Head Of Patient Safety & Risk Management

University Hospitals Coventry And Warwickshire Nhs Trust; Coventry; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

University Hospitals Coventry And Warwickshire NHS Trust is seeking a senior leader to drive the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) across the organisation. You will provide governance, assurance and learning from incidents, leading a team to translate data into improvements in patient care and safety.

The role requires extensive experience in patient safety, risk management and governance, with strong analytical and digital skills to utilise BI tools and data systems for

Responsibilities

• Lead operational delivery of learning responses under PSIRF across the Trust.
• Oversee governance of patient safety incidents from reporting through to closure.

Job description

Job summary

The post holder will ensure the effective delivery of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), whilst maintaining robust governance, assurance and oversight arrangements for all patient safety incidents reported across the Trust.

Working closely with clinical and corporate leaders, the post holder will lead systems that support incident reporting, learning responses, risk identification, assurance and organisational learning. They will use data and intelligence to identify emerging risks, monitor performance and ensure that learning is translated into measurable improvements in patient care and safety.

The role requires an experienced leader with expertise in patient safety, governance and risk management, supported by strong analytical and digital skills, capable of using data systems and business intelligence tools to provide assurance and drive improvement.

Main duties of the job

• Lead the operational delivery of learning responses under the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), ensuring timely, high-quality outputs that drive improvement and learning across the Trust.
• Work in close collaboration with the Associate Director of Quality for Patient Safety and Risk to ensure the Trust maintains a robust and responsive Patient Safety Incident Response Plan (PSIRP) that aligns with national PSIRF requirements.
• Oversee the end-to-end governance of learning responses and investigations undertaken under PSIRF, ensuring proportionate responses are delivered, learning is identified and improvement actions are monitored to completion.
• Ensure that all learning response outputs, including checklists and reports, are of consistently high quality, evidence-based, and aligned with the Trust's PSIRP and broader patient safety strategy.
• Maintain oversight of the staffing and resourcing of the patient safety response function, ensuring capacity is sufficient to meet demand and that staff are supported and trained to deliver their roles effectively.
• Ensure that learning responses are integrated into the Trust's wider governance and quality improvement systems, with clear mechanisms for tracking actions, monitoring impact, and sharing learning across the organisation.

About us

We are extremely proud of our employees across our hospital sites, with high quality patient care at the heart of everything we do.

Boasting some of the most modern facilities in Western Europe, the Trust is renowned for being at the forefront of research and innovation as part of its blossoming reputation as a worldwide leader in healthcare.

We are proud to be recognised as a Pathway to Excellence designated organisation - please click the link for further details about this prestigious award. Pathway To Excellence - University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire (uhcw.nhs.uk)

By joining our exciting journey, you will form part of a passionate, talented team and will be able to access a wide range of learning and development opportunities. There has never been a better time to join our team.

The Trust is committed to building an organisation that makes full use of the talents, skills, experience, and different perspectives available in our diverse society. We want everyone to feel they are respected, valued, can achieve their potential and receive the most appropriate and relevant care. We will create an environment where the equality and human rights principles of fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy are promoted and are part of the organisation's core values.

Job responsibilities

• Lead the operational delivery of learning responses under the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), ensuring timely, high-quality outputs that drive improvement and learning across the Trust.
• Work in close collaboration with the Associate Director of Quality for Patient Safety and Risk to ensure the Trust maintains a robust and responsive Patient Safety Incident Response Plan (PSIRP) that aligns with national PSIRF requirements.
• Lead the Trust-wide governance and oversight of patient safety incidents from initial reporting through to closure, ensuring incidents are appropriately triaged, reviewed, investigated, escalated and reported in accordance with Trust policy, PSIRF requirements and national guidance.
• Oversee the end-to-end governance of learning responses and investigations undertaken under PSIRF, ensuring proportionate responses are delivered, learning is identified and improvement actions are monitored to completion.
• Ensure that all learning response outputs, including checklists and reports, are of consistently high quality, evidence-based, and aligned with the Trusts PSIRF and broader patient safety strategy.
• Maintain oversight of the staffing and resourcing of the patient safety response function, ensuring capacity is sufficient to meet demand and that staff are supported and trained to deliver their roles effectively.
• Ensure that learning responses are integrated into the Trusts wider governance and quality improvement systems, with clear mechanisms for tracking actions, monitoring impact, and sharing learning across the organisation.

Responsibility for Staff

• Assumes management responsibility for:
• Patient Safety Managers
• Mortality and Clinical Harm Lead
• Quality Information Lead
• Risk Manager
• Other Patient Safety staff in the absence of the Associate Director of Quality for Patient Safety and Risk

