Director of Patient Safety and Quality Governance

Job summary

We are seeking an experienced, credible and compassionate senior leader to join the Chief Nursing Officer's portfolio as Director of Patient Safety and Quality Governance. This Band 9 role will lead the Trust's approach to patient safety, quality governance, assurance and organisational learning.

You will provide leadership across patient safety and PSIRF, quality governance, regulatory assurance, risk management, mortality, health and safety, reducing restrictive practice and suicide prevention.

Working closely with the Chief Nursing Officer and Deputy Chief Nursing Officer, you will provide expert advice and assurance to the Board, Executive Team and senior leaders, ensuring learning and intelligence drive sustained improvements in the quality and safety of care. We are looking for an influential and collaborative leader with significant experience in complex healthcare environments.

You will be confident managing competing priorities, interpreting complex information and building strong relationships across organisational and system boundaries. The role includes providing senior cover for the Chief Nursing Officer and participation in the Trust Director on-call rota. If you are passionate about patient safety, quality improvement and creating a just and learning culture, we would like to hear from you.

Please note: This role requires office attendance for two days per week. Applications may close early if the application cap is reached. Interview date: 16 October 2026.

Main duties of the job

The Director of Patient Safety and Quality Governance will provide strategic leadership for the Trust's patient safety, quality governance and assurance arrangements. Reporting to the Chief Nursing Officer, the postholder will lead a portfolio including patient safety and PSIRF, quality governance, regulatory compliance, risk management, mortality and learning from deaths, health and safety, reducing restrictive practice, and suicide prevention.

Working closely with the Chief Nursing Officer, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer and Executive colleagues, you will ensure quality and safety intelligence is effectively analysed to identify risks, support organisational learning and drive improvements in the quality, safety and experience of care.

You will provide expert advice and assurance to the Board, Executive Team and senior governance forums, leading the Trust's approach to regulatory readiness and engagement with external partners and regulators. The role includes oversight of quality governance arrangements and ensuring learning from incidents, complaints, inquests, mortality reviews and external reviews is translated into meaningful improvement.

As a senior member of the Chief Nursing Officer's leadership team, you will build strong relationships across organisational and system boundaries, deputise for the Chief Nursing Officer in agreed areas, and participate in the Trust Director on-call rota.

About us

Join Sussex Partnership and you'll be part of an NHS Trust that allows you to thrive and, in turn, thrives because of you. We believe in the vibrancy of our fantastic people. And how that leads to even better support for the people who use our services.

Job responsibilities

Portfolio The post holder will have strategic leadership responsibility for the following portfolio areas: Patient Safety and PSIRF Quality Governance and Ward-to-Board assurance CQC regulation, compliance and inspection readiness Quality planning and CNO contribution to quality reporting Health and Safety Risk management, including Ulysses and alignment with the Board Assurance Framework Nursing standards quality assurance, in partnership with the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer Reducing restrictive practice Mortality review governance and learning from deaths Suicide prevention strategy, governance and system leadership Clinical effectiveness, clinical audit and NICE compliance Duty of Candour and learning from harm External reviews, independent investigations and safeguarding review governance Quality intelligence, triangulation, dashboards and action tracking Quality governance training and capability development System quality governance and external stakeholder relationships Key Responsibilities: CommunicationandRelationships Tocommunicatewithawiderangeofstakeholders,involvinghighlycomplex,highly sensitiveandsometimeshighlycontentiousinformationandadvice.

TodeveloprelationshipsinternallywithstaffandmanagersatalllevelsincludingExecutiveDirectors,Non-ExecutiveDirectorsandexternallywithawiderangeoforganisationsacrosstheICS,includingNHS Surrey/SussexastheTrust'sICB,andProviderCollaborativeandNHSE. Present clear written and verbal reports to the Board, Executive Team, senior governance forums and managers across the Trust, providing expert advice, assurance and escalation on clinical governance, quality and regulatory matters and ensuring that relevant information is disseminated appropriately.

Act,asrequested,asaseniorrepresentativeoftheTrustworkingwithotherorganisations,bothstatutoryandnon-statutory Communicate highly complex, sensitive, contentious and confidential information clearly and appropriately to diverse internal and external audiences. Use advanced influencing, negotiation and mediation skills to secure timely cooperation, reconcile conflicting views and support responses to regulatory and organisational deadlines.

Analytical /Judgement Chairrelevantsub-groupsoftheTrust,providingstrongdirectionandleadership.

Leadandparticipateininternalandexternalworkinggroups,servicesandinitiativestoprovideanalyticaladviceandexpertiseinrelationtoallqualityissues Provide senior quality governance oversight for services in significant quality concern, regulatory scrutiny, temporary closure, recovery or major transformation, ensuring that decisions are informed by patient safety, risk, workforce, safeguarding, estates, clinical model, health and safety and patient experience intelligence.

Ensure that quality and safety risks arising from service change, closure, reopening or pathway redesign are clearly assessed, escalated and monitored through appropriate governance routes. Please see the attached Job Description for full information.

Person Specification

Qualifications · Essential

Educated to Master's degree or equivalent experience of leadership in a complex health care environment In depth professional knowledge of Governance, Quality/risk assurance or related subjects gained over an extended period of time Evidence of recent and continuing professional development Registered healthcare professional with current registration with a relevant UK statutory professional regulator, for example NMC, GMC, HCPC, GPhC or equivalent Knowledge/Experience

Essential

Significant senior leadership and management experience in a provider organisation Extensive experience in CQC regulation Proven experience of developing, implementing and monitoring risk and patient safety systems and processes at a Trust wide level Expertise in managing patient safety and complaints through effective governance and assurance arrangements at a Trust wide level Experience of collaborative working across organisations and relationship management Significant experience of working with strategic commissioning organisations, senior clinicians and managers in complex health, social and primary care environments Significant experience of successful change management, performance management and project planning Experience of working in a wide variety of clinical settings and operationally managing staff, services and budget Comprehensive knowledge of quality and quality improvement and regulation in healthcare Excellent communication, report writing and presentation skills including the ability to express complex and often contentious issues for a nonexpert audience Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to deal with sensitive information appropriately High level communication skills and the ability to communicate with and develop positive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including patients / carers, senior managers

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) .