Job overview

This is an exciting post that has arisen due to the existing post-holder moving to a new post. The role provides strategic oversight of the patient safety agenda. The post-holder will ensure implementation of the requirements of the Patient Safety Strategy and new PSIRF. We are currently in the process of recruiting Patient Safety Partners and this role will play a crucial role in supporting them to make an effective contribution to the safety agenda.

The post sits within the wider Quality, Safety, Experience and Improvement portfolio held by the Deputy Director and enables the post-holder to work collaboratively to deliver across the 3 domains of the Patient Safety Strategy – Insight, Involvement and Improvement.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will both provide strategic leadership to the patient safety agenda and oversee the daily duties of the patient safety team – such as management of Datix, incidents, learning from deaths, National Patient Safety Alerts, serious incidents etc.

You will be required to analyse a variety of data to enable triangulation of themes to inform improvement and monitor delivery. Your report writing skills must be to a high standard as regular reports will be required for Board.

You will work closely with the care groups to ensure robust oversight of incidents, duty of candour, delivery of improvement actions and overall governance of safety.

Working for our organisation

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is situated in a fantastic part of the country that is home to two national parks, a beautiful coastline, and the city of York – consistently voted one of the best places to live in the UK. We provide a comprehensive range of acute hospital and specialist healthcare services for approximately 800,000 people living in and around York, North Yorkshire, North East Yorkshire and Ryedale – an area covering 3,400 square miles.

Our annual turnover is approaching £0.5bn. We manage eight hospital sites and have a workforce of around 10,000 staff working across our hospitals and in the community.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

A full description of the role is available in the attachment: job description .

Working for the Trust

Across our organisation, people are guided by values that were co-developed with staff: we are kind ; we are open ; and we pursue excellence .

Our values play into our ambition to develop a more diverse workforce, truly representative of our communities. We welcome applications from everyone, while working with our Staff Networks – including our Race Equality, LGBTQ+, Disability and Carers Networks – to increase the number of applications we receive from different backgrounds. If there is anything we can do to make our application process more accessible to you, please contact: .

As part of seeking to become more inclusive, we will consider requests for flexible working from the start of your employment. It may not be suitable for every role, but we will try and be supportive where we can. We would encourage you to speak to the recruiting manager named within this advert to discuss any requirements you may have.

Armed Forces Friendly Employer

We are holders of the Gold Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which is helping actively promote SaBRE – Supporting Britains Reservists and Employers. This means that we have made a statement of intent to support all Defence personnel, including with applications for employment.

COVID-19

Our Trust continues to strongly encourage our staff to be vaccinated against COVID19, this remains our best defence to protect our patients, ourselves and everyone else.

DBS Checks

Under our criminal records check policy, we will re-claim the cost of DBS checks (where required for a role) on the commencement of your employment. Further details will be set out with your offer of employment. Volunteers and Bank roles are exempted from charges.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) offers a confidential checking service for transgender applicants in accordance with the Gender Recognition Act 2004. This is known as the sensitive applications route, and is available for all levels of DBS check – basic, standard and enhanced.

The sensitive applications route gives transgender applicants the choice not to have any gender or name information disclosed on their DBS certificate that could reveal their previous identity. To contact the sensitive applications team, please telephone 0300 106 1452 or email . 

Person specification

Education & Qualifications

Essential criteria

  • Educated to Masters level (in a relevant discipline) or equivalent level, or equivalent experience of working at a senior level
  • Post-graduate management, leadership or specialist qualification or previous experience
  • Professional Registration (e.g. Registered Nurse, Allied Health Professional)
  • Desirable criteria

  • Post-graduate patient safety qualification or previous experience
  • Quality improvement qualification or previous experience
  • Experience and Skills

    Essential criteria

  • 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
  • Knowledge of the NHS patient safety strategy and how it can be implemented
  • Experience of implementing national guidelines and policies with the ability to interpret national advice, guidance and requirements and advise their organisation on how these should be implemented
  • Knowledge of systems thinking, human factors understanding and just culture principles
  • Ability to interpret complex information (including patient safety incident data, administrative data, mortality data) that may conflict and where expert opinion may differ
  • High quality presentation skills and ability to provide and effectively communicate highly complex, sensitive and contentious information to staff, patients and relatives/carers, particularly where a potentially antagonistic or highly emotive atmosphere may present significant barriers to acceptance
  • Ability to provide senior leadership and work with senior leaders
  • Able to negotiate and influence at an organisational level and externally with a range of stakeholders
  • Experience of working in a strategic leadership role supporting Board Executives (includes voluntary experience)
  • Desirable criteria

  • Experience of developing & delivering training programmes
  • Knowledge of safeguarding and the legal duties expected of NHS organisations
  • Employer certification / accreditation badges

    Applicant requirements

    You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

    This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

    Documents to download

    Further details / informal visits contact

    NameCaroline JohnsonJob titleQuality Governance and Patient SafetyEmail addressTelephone number07909007143