Director of Quality Improvement and Practice Development in Liverpool

About The Role

Alternative Futures Group has an ambition to be a sector leader in quality, value and personal outcomes over the next 3 years. The Director of Quality Improvement & Practice Development will lead on the realisation of this ambition by developing the necessary strategies, policies, processes and procedures to deliver a person-centred, strengths-based, & outcome-focused model delivering Amazing Support, Amazing Outcomes and Amazing Lives.

CQC ratings of Good or Outstanding in all services and domains. A philosophy of continuous improvement, co-production & innovation.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, the post holder will participate fully in the corporate management, decision making, planning and strategic development of AFG’s quality, safety and practice development agenda and provide specialist advice, direction and inspiration to the Executive Team and Board.

The Director of Quality Improvement & Practice Development will drive the quality improvement agenda across the entire organisation to develop the Amazing Support, Amazing Outcomes, Amazing Lives culture in every person, thus improving personal outcomes, user experience and organisational effectiveness.

Dimensions

• Overall responsibility for two support teams with 2 direct reports – Head of Quality and Head of Learning.
• Overall responsibility for a corporate budget for quality team and learning team salaries and non-pay items.

Principal Accountabilities

Quality Assurance

• Lead an integrated and cohesive approach to the design and implementation of quality assurance activities across the organisation to maintain and improve regulatory compliance and evidence-based practice.
• Ensure that the organisation is always inspection ready to ensure AFG maintains and improves our current CQC ratings at a minimum of Good across all domains and all locations.
• Lead and direct effective and appropriate audit and inspection activity across the organisation to provide ongoing and robust scrutiny of the provision of health and social care in all settings and thereby ensure a high standard of service delivery for all people using AFG services.
• Lead and direct the effective and efficient operation of the Quality Team, developing strategies, resources and capability and oversight of corporate and operational activities in order to deliver the objectives of AFG.
• Continuously improve the organisation’s approach to assurance activity and provide oversight of systems to ensure the best outcomes for people using AFG health and social care services.
• Work closely with the Directors of Operations in order to build a joined-up approach to assurance which identifies opportunities for improvement along the journey of support.
• Build a continuous quality assurance approach to the design of quality and safety activities to ensure that performance is optimised, good practice is identified, and appropriate change is sensitively implemented.
• Ensure effective and efficient use of resources in order to deliver a well-motivated workforce and the delivery of financial targets.

Quality Improvement

• Lead on the identification and introduction of a formal Quality Improvement methodology across the organisation and a framework for identifying, planning, implementing and evaluating specific improvement projects.
• Provide strong and effective leadership in undertaking major reviews and investigations, ensuring a robust and independent approach to the inspection and scrutiny of the quality of care, in order to transparently identify good practice and areas for improvement.
• Share this learning across the organisation for the benefit of all.
• Provide organisational leadership in the development of intelligence and learning systems in order to develop a systematic approach to the early identification of concerns and the sharing of learning, which promotes improvement and better outcomes.
• Lead the establishment and fostering of strategic alliances with other bodies across the health and social care sector, focused on sharing good practice, skills and expertise and benchmarking AFG with our peers.
• Promote dialogue and proactive relationship management with a wide range of external stakeholders (such as families, CQC, commissioners and the media) so that the objectives and priorities of the organisation and findings from reviews are understood and disseminated, and used to inform the development of AFG policy and practice.
• Create a learning culture which encourages and supports transparency in accountability and an ethos of improvement.
• Embed a willingness to trial and/or introduce new ways of working and be proactive in learning from others including peer review.

Co-production

• Unlock the potential within this organisation to enable people we support, our staff and other stakeholders to co-produce new ways of thinking and working for the organisation.
• Implement and champion our co-production strategy so that AFG services and support models work better for the people that use them.
• Provide inspirational leadership to promote a culture of involvement, transparency and respect for the views of people with lived experience across the organisation.
• Develop the structures and processes required to sustain co-production, such as training and support.
• Adopt a strengths-based approach that recognises and values the talents, ideas and abilities of the people supported.

Goals & Outcomes

• Implement and champion the delivery of AFG’s strategic ambition around independence-focused goals and outcomes.
• Ensure that our people, systems and processes empower every person supported to have meaningful, independence-focused goals that are co-produced, tracked, and evaluated to drive personal outcomes and service excellence.
• Embed co-production and personalisation as golden threads throughout the goals and outcomes framework.

