Quality, Safety & Governance Lead- Medicine Division

Job summary
The postholder will lead divisional governance and patient safety functions, ensuring compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. Key responsibilities include:

• Patient Safety Leadership: Oversee PSIRF implementation, ensuring timely and high-quality learning responses for serious harm incidents.
• Governance Assurance: Maintain robust systems for triangulating incidents, complaints, mortality reviews, and outcomes to identify systemic risks and prevent repeat harm.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensure adherence to CQC standards and Duty of Candour obligations, safeguarding patient engagement and transparency.
• Risk Management: Provide senior clinical judgment and assurance to mitigate patient safety risks and uphold organisational resilience.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with Trust-level teams while maintaining divisional ownership of safety and governance processes.
• Capacity Building: Support the development of a strong safety culture within the division through leadership, education, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Main duties of the job
The Quality, Safety & Governance Lead - Medicine Division (Band 8a) is a senior clinical leadership role at Newham Hospital, responsible for ensuring robust governance, patient safety, and compliance within the Medicine Division. The position is critical to the Trust's functionality and is embedded within the divisional workforce plan. It requires professional registration (NMC/HCPC), senior clinical credibility, and expertise in PSIRF (Patient Safety Incident Response Framework), learning responses, and governance assurance.

About us
Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are underrepresented within Barts Health at this band.

Job responsibilities
The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Degree-level qualification or equivalent professional Experience
• Evidence of commitment to continuing professional development

Desirable

• Registered Nurse with full and current UK NMC registration / Current AHP with UK HCPC registration
• Working towards or willingness to undertake Master's level study
• Leadership, management or quality improvement training
• Training or development in patient safety, human factors or improvement science

Other
Essential

• Commitment to the Trust's WeCare values and compassionate leadership
• Ability to work effectively in a complex, pressured environment
• Resilience, curiosity and a learning- focused mindset

Desirable

• Motivation to develop as a senior nursing leader
• Interest in patient safety innovation, learning systems or service transformation

Skills
Essential

• Ability to analyse and use quality, safety and patient experience information to support improvement
• Clear and confident communication skills, written and verbal
• Ability to influence, support and appropriately challenge colleagues
• Ability to lead change and support teams through improvement

Desirable

• Experience presenting information to senior colleagues or governance forums
• Coaching, facilitation or mentoring skills
• Ability to translate learning and assurance into practical ward-level improvement

Knowledge
Essential

• Understanding of clinical governance, patient safety and risk management principles
• Awareness of national patient safety priorities and quality frameworks
• Understanding of the importance of learning, openness and Duty of Candour

Desirable

• Developing knowledge of PSIRF, quality improvement methodologies and systems thinking
• Awareness of regulatory and assurance processes (e.g. CQC)
• Understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion in healthcare improvement

Experience
Essential

• Experience in a senior nursing role within acute hospital services
• Experience contributing to quality, safety or governance activity at ward, service or divisional level
• Experience working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams
• Experience supporting learning from incidents, complaints or patient feedback

Desirable

• Experience leading improvement, safety or governance work beyond own ward or service
• Exposure to PSIRF, learning response models or incident investigation
• Experience supporting or deputising at Matron or senior leadership level

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).