Clinical Governance Lead united kingdom in England

The Clinical Governance Lead will provide strategic and operational clinical governance oversight across Bush and Co Care Solutions, ensuring the highest standards of safe, effective, and person-centred care. The post-holder will act as the lead expert in clinical governance, driving a culture of continuous quality improvement, accountability, and regulatory compliance throughout the organisation. This is a senior, autonomous role suited to an experienced registered healthcare professional who is able to work independently from a home base whilst engaging with services, staff, and stakeholders at locations across England. Experience of Case Management desirable but not essential.

Key Responsibilities

• Clinical Governance Framework
  • Review, develop, implement, and maintain a robust clinical governance framework aligned to CQC fundamental standards, NICE guidance, and relevant legislation.
  • Lead the care service approach to governance, ensuring all clinical processes are evidence-based, documented, and consistently applied.
  • Provide expert clinical governance advice and support to the senior management team, registered manager, and care management team.
  • Develop and maintain oversight of the governance dashboard, reporting key clinical performance indicators to the Registered Manager and Head of Care on a regular basis.
• Clinical Audit
  • Design, lead, and co-ordinate a programme of clinical audits across the care service, including medication management, care planning, infection prevention and control, manual handling, and safeguarding compliance.
  • Analyse audit findings, produce clear written reports, and present outcomes and recommendations to leadership teams and relevant stakeholders.
  • Monitor the implementation of audit action plans, tracking improvements and re-auditing to verify sustainable change.
  • Support service managers in embedding a culture of self-auditing and reflective clinical practice.
• Clinical Risk Management
  • Lead the development and review of clinical risk assessment tools and frameworks, ensuring they are current, evidence-based, and appropriate to our client group.
  • Participate in the Company wide review and management of the clinical risk register, ensuring timely identification, escalation, and mitigation of risks to service users and staff.
  • Provide guidance and support to care staff and management on complex or high-risk clinical situations.
  • Lead or contribute to Serious Incident investigations and Root Cause Analyses (RCAs), producing quality investigation reports with clear learning outcomes.
  • Ensure appropriate reporting to external bodies including CQC, NHS England, local authorities, and safeguarding teams where required.
• Policies and Procedures
  • Lead the development, review, and ratification of clinical policies, procedures, and guidelines, ensuring they reflect current legislation, best practice, and regulatory requirements.
  • Manage a scheduled programme of policy review to ensure all clinical documentation remains valid and up to date.
  • Communicate policy updates effectively to all relevant staff and support training where required.
  • Ensure policies are accessible to staff across all locations and embedded in day-to-day practice.
• Competency Frameworks and Training
  • Develop and maintain clinical competency frameworks for all relevant staff roles, ensuring they are aligned to professional standards and the needs of the people we support.
  • Deliver or co-ordinate specialist clinical training sessions to include medication administration competency.
  • Lead on identifying other clinical training requirements and developing internal resource to deliver.
• Regulatory Compliance and Inspection Readiness
  • Ensure ongoing compliance with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and all applicable CQC standards and Quality Statements.
  • Support the service to remain at all times prepared for CQC inspection, providing documentation, evidence portfolios, and clinical briefings as required.
  • Liaise with CQC inspectors, commissioners, and local authority quality assurance teams as required.
  • Keep abreast of changes in legislation, guidance, and best practice, and lead on translating these into operational changes across the organisation.
• Safeguarding
  • Act as a senior point of clinical expertise in matters relating to adult safeguarding, working in collaboration with designated safeguarding leads.
  • Ensure clinical governance processes support the identification, reporting, and learning from safeguarding concerns and incidents.
• Stakeholder Engagement
  • Build and maintain effective relationships with NHS colleagues, commissioners, ICBs, local authorities, and other external partners.
  • Represent Bush and Co Care Solutions at clinical governance forums, network meetings, and multi-agency events as required.
  • Champion service user involvement in clinical governance processes, ensuring the voices of people we support are central to quality improvement.

Person Specification

Qualifications — Essential

• Registered Nurse with current, valid registration with the NMC.
• Evidence of continued professional development relevant to clinical governance or quality improvement.

Qualifications — Desirable

• Postgraduate qualification in clinical governance, healthcare leadership, quality improvement, or equivalent.

Experience — Essential

• Significant post-registration clinical experience, ideally within community, domiciliary, or social care settings.
• Demonstrable experience in a clinical governance, quality, or clinical leadership role.
• Experience designing and leading clinical audits and translating findings into service improvement.
• Experience developing and reviewing clinical policies, risk frameworks, and competency assessments.
• Experience conducting investigations including serious incidents or Root Cause Analyses.
• Knowledge of CQC regulatory requirements and experience supporting inspection processes.
• Experience working within a regulated care provider organisation at governance or senior clinical level.
• Experience working with individuals with complex care needs, physical disabilities, acquired brain injuries, or learning disabilities.
• Experience engaging with commissioners, ICBs, or local authority quality teams.

Skills and Attributes

• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills with the ability to interpret complex clinical and quality data.
• Excellent written communication skills, including the ability to produce clear, professional reports, policies, and governance documentation.
• Confident verbal communicator able to present findings and recommendations to Board level.
• High degree of self-motivation and the ability to manage a complex workload autonomously from a home base.
• Flexible and willing to travel extensively across England to visit services as required.
• Strong IT proficiency including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint); experience with care management systems is advantageous.
• Calm, collaborative, and solutions-focused approach to problem-solving.
• Commitment to the values of Bush and Co Care Solutions: dignity, respect, person-centred care, and continuous improvement.

Additional Information

This post is subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. The post-holder must hold a full UK driving licence and have access to their own vehicle for nationwide travel. Travel expenses will be reimbursed in line with the company's expenses policy. The post-holder is expected to maintain their professional registration and engage in ongoing continuing professional development. This job description is not exhaustive and may be subject to review in consultation with the post-holder in line with the evolving needs of the organisation. Some limited out of hours requirements.