Assistant Director of Quality Governance

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1.8 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.

We encourage all our staff to have a healthy work/life balance. In doing so, you can apply for flexible working from the beginning of your employment. We offer a range of options which are designed to suit different circumstances and priorities in line with service requirements.

We are seeking an exceptional, compassionate, and forward-thinking leader to join King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as our Assistant Director of Quality Governance. Working collaboratively across the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Offices, you will play a pivotal role in driving high standards of quality, safety, risk and governance across all King’s sites. You will report to the Deputy Chief Nurse and work closely with senior clinical and operational leaders to deliver a culture of excellence, continuous learning, and robust regulatory compliance.

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated senior leader who is passionate about improving patient care and empowering teams via the quality governance agenda. You will lead specialist teams to influence the Trust‑wide patient safety and organisational risk management agendas, and ensure that our governance systems support safe, effective, and equitable services for our diverse communities. You will also contribute to the Trust’s ambition to deliver sustainable, outstanding healthcare through exemplary clinical governance and risk management.

We are looking for a leader who can inspire others, work collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams, and drive improvement through expert advice, constructive challenge and strong partnership working. We welcome applications from all sections of the community, particularly individuals from under‑represented groups.

Main duties of the job

• Quality Governance & Patient Safety
  • The role will have the responsibility for development and delivery of the Trusts clinical quality & risk management strategy and ensuring that there are robust clinical governance systems and processes across the Trust.
  • The post holder will support the delivery of the Quality Assurance Framework.
  • The post holder will work with the Corporate Medical Director for safety in delivery of the safety agenda, continuous implementation and development of PSIRF – supporting a safe culture and delivery of the improvements workstreams.
  • The role will continue to review insights across the quality agenda to explore themes, identify those emerging and provide assurance on continuous learning.
  • Work with the Deputy Chief Nurse on preparedness for CQC inspections, external reviews and other regulatory visits: including the coordination, implementation and oversight of corresponding actions.
  • Maintain the Corporate Risk Register and ensure there is a process for systematic review, assessment and monitoring of the risks and alignment with the Board Assurance Framework.
  • Maintain overall responsibility for the procurement, development and maintenance of the Trust Local Risk Management System (LRMS) including acting as data owner for this system.
  • The postholder will ensure the governance process around the Divisional Outstanding care Boards (OCB) aligned to the Group OCB and wider governance framework.
• Clinical Quality
  • Collaboratively work with the Deputy Chief Nurse and Divisional Directors of Nursing to ensure shared learning and assurance from departmental quality and safety reviews.
  • Work with the Associate Director of Nursing for Quality to ensure clinical audits are monitored, developed and utilised to drive the quality agenda across the Trust.
• Corporate
  • Lead on the development of the Quality Account.
  • Responsible for the Quality Governance, Patient Safety and Risk teams and budget.
  • Work with the Deputy Chief Nurse on CQC compliance.
  • Promote Equality and Diversity within the CNO Office.
  • Participate in the Trust’s Silver out of hours on call rota.
  • Link with King’s Commercial Services as required to provide robust quality governance expert advice.
• General
  • The post holder has a general duty of care for their own health, safety and wellbeing and that of work colleagues, visitors and patients within the hospital, in addition to any specific risk management or clinical governance accountabilities associated with this post.
  • To observe the rules, policies, procedures and standards of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust together with all relevant statutory and professional obligations.
  • We want to be an organisation where everyone shares a commitment to delivering the very best care and feels like their contribution is valuable and valued.
  • To observe and maintain strict confidentiality of personal information relating to patients and staff.
  • To be responsible, with management support, for their own personal development and to actively contribute to the development of colleagues.
• Safeguarding
  • Attending mandatory training on safeguarding children and adults.
  • Familiarising themselves with the Trust's processes for reporting concerns.
  • Reporting any safeguarding child or adult concerns appropriately.
• Infection Control Statement
  • The post holder has an important responsibility for and contribution to infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene procedures and requirements when in clinical areas.
  • These requirements are set out in the National Code of Practice on Infection Control and in local policies and procedures which will be made clear during your induction and subsequent refresher training. These standards must be strictly complied with at all times.

Qualifications

• Educated to Masters level or equivalent professional experience.
• Recognised leadership qualification.
• Professional registration – NMC, HCPC, GMC.

Experience

• Previous experience of corporate governance at senior level.
• Significant experience and skills in managing quality and clinical governance in complex healthcare organisation.
• Experience in managing Corporate Risk Registers.
• Experience of constructing and delivering presentations and chairing meetings and Board level reports.

Knowledge & Skills

• Experience knowledge and understanding of the regulatory framework for the NHS Trusts.
• Effective negotiating skills, diplomacy and influencing skills across the MDT at all levels.
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills and presentation skills, including the ability to produce high level reports/documents to board and external agencies.

IMPORTANT: Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you. If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications. To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert. Please provide email addresses for referees where possible. Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust’s criminal records checking policy. All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role. Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.