Job overview

Are you an experienced governance leader with a passion for patient safety, quality improvement and delivering exceptional care for women, babies ,children and young people?

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and forward-thinking Associate Director of Governance (Band 8c) to join the Women's and Children's Division at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, providing strategic leadership for governance, quality, patient safety and risk management across both Gynaecology and Paediatrics Services.

Working closely with the Deputy Directors of Nursing, Clinical Directors, Head of Midwifery, senior clinicians and operational leaders, you will lead the governance agenda across two high-profile specialties, ensuring robust governance systems support the delivery of safe, effective and compassionate care.

This is a pivotal leadership role with responsibility for developing and embedding a strong culture of patient safety, continuous improvement and organisational learning. You will provide expert leadership in patient safety investigations, risk management, complaints, claims, assurance processes, regulatory compliance and quality improvement, driving improvements that make a real difference to patients, families and staff.

Main duties of the job

As Associate Director of Governance, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for governance and patient safety across Gynaecology and Paediatrics.

You will:

·        Lead the governance, patient safety, quality and risk management agenda across both specialties.

·        Provide expert advice and assurance to divisional and corporate leadership teams.

·        Oversee implementation of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) and development of a strong learning culture.

·        Lead the management of serious incidents, complaints, claims, inquests and litigation processes.

·        Ensure effective governance systems are in place to monitor quality, safety and patient experience.

·        Develop and maintain divisional assurance frameworks and risk registers.

·        Lead governance reporting to divisional, Trust and external committees.

·        Drive quality improvement programmes and ensure learning from incidents, audits and patient feedback is translated into measurable service improvements.

·        Manage and develop governance teams across Gynaecology and Paediatrics.

·        Support compliance with national standards, regulatory requirements and NHS best practice.

The successful candidate will be an experienced governance professional with a proven track record of leading quality, safety and governance programmes within a complex healthcare environment.

Working for our organisation