Patient Safety Specialist

Transformationunitgm; Greater London; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare trust in London is seeking a Patient Safety Specialist to join its Quality and Assurance Directorate. The role focuses on improving patient safety through leadership in investigations and quality improvement initiatives. The candidate should have extensive experience in patient safety and be capable of overseeing governance processes while collaborating with clinical leaders. This position offers the chance to work with a dedicated team to ensure the highest standards of care and patient safety in a dynamic healthcare environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in a patient safety or quality improvement role at band 7 or above.
• Proven ability to lead investigations and reviews.
• Experience delivering training to teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead Patient Safety Incident Investigations (PSIIs) to identify safety themes.
• Support development of the Patient Safety Incident Response Plan.
• Advise clinical teams on quality improvement methodologies.

Skills

Leadership and management skills

Knowledge of NHS regulations

Investigation methodologies

Quality improvement

Statistical analysis

Education

Masters level education

Qualification in patient safety incident investigation

Job description

Employer Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Guy's Hospital off-site Town London Salary £64,156 - £71,148 inc HCA Salary period Yearly Closing 11/01/2026 23:59 Interview date 26/01/2026

Patient Safety Specialist

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.

Job overview

Are you passionate about patient safety and keen to make a meaningful difference for patients and staff? If so, this could be the role for you. We are offering an exciting opportunity to join the Trust Patient Safety Team as a Patient Safety Specialist (Band 8a AfC) within the Quality and Assurance Directorate. The team comprises eight members dedicated to improving patient safety and delivering the Trust’s Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF). Working collaboratively with Quality and Assurance teams and corporate services, the team triangulates data to identify safety themes and drive improvements. The post holder will lead Patient Safety Incident Investigations (PSIIs), embed learning across the organisation, and build networks to share best practice. We are seeking candidates with strong expertise in patient safety, investigation methodologies, and quality improvement, who can work both independently and as part of a dynamic team to influence change and enhance care.

Main duties of the job

The Patient Safety Specialist will work with the Trust Senior Patient Safety Lead and clinical leaders to ensure patient safety remains a top priority and that national safety standards are met. They will support the development and delivery of the Trust’s Patient Safety Incident Response Plan (PSIRP) and Framework (PSIRF), with a focus on quality improvement. The post holder will lead Patient Safety Incident Investigations (PSIIs), provide expert advice on safety and quality, and promote a culture of openness and learning. They will oversee governance processes related to incident management, including trend analysis, shared learning, and Duty of Candour compliance. This cross-site role requires strong leadership, collaboration, and communication skills to influence change and embed best practice. The successful candidate will be a trusted team player, able to engage colleagues at all levels and drive improvements in patient care through evidence-based learning and assurance.

Working for our organisation

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust is part of King's Health Partners, an academic health sciences centre, and pioneers in health research, and providing high quality teaching and education. This partnership helps provide the latest treatments alongside the best possible care.

The Quality and Assurance Directorate consists of 4 teams - Resolution (formerly known as Complaints) Team, Legal Team, Risk and Assurance Team and the Quality Improvement Patient Safety (QIPS) Team. The teams work closely together to provide the necessary support, guidance and training to the Clinical Groups (and their Directorates) to promote excellent clinical leadership in all areas of the hospital, which contributes to a positive patient experience and promotes the Trust's values.

We are jointly committed to creating and maintaining a fair and supportive working environment and culture, where contributions are fully recognised and valued by all and staff feel empowered to carry out their duties to the best of their abilities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Description:

Patient Safety and Clinical Governance

· Provide specialised expert advice and leadership on patient safety, incident investigation, systems‑thinking, quality improvement, and matters relating to a wide range of quality assurance topics.

· Support and contribute to the development and implementation of the Trust’s Patient Safety Incident Response (PSIRP) and Framework (PSIRF) to be used for responding to patient safety events and identification of areas for improvement.

· Support and contribute to the development and implementation of a patient safety response plan for each Clinical Group and core service (cutting across all Clinical Groups) to appropriate respond to patient safety events within the Trust’s overall quality framework.

· Lead on specific Trust‑wide patient safety incident investigations or high level serious incidents as required, with in‑depth systems thinking investigations aligned to the trust patient safety incident response plan.

· Identify patient safety concerns and themes from different patient safety data sources (such as incidents).

· Lead on independent internal reviews of services in relation to patient safety and quality.

· Provide expertise in planning quality improvement projects, using appropriate service improvement techniques to support departments in the identification of opportunities for improvement and the elimination of waste/non‑value.

· Ensure regular analysis and review of trust incident data to actively seek areas for improvement.

· Monitor achievement of key patient safety quality indicators, prospectively highlight areas of potential concern for clinical service and/or Trust compliance.

· Advise and assist clinical services and corporate departments in the development of improvement methodologies to improve patient safety.

· Identify learning opportunities that will arise from all aspects of quality and assurance.

· Make recommendations, provide expert advice, prepare and present reports/briefings for safety as required.

· Provide, receive and present highly complex, sensitive or contentious information in clear and readable format on a range of patient safety matters.