Practice Development

• Lead on the improvement of skills, practice, knowledge and confidence across our operational staff and manager workforce in the delivery of amazing support and amazing outcomes.
• Develop and implement learning and practice development initiatives to meet the bespoke needs of our different service lines.
• Utilise analytics and metrics to monitor and report on practice development initiatives that make data-driven recommendations for improvement.

General

• Support the design and implementation of the organisation’s new digital care management system.
• Support the Chief Quality & Risk Officer on the design and implementation of an annual quality and practice development strategy.
• Support the Chief Quality & Risk Officer in the provision of advice and guidance to the Executive and Board on all quality, safety and practice development matters within AFG and the wider health and social care sector.
• Support the Chief Quality & Risk Officer and the wider Executive team in the development and delivery of the annual business plan.
• Contribute to the wider strategic activities of the organisation.
• Ensure the integrity and accuracy of quality and safety data provided to the organisation for the purpose of compliance and decision making.
• Responsible for the day-to-day effective management of the Quality Team and Learning Team personnel and activity to maximise resource effectiveness and prioritisation.
• Ensure the Quality Team and Learning Team operate within their budget at all times.
• Support the Chief Quality & Risk Officer in the Nominated Individual role to maintain regulatory compliance, oversight and assurance at all times.
• Ensure that AFG produces an Annual Safeguarding Report for Board scrutiny.
• Ensure that AFG produces an Annual Health & Safety Report for Board scrutiny.
• Ensure that AFG produces an Annual Restrictive Practices Report for Board scrutiny.
• Analyse areas of risk across the organisation and allocate resources accordingly.
• Ensure Quality Team staff are led, managed and supported by just and compassionate leadership.
• Provide quarterly supervision and appraisal with direct line reports so job roles and responsibilities are clearly understood and that personal objectives are being met.
• Responsible for dealing with any disciplinary and capability concerns, including acting in a professional advisory capacity for organisation-wide disciplinary/capability hearings/investigations.
• Chair the monthly Quality & Compliance Committee.
• Make a monthly quality and safety report to ERAM.
• Make a quarterly Quality & Safety report to Trustees at Quality & Safety Committee.

Experience

• At least 5 years’ senior leadership experience working in an adult health or social care field.
• Demonstrable experience of developing and implementing assurance, improvement or practice development strategy and activity.
• Experience of working within a creative and innovative environment, and using a range of reporting tools and evidence to inform and improve practice.
• Experience of designing and implementing a new digital system to support care delivery e.g. care management system, care compliance system, incident management system, performance management system.
• Experience of using a formal improvement or change methodology.
• Experience of strategic risk management and reporting.
• Experience in the preparation of both statutory and non-statutory performance and compliance returns.
• Demonstrable experience of leading, managing and developing multi-disciplinary teams.
• Experience of managing in organisations undertaking significant change, whether as a consequence of market disruption or organisational re-engineering.
• Experience of working with Senior Executives and Board Members including the preparation and presentation of papers/reports and analysis of data.
• Experience of project managing complex strategic projects within scope, budget and timescale.

Skills And Knowledge

• Excellent problem solver.
• Highly resilient and able to work at a pace and manage competing priorities.
• Agile thinker able to take decisions.
• Highly numerate and excellent analytical skills.
• Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written) to both financial and non-financial individuals.
• High degree of IT literacy.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Ability to both adapt existing and develop new quality, operational and financial models.
• An understanding of relevant health and social care legislation and regulatory frameworks.
• Fluent on the policy context of the health & care sector.

Values and Attitudes

• Commitment to Public Service values (the Nolan Principles) and principles and the values of Alternative Futures Group.
• Commitment to developing self and others.
• Passion for making a positive difference in the lives of others.
• Commitment to the vision for social care as set out by Social Care Future and the Making It Real Framework from Think Local Act Personal.
• Understanding of how co-production can change the way the organisation thinks and works by involving people with lived experience, staff and other stakeholders in decision making in a meaningful way.

Qualifications & Training

• A professional qualification in a relevant field e.g. health, social care, regulations, operations, teaching, etc.
• Demonstrable continuous personal development.

Other

• Car driver with full license.
• Ability to travel across the Northwest and wider.
• Expectation to be in services at least 2 days per week.
• Participate in Level 3 on-call rota.
• We offer a car allowance of between £7,840 - £9,800 per annum.
• This role is Band IV as per our structure.

Interview Dates

• 1st stage – 4th February 2026 - Liverpool in person.
• 2nd Stage - Week commencing 9th February 2026 - Teams interview.