Head of Governance and Shared Services

Bury Hospice is entering a period of growth and innovation, focused on delivering compassionate, high-quality care to patients and families. As Head of Governance and Shared Services, you will play a pivotal leadership role in driving transformation, strengthening governance, and supporting long-term sustainability, ensuring the organisation continues to provide exceptional, dignified care for the community.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, the Head of Governance and Shared Services leads an integrated approach to quality governance, support services, and organisational assurance across the Hospice. The role fosters a culture of continuous quality improvement, supported by robust governance, risk, and performance systems.

The post holder is responsible for ensuring effective and proportionate governance, risk and compliance arrangements that provide clear assurance that services are safe, effective, and aligned to statutory requirements, national guidance, and Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards, maintaining continuous inspection readiness.

The role also provides leadership and oversight of Hospice wide services across the Hospice, ensuring these functions are safe, efficient, and responsive to service needs. It supports the integration of governance and service operations to enable high-quality care delivery and achievement of the Hospices strategic priorities.

Bury Hospice provides compassionate, specialist palliative and end-of-life care to people and families across the Bury community. Our values: to learn, inspire, care and respect guide everything we do.

Job responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership
  • Act as a senior leader contributing to organisational strategy, business planning, and transformation.
  • Lead the development and delivery of the Hospice Quality Strategy and Governance Framework.
  • Provide visible, values-driven leadership and promote a positive organisational culture.
  • Support the Board and Chief Executive through robust assurance reporting.
  • Build strong partnerships across the health and social care system.
  • Drive innovation and service development to ensure sustainability and responsiveness.
• Quality, Governance and Assurance
  • Lead and coordinate organisation-wide governance systems, ensuring a structured and consistent approach to compliance, assurance, and performance monitoring.
  • Develop and maintain a robust governance framework across clinical and support services.
  • Produce high-quality reports for SLT and Board to inform decision making.
  • Lead the development of Annual Quality Accounts and other statutory reports, ensuring accuracy, transparency, and regulatory compliance.
  • Oversee governance committees and action tracking processes, ensuring timely follow-up, accountability, and closure of actions.
  • Promote a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
  • Ensure governance systems provide clear and timely assurance on risks, performance, and outcomes.
  • Embed an organisation-wide quality improvement methodology, ensuring consistent application and measurable impact across clinical and corporate service.
• Compliance and Regulatory Readiness
  • Ensure the organisation maintains full compliance with CQC standards, legislation, and national guidance, supporting the delivery of safe and effective care.
  • Maintain continuous inspection readiness, ensuring evidence, systems and processes are in place to demonstrate compliance at all times.
  • Lead preparation for inspections, reviews and external assessments, coordinating evidence and supporting teams throughout the process.
  • Monitor regulatory and legislative developments, ensuring the organisation responds proactively to changes in requirements or guidance.
  • Act as the organisational lead for external regulatory engagement, including managing relationships with regulators and overseeing responses to inspection findings and recommendations.
• Audit, Risk and Patient Safety
  • Lead the organisational audit programme aligned to risks and priorities.
  • Ensure audit findings translate into measurable improvement.
  • Oversee risk management processes and the organisational risk register.
  • Oversee incidents, complaints and investigations using a systems-based learning approach.
  • Promote a just culture of openness and learning.
  • Lead implementation of PSIRF-aligned safety learning systems.
  • Provide Board-level assurance on safety, risk, and mitigation.
• Information Governance and Data
  • Act as Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO), providing Board-level leadership and assurance for information governance, data security, and risk management across the organisation.
  • Ensure compliance with GDPR and the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT), maintaining robust systems and controls to safeguard sensitive information and ensure regulatory requirements are met.
  • Lead the development of reporting systems, ensuring timely, accurate and accessible data is available to support operational, strategic, and Board-level decision making.
  • Provide analysis of performance data, interpreting trends and identifying risks, opportunities, and areas for improvement to support service quality and organisational performance.
  • Strengthen data maturity, developing advanced reporting, insight generation and promoting a culture of data-driven decision making across the Hospice.
• Support Services Leadership
  • Lead Estates, Facilities, HR, IT, Catering and Housekeeping.
  • Ensure services operate safely, efficiently and in line with regulatory standards.
  • Lead the development and delivery of corporate strategies, including workforce, IT, and estates plans, ensuring alignment with organisational priorities and future service needs.
  • Oversee budgets, financial planning, and business cases, ensuring effective use of resources and supporting sustainable decision making.
  • Ensure integration between support services and clinical delivery, promoting joined up working to optimise operational effectiveness, enhance patient experience and support front-line services.
• Policy, Systems and Continuous Improvement
  • Maintain and oversee the organisational policy framework, ensuring policies are current, accessible and support safe, effective practice across all services.
  • Develop and implement systems for tracking assurance, performance and actions, providing clear oversight and accountability across governance processes.
  • Lead and support service improvement initiatives, embedding a culture of continuous improvement and ensuring changes result in measurable benefits.
  • Benchmark performance externally, using data and comparative insights to drive improvement and inform strategic decision making.
  • Ensure all policies and procedures are aligned to legislation, national guidance and organisational risk, supporting compliance and reducing risk across the Hospice.
• Collaborations and Engagement
  • Work collaboratively within internal teams and leaders, build effective relationships with external stakeholders and partners, represent the Hospice at regional and national forums, provide leadership, training and support on governance, risk, and compliance, ensuring staff at all levels understand their responsibilities and contribute to organisational assurance, act as a visible ambassador for quality and governance, influencing behaviours and culture to promote openness, learning and continuous improvement across the organisation.

Person Specification

Personal Attributes

• Essential
• Self-motivated and proactive
• Able to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines
• Collaborative team player
• Committed to continuous professional development
• Demonstrates commitment to the vision and values of Bury Hospice
• Desirable
• A full driving licence and access to a vehicle insured for business use

Knowledge

• Essential
• Knowledge of governance frameworks and processes
• Understanding of risk management and organisational impact
• Qualifications
• Essential
• Educated to degree level in relevant subject or equivalent level qualification or significant experience of working at a similar level in specialist area supported by professional development
• Desirable
• Professional qualification in governance, quality, risk, or management
• Postgraduate qualification or equivalent experience
• Training in patient safety, quality improvement, or PSIRF

Skills

• Essential
• Strong organisational and time management skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to analyse data and inform decision making
• Strong project management and problem-solving skills
• Proficient IT skills
• Ability to present information clearly
• Desirable
• Proven, motivational leader with strong influencing, negotiation, and interpersonal skills, able to provide support, empathy, and reassurance

Experience

• Essential
• Experience in quality, governance, or compliance roles
• Experience of leading organisational change and improvement
• Experience of developing policies, strategies, and reports
• Experience managing staff and services
• Experience in risk management and audit
• Experience engaging stakeholders at all levels
• Desirable
• Experience at senior management level in healthcare
• Experience of CQC inspections or regulatory engagement
• Experience of leading corporate service functions
• Understanding of hospice or healthcare environment
• Experience of completing the DSPT

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.

Employer details

Employer name: Bury Hospice

Address: Rochdale Old Road, Bury, Lancashire, BL9 7RG, United Kingdom

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