Head of Patient Safety & Risk Management

Overview

In this role you lead the delivery of PSIRF-based learning responses and governance to safeguard patient safety across the Trust. You will collaborate with clinical and corporate leaders to implement the PSIRP, oversee investigations and learning actions, and translate data into measurable safety improvements. Your leadership and analytical skills will drive assurance, risk management, and continuous improvement, supporting a culture of learning and accountability.

Pay / Benefits

• learning and development opportunities
• Pathway to Excellence designation
• opportunity to lead across hospital sites

Responsibilities

• Lead operational delivery of learning responses under PSIRF to drive improvement and learning across the Trust
• Collaborate with the Associate Director to maintain a robust PSIRP aligned with national PSIRF requirements
• Governance of patient safety incidents from reporting to closure, including triage, review, investigation, escalation and reporting
• Oversee end-to-end governance of learning responses and investigations under PSIRF; monitor actions to completion
• Ensure learning outputs are high quality, evidence-based, and aligned with PSIRP and safety strategy
• Oversee staffing and resourcing of the patient safety response function and staff development
• Integrate learning responses into wider governance and quality improvement systems with action tracking and impact monitoring
• Lead design, delivery and evaluation of education on patient safety, PSIRF, incident management and risk management
• Prepare and present assurance reports, dashboards and briefings for committees and Board-level forums
• Provide expert guidance on patient safety incidents, governance requirements, and organisational learning
• Represent the Trust in external meetings and maintain awareness of national developments
• Ensure data quality, governance across datasets, and use of data to identify trends and drive improvements
• Promote digital tools for incident management, BI, and reporting to strengthen oversight

Key requirements

• Senior leadership experience in healthcare or similar complex environment
• Experience leading patient safety programmes and assurance to senior leaders
• Experience implementing PSIRF or comparable safety frameworks
• Experience developing and monitoring governance, risk and assurance frameworks
• Experience analyzing complex safety data for decision-making and service improvement
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and staff development
• Ability to influence across levels and manage change programs
• Experience in training/education program development
• Partnership working across clinical, operational and corporate services
• Knowledge of NHS governance, assurance frameworks and quality improvement methodologies
• Experience with incident reporting systems (e.g., Datix) and data systems for dashboards and reporting
• strong data analysis, BI, and digital tool usage

• Analytical thinking
• Influence and negotiation
• Strategic leadership
• Advanced Microsoft Excel and data analysis
• Data visualisation and BI platforms
• Incident management systems (Datix)

…