Job overview
The NatSSIPs 2 Project Lead will provide senior programme leadership for the Trust-wide implementation and sustainment of the National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures 2. The postholder will work autonomously within national guidance and Trust governance arrangements to support safe, reliable and proportionate invasive procedure practice across relevant clinical pathways and services.
Working with clinical, operational, patient safety, governance and education leads, the postholder will support delivery of the NatSSIPs 2 Organisational Standards of People, Processes and Performance, and the reliable implementation of “The NatSSIPs Eight” sequential standards. This will include strengthening governance, training, documentation, assurance, data use, patient involvement and proportionate application across major, minor, emergency and specialty-specific invasive procedures.
The role will require significant judgement, influence and collaborative leadership to reduce unwarranted variation, address barriers to implementation, and provide clear recommendations, risk escalation and assurance to senior leaders and governance committees. The postholder will use human factors, quality improvement and measurement for improvement approaches to embed sustainable change and support lasting improvements in patient safety.
Main duties of the job
- Lead the Trust-wide implementation and sustainability of NatSSIPs 2 across invasive procedure pathways.
- Develop and embed governance, assurance, policy and education arrangements that support safe and standardised practice.
- Use safety intelligence, audit, peer review and quality improvement methods to identify risks, reduce variation and drive improvement.
- Build clinical engagement and support cultural change through human factors, psychological safety and multidisciplinary working.
- Provide programme leadership, expert advice and Board-level assurance, ensuring delivery of benefits and transition into business as usual
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Key Responsibilities
- Lead Trust-wide implementation and sustainment of NatSSIPs 2, providing senior programme leadership, oversight and delivery grip across relevant invasive procedure pathways, services and divisions.
- Embed the NatSSIPs 2 framework, including People, Processes and Performance, The NatSSIPs Eight and the principles of Standardise, Harmonise and Educate, ensuring proportionate application across major, minor, emergency and specialty-specific procedures.
- Strengthen governance, policy and assurance arrangements by supporting the NatSSIPs 2 steering group, developing policies, standard operating procedures (SOPs), Local Safety Standards for Safety Procedures (LocSSIPs), checklists and assurance processes, and ensuring clear links to divisional governance, Patient Safety, Quality Governance and Board-level reporting.
- Use data, intelligence and quality improvement methods to identify variation, risk and improvement priorities, drawing on incidents, near misses, complaints, learning from excellence, debrief themes, peer review, training data and audit outputs.
- Support peer review and direct observation of practice so that assurance reflects the quality of NatSSIPs delivery, team engagement and safety behaviours, rather than relying solely on documentation audit.
- Lead engagement, education and change activity with clinical, operational, education, governance and patient safety teams, including multidisciplinary training in human factors, systems thinking, team behaviours and local NatSSIPs 2 requirements.
- Promote patient involvement and safety culture by ensuring patient information, opportunities to speak up, complaints, feedback, learning responses and Patient Safety Partner input inform pathway design and improvement activity.
- Provide expert programme advice and reporting, interpreting national guidance, advising stakeholders, producing high-quality reports, escalating risks and presenting clear recommendations, mitigations, progress and residual assurance gaps to senior leaders and committees.
- Provide matrix leadership and programme coordination for project support, workstream leads and contributors, ensuring actions, resources, benefits, handover and transition into business as usual are effectively managed.
Management and Leadership
- Provide strategic and operational leadership for the Trust-wide implementation of NatSSIPs 2, including the development of systems, policies, standards and governance arrangements required to embed safe, standardised and sustainable practice across invasive procedures. Exercise delegated authority to make recommendations, agree corrective actions, escalate risks and influence delivery across divisions and services.
- As an active member of the Safety and Quality Team, build strong, constructive relationships with colleagues and work collaboratively with leaders, senior managers, and clinicians across the Trust to influence practice, support delivery, and ensure consistent adoption.
- Work autonomously within broad occupational policies and national guidance, interpreting requirements, determining the local implementation approach and resolving complex delivery issues without routine direct supervision.
- Support the establishment and effective operation of a multidisciplinary NatSSIPs 2 steering group or equivalent governance forum, with clear links to specialty leads, divisional governance structures, the Patient Safety team, Quality Governance and Board-level assurance routes.
Planning and Organisation
- Plan and design the programmes of work, monitor overall progress and initiate actions as required to keep the programmes on track.
- Analyse complex problems or situations, providing interpretation and offering a range of options and recommendations.
- Design and facilitate workshops, meetings and focus groups including planning content and attendance/involvement, preparing pre-reading materials, and structuring discussions to ensure successful delivery. Work effectively in group situations to solve problems and build buy-in to solutions.
- Proactively monitor and report on progress against the plan. This will require liaising with stakeholders and obtaining, analysing and interpreting updates and other key monitoring information.
- Understand, anticipate, highlight, and document risks, issues and actions; ensure early identification and proactive mitigation/resolution where possible; ensure prompt escalation of concerns where appropriate.