Additional Responsibilities

• Act as deputy to the Associate Director of Quality for Patient Safety and Risk, providing visible leadership, strategic support and operational continuity in their absence.
• Lead and manage the day-to-day delivery of the Trust's patient safety and risk management functions, ensuring effective oversight of incident reporting, triage, investigation, learning responses, risk management and action tracking.
• Support the Associate Director in the recruitment, induction, appraisal, training and professional development of staff within the Patient Safety and Risk team, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, learning and high performance.
• Provide expert leadership and direction to the Patient Safety and Risk team, ensuring workloads, priorities and resources are effectively managed to meet organisational and statutory requirements.
• Quality assure the outputs and deliverables produced by the team, ensuring investigations, reports, learning responses, risk assessments and committee papers are accurate, evidence-based, timely and of a consistently high standard.
• Oversee systems for monitoring incident trends, investigation quality, action completion, thematic learning, emerging risks and organisational compliance, ensuring timely escalation where concerns are identified.
• Support the ongoing optimisation of patient safety information systems and reporting processes, ensuring information is translated into meaningful intelligence that supports organisational assurance and continuous improvement.
• Lead the design, delivery and evaluation of education, training and development programmes relating to patient safety, PSIRF, incident management and risk management, developing resources and presentations tailored to the needs of clinical and non-clinical staff.
• Prepare and present high-quality reports, assurance papers, dashboards and briefings for Trust committees, executive leadership meetings and Board-level forums, providing clear assurance regarding patient safety performance, risk, investigations, organisational learning and compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.
• Provide expert advice and guidance to senior leaders, managers and clinicians on patient safety incidents, investigations, governance requirements, organisational learning and risk management.
• Work collaboratively with operational, clinical and corporate teams to ensure learning arising from incidents, complaints, claims, inquests and risk reviews is embedded into practice and translated into measurable improvements in patient care.
• Represent the Trust at external meetings, networks and forums, acting as an ambassador for UHCW's approach to patient safety, organisational learning and risk management, while maintaining awareness of national developments and best practice.
• Ensure high standards of data quality, validation and governance across all patient safety and risk datasets.
• Use advanced analysis of incident, harm, mortality and risk data to identify trends, emerging risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Promote the effective use of digital tools, including incident management systems, Excel-based analysis, business intelligence platforms and reporting solutions, to strengthen organisational oversight and assurance.

Person Specification

Qualification/Training

Essential

• Degree level education or equivalent experience.
• Postgraduate qualification, professional training, or equivalent experience in patient safety, risk management, governance, quality improvement, healthcare management, or a related field.

Desirable

• Healthcare-related professional qualification.
• Qualification or formal training in patient safety investigation, PSIRF, quality improvement, leadership, governance, or risk management.
• Management or leadership qualification.

Experience

Essential

• Senior leadership and management experience within a healthcare or similarly complex organisational environment.
• Experience leading patient safety programmes, services, or functions.
• Experience of providing assurance regarding patient safety, quality and risk to senior leaders, executive teams and governance committees.
• Experience of implementing and operationalising the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) or comparable patient safety frameworks.
• Experience working within risk management and governance environments.
• Experience of developing, implementing and monitoring governance, risk and assurance frameworks.
• Experience of developing systems, processes, dashboards and reporting mechanisms to monitor performance, risk, compliance and organisational learning.
• Experience of analysing and interpreting complex patient safety, risk and quality data to support decision-making and service improvement.
• Experience of presenting complex information and providing assurance to senior leaders.
• Experience of leading and developing multidisciplinary teams, including recruitment, appraisal, performance management, workforce planning and staff development.
• Experience of influencing and engaging staff at all levels of an organisation to deliver quality, governance and patient safety objectives.
• Experience of leading change management, service improvement, and transformation programmes.
• Experience of developing and delivering training, education and awareness programmes.
• Evidence of effective partnership working across clinical, operational and corporate services.

Desirable

• Experience of NHS governance and assurance programmes.
• Experience of managing Datix or similar incident and risk management systems.
• Experience of working with regulatory bodies and external stakeholders.
• Experience of quality improvement methodologies and their practical application.

Knowledge

Essential

• Extensive knowledge of patient safety principles, systems-based approaches to safety, and organisational learning.
• Extensive knowledge of risk management frameworks, methodologies and best practice.
• Extensive knowledge of PSIRF and national patient safety policy.
• In-depth understanding of NHS governance, assurance and accountability frameworks.
• Understanding of the role of Board assurance, committee structures and governance reporting in providing organisational oversight of patient safety and risk.
• Knowledge of NHS regulatory requirements and their relationship to patient safety, quality governance and organisational risk.
• Understanding of Board Assurance Frameworks, corporate risk management and escalation processes.
• Knowledge of incident reporting, investigation and learning systems.
• Knowledge of quality improvement methodologies and their application to patient safety.
• Understanding of data analysis, performance reporting and the use of intelligence to drive improvement.
• Awareness of current and emerging issues affecting healthcare quality, governance and patient safety.

Desirable

• Knowledge of Datix or equivalent risk management software.
• Working knowledge of business intelligence and data visualisation tools.
• Knowledge of national patient safety initiatives and wider NHS quality improvement programmes.

Skills

Essential

• Highly developed analytical skills, with the ability to assess, interpret, synthesise and communicate complex qualitative and quantitative information from multiple sources.
• Advanced ability to identify trends, themes, risks and opportunities from data and translate these into meaningful actions and assurance.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including report writing and presentation of complex information to senior audiences.
• Excellent interpersonal and relationship management skills, with the ability to influence, negotiate and challenge constructively.
• Strong leadership and people management skills.
• Ability to assimilate complex information quickly and communicate key messages effectively.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to prioritise competing demands and manage multiple deadlines.
• Excellent attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
• Advanced digital and information management skills.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel and data analysis skills, including the ability to manipulate large datasets, identify trends, develop dashboards, produce performance reports and generate meaningful patient safety intelligence.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications including Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Ability to develop meaningful performance reports, governance papers and assurance dashboards.
• Excellent understanding of information governance, record keeping and audit requirements.
• Ability to manage challenging, sensitive and complex situations professionally and effectively.

Desirable

• Experience of business intelligence and reporting tools.
• Advanced statistical analysis skills.
• Experience of system development, digital transformation or process automation.

Commitment to Trust Values and Behaviours

Essential

• Must be able to demonstrate behaviours consistent with the Trust's values. (As detailed in UHCW's Values in Action document below)
• Applicants applying for job roles with managerial responsibility will be required to demonstrate evidence of promoting equal opportunities through work experience

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).