CAMHS Clinical Governance Lead

NHS; City Of London; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in London seeks a Governance Lead to ensure best practices in complaints and incidents governance. The role involves managing the Directorate's Governance Team and leading the application of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework. Candidates must be a registered healthcare professional with substantial experience in senior management within mental health services. The salary ranges from £64,156 to £71,148 annually.

Qualifications

• Substantial experience managing change within mental health services.
• Experience collaborating at a senior level.
• Experience investigating incidents and managing complaints.

Responsibilities

• Lead on the implementation of PSIRF.
• Support governance processes to improve care quality.
• Prepare reports for Integrated Performance and Quality meetings.

Skills

Ability to convey distressing information

Ability to identify key issues

Highly motivated

Facilitation, negotiation and influencing skills

Education

Registered Mental Health Nurse or equivalent

Master’s level education

Job description

At South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, we believe in providing excellent care delivered with pride and compassion. Everything we do is to improve the lives of the people and communities we serve and to promote mental health and wellbeing for all.

This is an exciting opportunity to work within a Directorate committed to a culture of openness, honesty and continuous learning. The Governance Lead will ensure best practices of complaints and incidents governance, develop and implement governance strategies, policies, and frameworks, and facilitate learning and improvement across the Directorates.

The post holder will manage the Directorate's Governance Team, lead the application of system‑based approaches from the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, and ensure compassionate engagement of those affected by patient safety incidents.

Job Responsibilities

• The post holder will lead on the implementation of PSIRF, including teaching identified within the Directorate the facilitation skills to lead PSIRF responses such as After‑Action Reviews.
• Support the Head of Nursing and Quality in developing and implementing governance processes to ensure a comprehensive framework for continuous monitoring and improvement of care quality.
• Promote a positive culture where reporting of incidents using the PSIRF is routine practice and recognised as a means of improving care quality and reducing risks.
• Ensure that governance is an integral part of the operational and strategic aims of the CAMHS Directorate.
• Ensure lessons from incidents, claims, complaints and inquests are learned and shared and that timely feedback occurs, embedding learning across the CAMHS Directorate.
• Provide line management responsibility for the Clinical Governance Team.
• To prepare reports for the Directorate's Integrated Performance and Quality meetings, including aggregated analysis of trends and themes in patient experience, patient safety, patient outcomes, staff safety and other safety issues.
• Support the Heads of Nursing and Quality in developing programmes of work to meet Care Quality Commission standards and other national or local performance frameworks.
• Identify barriers to good practice through complaints and incident analysis, liaise with Heads of Profession and implement required remedial action.
• Support the embedding of research to improve patient outcomes and quality of care through evidence‑based interventions and innovations.
• Lead on Directorate complaints processes, ensuring investigations within statutory time frames and comprehensive complaint responses formatted to accessible information standards.
• Ensure all information in the Datix reporting system is managed in line with Trust policy, Duty of Candour and Being Open.
• Lead responses to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
• Line‑manage a Band 6 Governance Officer.
• Support clinical teams in monitoring and thematic reviewing of safeguarding activity across the directorate in collaboration with Trust Safeguarding.
• Use the Care Improvement System methodology with complaints and incidents data to enable teams to work together and create a learning environment.
• Identify and Escalate risk issues for the directorate, providing expert support, decision‑making, advice, guidance, and education on all aspects of governance management.
• Ensure identified risks are included in the Directorate's risk registers in collaboration with the Senior Leadership Team.
• Facilitate events within the Directorate to support timely learning from incidents, complaints, claims and inquests, fostering an open, just, and fair culture for staff reporting.
• Engage effectively and compassionately with service users, families, carers, and stakeholders.

Person Specification

Qualifications – Essential

• Registered Mental Health Nurse or other registered healthcare professional (e.g., Occupational Therapist, Social Worker).
• Evidence of up‑to‑date continuous professional development.
• Educated to Master’s level or equivalent.

Qualifications – Desirable

• Advanced courses related to Patient Safety.

Experience – Essential

• Substantial experience at a senior management level, including managing change, decision‑making and introducing new ways of working within mental health services.
• Experience of multi‑professional collaboration at a senior level, including statutory and voluntary agencies and service‑user groups.
• Experience investigating incidents.
• Experience managing complaints.

Experience – Desirable

• Experience implementing the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework.
• Experience facilitating face‑to‑face and online teaching sessions or workshops.

Knowledge – Essential

• Broad knowledge of clinical and managerial systems and processes across disciplines and service areas.
• Knowledge of Health and Social Care regulations and their application to clinical governance in NHS services.
• Knowledge of the PSIRF framework and demonstrated application.

Knowledge – Desirable

• Courses in the management of complaints.

Skills – Essential

• Ability to convey, with high sensitivity and understanding, extremely distressing information to staff, patients and carers.
• Ability to identify key issues from complex documents and transpose into concise reports with required actions.
• Highly motivated, able to work independently, prioritise work and effectively deal with competing demands.
• Facilitation, negotiation and influencing skills.

Skills – Desirable

• Ability to engage groups across all specialisms.

Values – Essential

• Respond to complaints from service users, families, carers and staff with compassion and openness.
• Demonstrate a strong commitment to equal opportunities and equal access, ensuring policies are applicable to practice.
• Demonstrate high self‑awareness and appropriate use of authority within the senior management team.

Salary & Benefits

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 8a

Salary: £64,156 to £71,148 a year inclusive of HCAS

Contract: Permanent

Working pattern: Full time

Job locations: Michael Rutter Centre, Maudsley Hospital, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AZ

Contact / Application Information

To apply, visit the Trust’s careers page (link removed for compliance with formatting rules).