Lead for Service Quality Review (SQR) Programme

NHS; City Of London; On-site; GBP 72,000 - 84,000; Full time

Job summary

A major healthcare provider in London is looking for a service quality leader to enhance its mental health services. This role involves overseeing the Service Quality Review Programme, ensuring quality patient care, and engaging with patients and staff to drive improvements. Candidates should hold a Master's in a health-related field and be a registered Mental Nurse with significant leadership experience within the NHS.

Qualifications

• Extensive post-registration senior leadership experience within the NHS leading service improvement and clinical change.
• Knowledge of care quality commissions standards and the quality improvement agenda for the Trust.
• Relevant clinical and operational experience in mental health services.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and delivery of the Trust-wide Service Quality Review Programme.
• Ensure each review incorporates meaningful engagement with patients, carers, and staff.
• Translate findings into actionable intelligence by triangulating data from governance, incidents, complaints, and audits.

Skills

Leadership

Quality improvement methodologies

CQC inspections

Clinical oversight

Education

Master's degree in health-related field

Registered Mental Nurse

Tools

Digital quality assurance tools

Job description

Job Summary

NHS AfC: Band 8B. The postholder will lead the development, delivery, and ongoing improvement of the Trust-wide Service Quality Review (SQR) Programme, ensuring that care delivery across all services is safe, effective, compassionate, responsive, and well-led.

Responsibilities

Quality Review (SQR) Programme, receiving CQC quality statements and improvement priorities across services. Provide senior leadership and professional oversight for regular SQRs across inpatient, community, and corporate settings. Ensure each review incorporates meaningful engagement with patients, carers, and staff, conducted with cultural competence and professional curiosity. Translate findings into actionable intelligence by triangulating data from governance, incidents, complaints, and audits. Identify and report quality risks through established governance processes, supporting learning reviews, external notifications, and improvement planning. Work collaboratively with Quality Improvement and operational teams to coach and mentor local leaders in self-assessment, inspection readiness, and quality improvement methodologies. Deliver assurance to the Chief Nurse, Executive Team, and Trust Board on regulatory performance and continuous quality improvement. Develop and maintain an integrated SQR dashboard to capture themes and insights from audits, complaints, incidents, and feedback. Champion a culture of openness, inclusion, and psychological safety, ensuring reviews promote dignity, equity, and alignment with Trust values. Lead by example & secure and assure the highest standard of clinical care. Understand, oversee and lead actions as required related to Trustwide SQR actions.

About Us

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. There are very few organisations in the world that have such wide-ranging capabilities working with mental illness. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training. We provide inpatient care for approximately 5,300 people each year and treat more than 45,000 patients in the community in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; as well as substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.

Details

• Band: 8B
• Salary: £72,921 to £83,362 a year per annum inc HCAS
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time
• Location: 111 Denmark Hill Camberwell SE5 8AZ
• Date posted: 17 November 2025
• Reference number: 334-NUR-7608488-SA
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Qualifications Essential

• Professional Qualification - Registered Mental Nurse
• Educated to Master's degree (or equivalent experience) in a health-related field
• Extensive post-registration senior leadership experience within the NHS leading service improvement and clinical change.

Qualifications Desirable

• Management Course or relevant evidenced Continuous Professional Development

Knowledge Essential

• Knowledge of the current policy context and the implications for mental health workforce, MDT working and trauma informed care
• Knowledge and understanding of care quality commissions standards and the quality improvement agenda for the Trust.

Knowledge Desirable

• Knowledge of the national direction of travel for mental health services
• Knowledge of national nursing policy and safer staffing methodologies
• Familiarity with quality assurance and digital tools such as Tendable or integrated audit platforms

Experience Essential

• Relevant clinical and operational experience in mental health services
• Experience of setting, monitoring and evaluating standards of care

Experience Desirable

• Experience of participating in Quality improvement, transformation and/or research projects
• Previous involvement in CQC inspections, mock reviews, or improvement collaboratives