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Job summary

Main area
PP Managing Director
Grade
Band 8d
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
259-8368427ESEL
Employer
Barts Health NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Royal London Hospital
Town
London
Salary
£103,102 - £117,560 per annum inc
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
29/10/2026 23:59

Employer heading

Barts Health NHS Trust logo

Quality and Improvement Director

Band 8d

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. 

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

Barts Health supports the Pregnancy Loss Pledge and commits to supporting their staff through the distress of miscarriage.

We are dedicated to being an outstanding place to work and will work with you to get the best experience. We know flexible working is not a one size fits all and will mean something different to everyone. We are inclusive, so if you are interested in flexible working, please speak to the recruiting manager.

Job overview

NHS East and South East London Pathology Partnership is one of five pathology networks in London and is seeking a board-level Quality and Improvement Director.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a tight-knit director team.  As one of the largest pathology networks in the NHS, we carry out over 100,000 tests a day for over three million patients.

As Quality and Improvement Director you will be responsible for delivering all aspects of the Pathology Partnership’s clinical governance, quality management, service improvement, training, compliance, risk, and health and safety across all Pathology Partnership laboratories.

You will also be deeply involved in broader strategic and day-to-day decision making for the organisation to ensure that we stay true to our vision ‘to always deliver consistently reliable and timely pathology tests for every one of our patients’.

You will be a member of the Pathology Partnership’s Board, together with four other directors, six executive directors from our three owner trusts and an independent Chair.

The Pathology Partnership is hosted by Barts Health and so you will have the support of one of the NHS’ largest hospital groups.

Main duties of the job

You will be the board director responsible for leading clinical governance, quality management, service improvement, training, compliance, risk, and health and safety across all seven of the Pathology Partnership laboratories.

This will include accountability for accreditation with UKAS, MHRA and other regulatory bodies, management of Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) and complaints processes, maintenance of the Partnership’s risk register and delivery of service improvements identified as part of service changes or any agreed Cost Improvement Programmes (CIPs) for the Partnership. Through these activities, you will contribute to ensuring that services provide optimum patient care, experience and value for money. 

You will be a member of the Partnership’s Strategic Management Board, which is responsible for the strategic direction and effective operational management of the Pathology Partnership and – as a member of the Partnership’s director team and wider senior leadership team – will collectively provide leadership, drive and direction for the Partnership.

The Quality and Improvement Director will be responsible for quality and improvement-related leadership for any expansion of the existing pathology network to incorporate new member organisations.

Working for our organisation

The NHS East and South East London Pathology Partnership is one of five pathology networks in London and one of 27 networks nationally.

Formed in 2021, the Pathology Partnership brought together the pathology services of three London NHS trusts: Barts Health NHS Trust, Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.  This partnership, which is hosted by Barts Health, created a single NHS organisation that is entirely focused upon the provision of pathology.  Its purpose is to provide patients and clinicians with a high-quality, cost-effective service that ensures the long-term sustainability of NHS pathology services in east and south east London and beyond.

 The Partnership employs circa 850 staff with world-leading experts across local, regional and national laboratories located at seven hospital sites.  The Partnership operates a hub and spoke model of service delivery, with the network’s hub laboratory situated at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.

Following a three-year transformation programme, the Partnership operates a single, shared Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS); a single, shared Quality Management System (QMS) and has a single UKAS accreditation for all services.

The Partnership carries out circa 100,000 tests a day, which is approximately 3 % of the national total.  The 2025/26 total operating costs across the Partnership were circ. £126m.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The full job description and person specification attached below provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, together with the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required.

The Pathology Partnership is hosted by Barts Health and we embrace Barts Health’s WeCare values.  The WeCare values are set out I the job description.  attached. We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

 We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within the Pathology Partnership and Barts Health at this band.

 

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Significant senior level experience of quality management in Pathology services
  • Significant experience of delivering continuous quality improvement, ensuring consistently high standards of clinical safety and quality and working with regulators/accreditation bodies, e.g. UKAS and HTA
  • Experience of managing regulatory compliance inspections

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Able to build and lead teams and to work effectively as part of a team

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Detailed knowledge of UKAS, HTA, MHRA and other regulatory/accreditation requirements

Qualifications

Desirable criteria
  • HCPC registration

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Green@Barts HealthNHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyLondon Living Wage is a voluntary commitment made by employers, who can become accredited with the Living Wage FoundationPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveInvestors in People: GoldImproving working livesMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Pregnancy Loss PledgeDisability confident employerStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Happy to Talk Flexible Working

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Andrew Knott
Job title
Chief Executive
Email address
[email protected]
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