns so we can increase awareness and appreciation of equality, diversity, and inclusion. As a member of the team, you will have access to the NHS pension plan, a generous holiday allowance, employee health and wellbeing services and extensive benefits and support. These include onsite nurseries, childcare vouchers, home electronics schemes, working carers support, carer-friendly policies, and more. If you value caring, high standards, improvement, and respect, join the MY team to make a difference every day.

Date posted

05 February 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£55,690 to £62,682 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

001034

Job locations

Pinderfields Hospital

Aberford Road

Wakefield

West Yorkshire

WF1 4DG

Job description

Job responsibilities

Essential person specification requirements

Qualifications:

Current professional registration e.g. RN, RMN, HCPC etc
Educated to Master’s Level in a related subject or equivalent experience working at a senior level
Post basic clinical qualification in relevant area that has recently enhanced clinical practice

Experience:

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 across professional and organisational boundaries
Experience of developing & delivering training programmes
Experience in project/change management in a healthcare environment and driving improvement for the safety of patients

Skills and Abilities:

Ability to interpret complex information (including patient safety incident data, administrative data, mortality data) that may conflict and where expert opinion may differ
Demonstrate the ability to effectively use Microsoft Office applications and the use of electronic data systems (e.g. Datix/Radar)
Ability to develop and communicate a vision, and convert that into plans, objectives and deliverables working to tight and often changing deadlines
Deliver high level reports of findings from data analysis
Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues
Ability to work collaboratively with others across organisational and professional boundaries
Excellent communication skills; Providing and receiving highly complex and sensitive information, ability to present to groups
Ability to design and deliver group training

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further details.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Essential person specification requirements

Qualifications:

Current professional registration e.g. RN, RMN, HCPC etc
Educated to Master’s Level in a related subject or equivalent experience working at a senior level
Post basic clinical qualification in relevant area that has recently enhanced clinical practice

Experience:

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 across professional and organisational boundaries
Experience of developing & delivering training programmes
Experience in project/change management in a healthcare environment and driving improvement for the safety of patients

Skills and Abilities:

Ability to interpret complex information (including patient safety incident data, administrative data, mortality data) that may conflict and where expert opinion may differ
Demonstrate the ability to effectively use Microsoft Office applications and the use of electronic data systems (e.g. Datix/Radar)
Ability to develop and communicate a vision, and convert that into plans, objectives and deliverables working to tight and often changing deadlines
Deliver high level reports of findings from data analysis
Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues
Ability to work collaboratively with others across organisational and professional boundaries
Excellent communication skills; Providing and receiving highly complex and sensitive information, ability to present to groups
Ability to design and deliver group training

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for further details.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Please click 'apply now' to view the full person specification (there is no obligation to submit an application).

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Please click 'apply now' to view the full person specification (there is no obligation to submit an application).

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.