- Plan implementation activity across major and minor invasive procedure pathways, ensuring that safety checks are proportionate to procedural risk and that emergency, urgent and specialty-specific contexts are appropriately risk assessed.
- Tracking and report benefits realisation to ensure that the programme is achieving its objectives.
- At regular intervals report the progress of the programme to the relevant boards/committees.
- Develop a sustainability and transition plan so that NatSSIPs 2 requirements are embedded into business-as-usual governance, induction, education, audit, risk management and divisional assurance processes beyond the life of the fixed-term programme.
Research and Development
- Maintain an up-to-date understanding of emerging evidence, national guidance, and best practice relating to invasive procedure safety, ensuring the Trust remains aligned with the latest developments in NatSSIPs 2 and the wider patient safety agenda.
- Undertake horizon scanning to identify new policies, safety alerts, innovations, and opportunities for improvement, proactively assessing their relevance and supporting timely adoption within the Trust.
- Actively seek to learn from other organisations, including national networks, peer Trusts, and system partners, using benchmarking, shared learning, and external reviews to inform local practice and drive continuous improvement.
- Ensure that learning from incidents, investigations, thematic reviews, and national publications is systematically reviewed, translated into actionable change, and incorporated into policies, processes, and practice.
- Use NatSSIPs 2 performance indicators to support measurement for improvement and assurance, including review of team brief, sign in, time out, sign out, debrief, implant verification, reconciliation of items, consent and site marking practices.
- Contribute to internal and external reports, case studies, or presentations, as required, sharing learning and outcomes to support organisational assurance and wider system learning.
Communications and Working Relationship
- Support the management of communication between stakeholders relating to project delivery; use expert negotiation skills to present complex, potentially controversial information to large groups and use negotiation skills to resolve issues that may arise during programme implementation.
- Work in partnership with clinical, operational, and corporate teams to embed safety-critical processes into everyday practice, ensuring strong clinical engagement and ownership.
- Work with clinical teams to strengthen psychological safety, civil and respectful behaviours, speak-up culture and shared ownership of safety-critical checks, recognising that NatSSIPs 2 is a system-wide safety and culture programme rather than a checklist compliance exercise.
Contact Details
Victoria Wills (Acting Associate Director of Patient Safety)
[email protected]
07825 112560
Alternate contact: Suzie Cro, Director of Quality Governance. [email protected]
Person specification
Experience
Essential
- Experience of managing large-scale, complex programmes or projects across multiple services, including tracking delivery, managing interdependencies, identifying and mitigating risks, resolving issues and reporting progress to senior governance groups.
- Experience of change management with proven negotiating and influencing skills.
- Experience of developing documents, reports, policies, procedures and assurance processes to support safe, standardised and sustainable practice.
- Evidence of working with multi-disciplinary staff across a diverse professional organisation to support the successful delivery of projects.
Desirable
- Experience of supporting service or pathway improvement involving clinical teams, governance processes, education, audit, assurance and patient safety data.
- Previous experience of NatSSIPs, invasive procedures or surgical pathways
- Experience of working in a safety, quality, governance or improvement role, including providing assurance, managing risk and supporting implementation of patient safety improvements.
- Experience of preparing and presenting assurance reports to senior governance groups or committees, including clear articulation of risks, mitigations, impact and residual gaps.
- Experience of working in a large NHS Trust or equivalent healthcare organisation
- Previous clinical experience
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to Masters level or demonstrable equivalent level of knowledge
- Evidence of continuous professional development.
Desirable
- Project or Programme Management Qualification
- Healthcare related degree
Personal Attributes
Essential
- Able to maintain high standards of diplomacy
- Motivated and resourceful
- Able to establish positive relationships and mutual respect with people at all levels
Knowledge and skills
Essential
- Knowledge of developing and implementing project management strategies
- In-depth knowledge of National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (NatSSIPs 2) and its application to invasive procedure safety, governance and assurance
- Understanding of the Never Events Framework and its relevance to NatSSIPs, risk reduction and organisational learning
- Ability to prepare and present reports to detailed specifications for Trust Board and others as requested.
- Ability to work autonomously within broad policies, exercise judgement, interpret national guidance and determine local implementation approaches.
- Advanced organisational skills
- Ability to use programme and project management methodology to deliver complex, Trust-wide change
- Ability to think clearly, solve or pre-empt problems, reach decisions, prioritise and recommend appropriate action through the assessment of relevant information.
- Ability to engage others and to work collaboratively
- Negotiation and diplomacy skills.
- Advanced knowledge and application of Word, PowerPoint and Excel
- Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills including facilitation, and obtaining, providing and presenting information.
Desirable
- Knowledge of Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), human factors, clinical governance, risk management and assurance processes
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This advert is for National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures Project Lead with Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Cheltenham, South West, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Manager and corporate role. The advertised salary is £57,528 - £64,750 (pa, pro rata if part-time). The contract type is 12 months (Fixed term or secondment). The application deadline is 04 Aug 2026.
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