Falls Strategy Lead in Cowbridge

An exciting new opportunity has arisen for a motivated and enthusiastic individual to join the Patient Safety and Quality Team as Falls Strategy Lead. In order to meet the needs of this role, you will need to have a passion for improving patient safety through the reduction of avoidable falls. The post holder will be an integral part of the Patient Safety and Quality Team but will also engage widely with teams and organisations across the health and social care landscape. The post holder will work closely with those involved in falls prevention and management, providing strategic direction and an overview of falls improvement efforts. The successful candidate will be supported by colleagues to develop expert knowledge and skills to become one of the lead specialists within the organisation with regards to the prevention and management of falls. The post holder will need to be confident in presenting and discussing their work with colleagues at all levels of the organisation, with support from senior team members. As a team member, the post holder will support the development of a strong patient safety cultural change across the organisation.

Main duties of the job

• To coordinate falls improvement work across both secondary and community care.
• To support the Head of Safety, Quality and Organisational Learning in identifying learning themes and feeding back the outcomes to relevant committees.
• To be responsible and accountable for the implementation of effective, efficient and evidenced-based falls prevention and management of falls procedures across the UHB, ensuring a partnership approach to achieve the outcome of reducing harm from adult in-patient falls.
• You will support the development of referral pathways appropriate for individual/service need.
• To co-ordinate and support the work of the Falls Delivery Group in developing an overarching UHB framework for the prevention and management of falls.
• To be responsible and accountable for delivering the strategy for falls prevention and management teaching and training across the UHB, identifying the educational requirements and communicating the vision and actions required to deliver a quality and safe service.
• The postholder will be expected to demonstrate to others how to undertake effective falls prevention and management.
• To support the implementation of local and national frameworks and policies across the UHB as required, including the Stay Steady programme in primary care involving working with schools and in the inpatient falls strategies which will impact across the Cardiff and Vale Communities.

About us

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is one of the largest Integrated Health Boards in the UK, employing over 17,000 staff, providing over 100 specialist services. Working across 6 hospital sites, we have a diverse range of career opportunities to offer. Serving over 500,000 people living in Cardiff and the Vale, we are focussed on the health and care needs of our local population whilst working with our partners to develop regional services. Together we are committed to improving health outcomes for everyone, delivering excellent care and support.

Our mission is "Living Well, Caring Well, Working Together", and our vision is that every person's chance of leading a healthy life should be equal. Our 10-year transformation and improvement strategy, Shaping Our Future Wellbeing, is our chance to work collaboratively with the public and our workforce to make our health board more sustainable for the future.

Person Specification

• Qualifications
• Essential: Registered healthcare professional, MSc qualification or equivalent experience, Evidence of continued professional development.
• Desirable: Quality improvement qualification e.g. IQT Silver.
• Experience
• Essential: Significant post registration experience, Managing change, Multi professional team working.
• Desirable: Demonstrate a practical problem solving approach to risk management/clinical governance, Experience of project management, Experience in the preparation and implementation of Policies and Procedures, Previous experience of risk management/clinical governance/patient safety and quality.
• Skills
• Essential: Highly skilled communicator (verbal and written), Ability to produce high quality documentation in the form of reports and presentations suitable for all levels of Committees/Groups, Attention to detail with an ability to meet deadline/time management, Ability to problem solve and think strategically, Have a highly focussed analytical mind able to sensitively question and challenge individuals at all levels across the Health Board, Ability to work individually and as a member of the team, Computer literate in the use of Microsoft Office.
• Desirable: Project management skills, Experience of using Datix or similar software, Experience of participating in MDT investigations/reviews, Incident investigation and investigation report writing skills.
• Special Knowledge
• Essential: Good understanding of falls prevention and interventions, Clear understanding of the concept of evidence-based practice and clinical effectiveness, Conversant with Health and Care Standards, Working knowledge of relevant literature, research and legislation relating to clinical governance, patient safety and quality, Experience of risk assessment tools, methodologies and risk management.
• Personal Qualities
• Essential: Must be able to work independently and as part of a team, Must be able to demonstrate leadership and management skills, Must be committed to the promotion of safety and quality through the organisation, Flexible approach and adaptable to change, Self-motivated, proactive and innovative, A leader with an ability to motivate and influence others to ensure sound quality and safety principles are embedded, Evidence of professional and personal development, Ability to sensitively challenge confidently in order to identify learning from deaths.
• Desirable: Ability to work flexibly to meet the needs of the service, Ability to challenge conventions, Ability to negotiate.
• Other
• Essential: Ability to visit all sites of the UHB in a timely manner.
• Desirable: Ability to speak Welsh.