Clinical Governance Lead

Job responsibilities

Learning, Improvement & Culture Support the identification and theming of patient safety incidents, complaints, feedback, and quality data to inform learning and improvement activities. Produce high-quality analysis and reports to demonstrate trends, themes, and learning that drive improvements and reduce patient harm. Promote and facilitate the embedding of quality initiatives, ensuring sustainability and demonstrable positive impact. Champion the development of a learning, supportive, and just culture across all NEMS sites. Professional Responsibilities Exercise independent judgment, initiative, and decision-making within the scope of the role. Work collaboratively with the Medical Director, Head of Governance, and multidisciplinary teams across clinical and operational settings. Maintain professional registration and comply with relevant professional standards. Provide professional leadership and act as a role model for best practice in governance, safety, and quality. Embedding the Quality Assurance Framework The post holder will play a key role in embedding the NEMS Quality Assurance Framework across all services to ensure a consistent, organisation-wide approach to delivering safe, effective, and patient-centred care. Working with the Head of Governance and Medical Director, you will support the translation of the Framework into daily practice and ensure that teams understand and apply its principles. Key responsibilities include: Operationalising the Quality Assurance Framework by supporting services to integrate its standards, processes, and expectations into routine clinical activity. Promoting a shared single view of quality, ensuring staff understand the organisational priorities relating to patient safety, clinical effectiveness, patient experience, and Getting It Right from the Patients Perspective. Supporting governance architecture and reporting, ensuring robust lines of accountability from point of care to Board level, including accurate and timely escalations of emerging themes, risks, and quality concerns. Facilitating quality monitoring activities, including audit, quality reviews, patient experience initiatives, IPC self-assessments, and compliance checks aligned to the Frameworks requirements. Ensuring staff engagement with quality, helping embed quality discussions into daily practices, such as safety huddles, team meetings, clinical supervision, and learning events. Promoting an organisational culture of improvement, supporting the use of quality improvement methodologies (e.g., PDSA cycles, thematic learning, systems-based approaches) to address themes identified through incidents, complaints, feedback, and audits. Ensuring evidence alignment with statutory and regulatory requirements, including CQC quality statements, health and social care regulations, safeguarding, and national best practice guidance. Supporting the triangulation of data and intelligence across patient safety incidents, complaints, audits, operational KPIs, and patient feedback, enabling proactive identification of risk and opportunities for improvement. Championing transparent, compassionate leadership behaviours consistent with fostering psychological safety and promoting a learning, not blaming, culture. Contributing to the development of quality dashboards and reporting, informing senior leaders of progress, outcomes, themes, and areas requiring action. Supporting readiness for external review and regulatory inspection, ensuring services can clearly demonstrate compliance, quality assurance, and continuous improvement in line with the Quality Assurance Framework.

Qualifications

Essential

• Person Specification
• Qualifications
• Registered Healthcare Professional
• Evidence of continuous professional development.
• Post-registration training or experience in risk management, patient safety, or
• governance (desirable).
• Experience
• Significant experience in a senior clinical role within healthcare.
• Demonstrable understanding of clinical governance, quality improvement, risk
• management, and patient safety.
• Experience undertaking or leading investigations in line with PSIRF or similar
• frameworks.
• Experience working collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience producing clear, concise reports for clinical or governance purposes.
• Knowledge & Skills
• Strong understanding of clinical practice, education, and service delivery.
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements including CQC standards and Duty of Candour.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to foster positive
• relationships.
• Strong analytical and report-writing skills.
• Ability to mentor and support staff at all levels.
• Able to work independently, demonstrate initiative, and manage competing
• priorities.
• Personal Qualities
• Compassionate, patient-focused, and committed to improving quality of care.
• Confident, supportive, and able to challenge constructively.
• Professional integrity and ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Flexible, adaptable, and responsive to changing organisational needs

Desirable

• Person Specification
• Qualifications
• Registered Healthcare Professional
• Evidence of continuous professional development.
• Post-registration training or experience in risk management, patient safety, or
• governance (desirable).
• Experience
• Significant experience in a senior clinical role within healthcare.
• Demonstrable understanding of clinical governance, quality improvement, risk
• management, and patient safety.
• Experience undertaking or leading investigations in line with PSIRF or similar
• frameworks.
• Experience working collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience producing clear, concise reports for clinical or governance purposes.
• Knowledge & Skills
• Strong understanding of clinical practice, education, and service delivery.
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements including CQC standards and Duty of Candour.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to foster positive
• relationships.
• Strong analytical and report-writing skills.
• Ability to mentor and support staff at all levels.
• Able to work independently, demonstrate initiative, and manage competing
• priorities.
• Personal Qualities
• Compassionate, patient-focused, and committed to improving quality of care.
• Confident, supportive, and able to challenge constructively.
• Professional integrity and ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Flexible, adaptable, and responsive to changing organisational needs

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).