Quality Lead (Assurance and Improvement) - North

Location – mainly covering Northern England / North Wales and any other areas if required. We are looking for a Quality (Assurance and Improvement) Lead to join our welcoming and friendly team here at Hft. This is your chance to make a real difference to people’s lives.

Salary: £41,899 plus a car user allowance £3840 and home working allowance of £288 per year.

What will you be doing? The Quality Lead role is critical to ensuring that Hft is a great place to work with a culture and a support network that enables our people to thrive. Reporting to the Head of Quality and Improvement, you will be part of a team of Quality Leads working together to drive strategic quality improvement across Hft’s services. This team sits as part of the wider Quality and Governance Portfolio. You will be responsible for undertaking internal audit and assurance activities, and for supporting services to deliver quality improvement initiatives in line with Hft’s Quality Assurance Framework. You will provide services with appropriate advice and support, and work closely with various management teams to develop and improve best practice across services. You will analyse and use quality and safety data to prioritise improvement activities to ensure Hft offers “outstanding” care and support to the people we support.

In addition, some flexibility may be required for you to support colleagues in other areas, to meet the needs of the organisation and provide cross cover to support your team. The role is home based but requires regular travel and overnight stays to deliver a programme of audit and assurance, and improvement initiatives, assessments, incident management and support visits to ensure safe, high-quality services. This requires a high-level of organisational skills and flexible, effective time management. A full driving licence and own transport is essential.

Who are you? The successful candidate will ideally have previous experience as a CQC Registered / Regional Manager or Quality professional, with experience of auditing within Health and Social Care, and a proven track record of leading services to “Outstanding.” You will have an in-depth knowledge of safety, health and social care regulatory compliance and supporting legal frameworks, to be able to coach, advise and mentor care and support colleagues within your designated areas. You will be skilled in embedding processes to drive quality standards, and have a solid understanding of assurance and “what excellent looks like.” A self-starter, you will have a continuous improvement mind-set and enjoy building strong relationships with your stakeholders, and will have excellent communication skills. A level 5 Diploma in Health and Social Care or equivalent, and a recognised Auditor qualification (or willing to work towards one) is essential. Ideally, you will have experience in quality improvement methodology, risk management and root cause analysis, with a willingness to work towards any required qualifications.

What’s in it for you? There are a range of benefits and career development opportunities at Hft. We’ll give you a comprehensive induction, full training, and lots of support along the way. With Investors in People and Skills for Care accreditation, we are committed to investing in you to ensure you have the specialist skills and expertise needed to support people to live the best life possible. As a ‘Gold’ standard Investors in People accredited employer, we are committed to supporting colleague wellbeing as a priority.

We offer:

• All Hft employees get access to the LifeWorks – the world’s biggest 24/7 colleague counselling and support service. It is completely free for all colleagues to use in complete confidence, whenever and however they want to access it.
• Access to a range of discounts on your favourite brands through Lifework
• Access to award winning training and development – Hft is one of only four charities to have achieved the Skills for Care ‘Centre of Excellence’ provider status
• A contributory pension scheme & life assurance
• Free DBS check

Hft is one of the largest charities in England and Wales supporting people with learning disabilities. We are passionate about what we do and we use our unique understanding of the challenges facing the people we support to speak up for them to bring about positive change. We have a rich 60-year heritage and a clear vision, we are ambitious and wholly committed to what we can achieve for the people we support and have embarked on a journey of transformation that will ensure we can meet their changing needs and extend our reach and impact. Find your place with us and change lives.