Head of Patient Safety

We are looking for a new Head of Patient Safety to provide senior leadership and operational delivery of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy and Incident Response Framework across the organisation. As an early adopter, we have pioneered national changes in patient safety, and we want our Head of Patient Safety to continue our journey in delivering the NHS England strategy of insight, involvement, and improvement. The Head of Patient Safety will be accountable for providing compassionate and collaborative senior leadership, visibility and expert advice for patient safety including incident response within the organisation. As the Head of Patient Safety, you will work closely with your team, integrated governance departments and our clinical leaders to understand and explore the most effective approaches to improving patient safety. This role is vital in ensuring that patient safety-related responsibilities are effectively aligned throughout RCHT.

Banding for this role is not confirmed and is subject to change once it has been through our job evaluation process. We will confirm in due course the outcome of this evaluation process.

Main duties of the job

As a senior leader, you'll be working across the organisation to lead, coach and support clinical teams, through their care group structures, to continuously improve patient safety, applying multiple sources of insight to inform priorities and actions.

You will oversee the framework for delivery of the Trust's Patient Safety, working with the Patient Safety Specialist, relevant clinical and operational leads, supporting reviews and reporting of progress in year to various Board level and operational committees/groups. The Head of Patient Safety will provide expert advice and support for the systems that support and inform patient safety. You will work closely with the Patient Safety Specialist to design and implement a Patient Safety insight approach as part of safety management system at RCHT. There are links with external stakeholders, notably the Care Quality Commission, other regulators such as NHS England alongside the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board.

This role is key in ensuring that RCHT has an embedded safety culture that encompasses the principles of civility, psychological safety and restorative just cultures in a learning environment.

About us

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) is the main provider of acute and specialist care services in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We serve a population of around 500,000 people - a figure that can increase significantly with visitors during the busiest times of the year. We employ approximately 6,700 staff and have a budget of approximately £580 million.

We are a teaching hospital in partnership with the University of Exeter Medical School, University of Plymouth School of Nursing and Midwifery, and Peninsula Dental School. The Knowledge Spa on the Royal Cornwall Hospital site is the base for medical and nursing as well as ongoing education for health professions in clinical and non-clinical roles.

Keeping at the forefront of medical advances, we are continually developing our clinical services as well as our facilities and are committed to maximising the range of specialist care that can be offered locally. Allied to this is a growing reputation for research and innovation.

Job responsibilities

As a senior leader, you'll be working across the organisation to lead, coach and support clinical teams, through their care group structures, to continuously improve patient safety, applying multiple sources of insight to inform priorities and actions.

You will oversee the framework for delivery of the Trust's Patient Safety, working with the Patient Safety Specialist, relevant clinical and operational leads, supporting reviews and reporting of progress in year to various Board level and operational committees/groups. The Head of Patient Safety will provide expert advice and support for the systems that support and inform patient safety. You will work closely with the Patient Safety Specialist to design and implement a Patient Safety insight approach as part of safety management system at RCHT. There are links with external stakeholders, notably the Care Quality Commission, other regulators such as NHS England alongside the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board.

This role is key in ensuring that RCHT has an embedded safety culture that encompasses the principles of civility, psychological safety and restorative just cultures in a learning environment.

Person Specification

QUALIFICATIONS / TRAINING

Essential

• Registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council /Health Care Professions Council or other Healthcare body
• Patient Safety Science or human factors qualification or equivalent experience (or working towards)
• Management qualification, Master's degree or equivalent experience

Desirable

• Demonstrates evidence of commitment to professional development

KNOWLEDGE / SKILLS

Essential

• Experience of working at a Senior Nurse/AHP/Clinical Manager level with relevant clinical and management experience.
• Specialist level of knowledge in the NHS patient safety strategy, Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF)
• Good understanding of the Risk Management System (RMS), incident management practices and PSIRF
• Demonstrable evidence of assessing safety and quality, analysis and synthesis of numerous data sources including highly complex, sensitive and/or contentious information.
• Demonstrable experience of leading and developing staff and teams.
• Demonstrable experience of implementing and managing change effectively.
• Understanding of GMC/ NMC / HCPC Code of Practice and requirements of it for the practice and behaviour of staff and self.
• Experience of effective budgetary management
• Experience of involvement in Clinical Governance
• Strong organisational skills - able to organise own workload, meet deadlines and take responsibility for our clinical actions and systems / standards across area of responsibility.
• Highly effective communication skills - able to communicate verbally and written to large groups of staff, patients and relatives including in situations of conflict and distress, ensuring that communication is tailored to the person being addressed.
• Advanced IT skills (Microsoft Office, Word, Excel), manipulation and extraction of key information from multiple source databases (Datix, Excel)

Desirable

• Experience of strategy development, impacting on the wider organisation.

EXPERIENCE

Essential

• Experience in a leadership/managerial role at a senior level
• Experience of facilitating change, including ability to motivate staff and change behaviours and attitudes
• Experience of investigating and presenting Patient Safety Incidents
• Ability to make judgements on clinical and professional standards
• Ability to provide, receive and/or handle highly complex, sensitive and/or contentious information.
• Demonstrates commitment to an empathetic and caring approach to patients and relatives and ability to motivate staff to demonstrate this to ensure that all patients' dignity and respect are maintained at all times.
• Demonstrate ability to interpret and analyse highly complex, sensitive and/or contentious data and adapt national and local policy from several sources into Trust standards.
• Ability to act as effective facilitator and supervisor and demonstrates evidence of ability to educate others.
• Ability to write management reports identifying investigation findings, clearly documented with appropriate judgement and actions needed.
• Able to gain credibility with and influence fellow clinicians, managers and speciality leads - including influencing clinical changes where appropriate.
• Able to lead specific policy development across the wider health community in conjunction with other agencies.

Employer details

Employer name

Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust

Address

Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust
Treliske
Truro
TR1 3LQ

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

156-6742635