Patient Safety Officer

Job overview

The Patient Safety Officer will assist the Patient Safety Manager in the promotion, delivery and monitoring of patient safety and risk activity across University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire  by:

• Providing comprehensive support and facilitation to clinical groups and specialities on all aspects of patient safety across the trust.
• Work alongside healthcare professionals to co-ordinate information and reporting processes with the incident management policy, investigation methodologies and risk management strategy.

Closing Date: Please be advised that this job advert will close as soon as sufficient applications have been received. Please apply for this job as soon as you can, if interested.

Main duties of the job

• Develop an understanding of the key components of patient safety, including clinical adverse event report, risk assessment, investigation methodologies and recommendations from other relevant bodies (i.e., NHS England, Care Quality Commission).
• Establish and maintain relationships with a range of internal stakeholders, including but not exhaustive: Matrons, service managers/leads, clinical leads, clinical directors and staff at all levels to ensure effective communication and a consistent approach to all issues relating to patient safety within speciality teams.
• Act as a central contact point for communication between specialities on patient safety matters, attending adverse event meetings and undertaking presentations as appropriate.
• Support patient safety and risk activity through the collection, collation and presentation of data from a variety of sources.
• In conjunction with the Patient Safety Manager, facilitate the process of Patient Safety Incident (PSI) reporting, ensuring investigations/learning responses are undertaken and action plans, recommendations are implemented and monitored in-line with trust policies.
• Facilitate a Patient Safety Response (PSR) visit following the reporting of a PSI, co-ordinating and ensuring relevant stakeholders are in-attendance.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Facilitate the release of information to patients/families or carers in accordance with Duty of Candour and being open policy as appropriate.
• Maintain and interrogate relevant dashboards and trackers to monitor progress of patient safety incidents, undertaking the production of monthly and ad-hoc reports for speciality teams, highlighting trends and actions required.
• Support the wider patient safety & risk team in facilitation of investigation methodologies and learning responses by facilitating meetings, ensuring relevant material is available.
• In conjunction with the Patient Safety Manager, assist with triangulation of complaints and legal claims/enquiries and monitor progress of actions arising from incidents, complaints, litigation and health & safety incidents to ensure changes in practice take place where necessary.
• Facilitate and contribute to the maintenance and co-ordination from National Patient Safety Alerts and other hazard and safety notices, arising from the Department of Health, NHS England, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and other sources.
• Liaise with clinicians and managers across specialities to facilitate change and provide information to enable shared learning from issues arising from incidents, complaints, litigation health & safety, user involvement and clinical audit.
• Participate as a panel member in quality inspections, including Patient Safety Response.
• Keep abreast of current health service issues and patient safety developments in the specialist areas relevant to the post, utilising journals, NHS England, Royal colleges, National Institute Clinical Excellence (NICE) and any other relevant sources.
• Provide information, advice and practical support to multi-disciplinary teams on all aspects of patient safety.
• Extract data for patient safety requirements from electronic and written information systems and patient health records where required.
• Facilitate speciality quality governance through the preparation and distribution of reports, newsletters and other associated documentation as required.
• Attend patient safety related meetings when required to provide advice and support to healthcare professionals on all items associated to patient safety.
• Identify, in conjunction with specialities, training requirements relating to patient safety and risk, participating in the co-ordination and delivery of programmes as appropriate.

For further details of the job role please see attached job description.