· Use and apply motivational and negotiating skills to encourage collaborative working to improve services performance where there may be resistance to change.

Patient Safety Training, Analysis and Information Resources

· Provide, receive and analyse highly complex, technical, sensitive and contentious information (including statistical data) and translate as required to ensure comprehensive understanding across the Trust.

· Support the Clinical Group Patient Safety teams to develop and deliver clinical governance programmes to maintain and improve the quality of patient care through quality improvement projects.

· Support the development and implementation of the long‑term strategic plan for patient safety training and education, ensuring the right staff receive appropriate training on patient safety in‑line with the national patient safety syllabus and partner organisations.

· Support the development and delivery of training and formal teaching on patient safety, investigations, after action reviews, quality improvement and human factors and ergonomics (system‑thinking) for the Trust and wider clinical governance teams.

· Support the maintenance of the Trust’s patient safety ‘Best Practice’ webpages and clinical resources database, ensuring best practices is shared across the Trust.

· Attend and support the Trust Risk and Assurance Committee and other senior Trust‑wide sub‑committees and working groups as appropriate, ensuring effective dissemination and co‑ordination of patient safety information and assurance from these groups.

· Prepare and present regular progress reports on quality improvement, patient safety and best practice as required.

· Communicate pro‑actively with Trust staff, including clinical staff, patient safety, risk management, directorate management teams and Clinical Groups.

· Provide and receive complex and/or sensitive information orally, electronically, in writing in a range of formats and manage effective communication at all levels of seniority.

People and Project Management

· Line manage the Patient Safety Managers, Patient Safety Officer and Patient Safety Co‑ordinator within the Quality and Assurance Directorate, to support, motivate and develop staff within the department and more widely in terms of quality assurance Trust‑wide.

· Deputise for the Trust Senior Patient Safety Lead as required.

· Ensure that staff are trained, supervised and appraised appropriately to equip them to carry out their work effectively and efficiently.

· Build and develop key relationships and consult and maintain networks internally and externally.

· Support the delivery of a range of initiatives and projects arising directly and indirectly from the department’s field of expertise, mainly Trust‑wide and via co‑ordination and co‑operation with clinical directors, clinical leads, the patient safety team.

· Support and contribute to the research and development of the Trust patient safety strategy.

· Support and give professional advice on policies adopted by the Trust in its delivery of healthcare activities and its compliance with the Health & Social Care Act, CQC and other, relevant national bodies in relation to patient safety and quality.

· Support policy/service development by maintaining a comprehensive knowledge of emerging policies from government departments and other external bodies which may have an impact on healthcare services.

· Plan and implement new ways of working and facilitate collaborative working within the Clinical Groups and across the Trust.

· Named budget holder and financial approver for the patient safety specialist team, including the approval and oversight of financial spend in relation to externally commissioned patient safety investigations within the agreed budget.

As a specialist, responsibility and freedom to take action based on own interpretation of the clinical or professional policiesthat apply in area of specialism, advising Clinical Groups and Trust on how these should be interpreted and delivered.

Person specification

Qualifications/ Education

• Masters level of education and/or relevant professional qualification
• Further qualification in statistical analysis, quality improvement, or risk management.
• Qualification or advanced training in patient safety incident investigation (human factors) and quality improvement methodologies
• Member of relevant professional body or clinical background
• Experience in a patient safety or quality improvement role at band 7 or above
• Experience of delivering training to diverse teams or departments
• Experience of line management
• Experience of leading investigations and independent reviews (such as root cause analysis) to a high standard
• Experience of managing a range of simultaneous projects, preferably within an NHS quality or patient safety context
• NHS experience in a senior quality, safety or quality assurance role
• Experience of developing policy for clinically related practices

Skills/ Knowledge/ Ability

• Proven leadership and management skills
• Good knowledge of the NHS and health related patient safety and quality regulatory activity
• Clear understanding of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy
• Good understanding of the principles and practice of clinical governance and patient safety, required outputs and their use to improve clinical practice
• Able to provide, receive and present highly complex, sensitive and contentious information
• Clear knowledge of the national patient safety requirements and standards in the NHS
• Understanding of, and commitment to, using comparative information to stimulate clinical quality improvement
• Able to negotiate with senior stakeholders on difficult and controversial issues
• Ability to undertake internal investigations and independent reviews (such as root cause analysis) to a high standard
• Able to develop and use comparative information and statistical reports to stimulate clinical quality improvement
• Ability to devise and implement a rigorous and analytical approach to information collection and presentation
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight and often changing deadlines
• Ability to work on own initiative and organise workload, allocating work as necessary
• Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues, and able to make sound judgement of when to escalation
• Clear knowledge of systems thinking and management of quality information systems

Guy’s and St Thomas’celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.

Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.

We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personalcircumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on‑boarding process.

Due to recent changes inthe UK immigration rules which affect Skilled Worker Visas, Global Business Mobility, Higher Skill Level and Increased Salary Thresholds, please ensure that you are able to meet the requirements to live and work in the UK before applying. Further informationabout eligibilityis available on the UK Government website.

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