Senior Patient Safety Lead for Women and children's services

Job overview

Promote a safety and quality culture across the Maternity, Gynaecology, Neonatal and Paediatric services, taking a lead in supporting local investigations and responses to incidents in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Responsible for leading the Maternity, Gynaecology, Neonatal and Paediatrics patient safety agenda and ensure a unified approach to the review of patient safety incidents across the service, in line with the Trust Policies & Procedures and best practice guidance.

Main duties of the job

• The post holder is responsible for ensuring effective governance and risk systems are in place across maternity, gynaecology, neonates and paediatrics. Working closely and collaboratively with the Women and Children's (Maternity, Gynaecology, Neonatal and Paediatrics) services management team to ensure effective communication systems are in place and to ensure excellent standards of care and compliance with national and local standard.
• Lead the Patient Safety Team to work within the requirements of patient safety incident response framework (PSIRF) within Women & Children's services working alongside the Trust Patient Safety Team.
• Act as single point of contact with Maternity & Neonatal Safety Investigations (MNSI). Coordinate the uploading of documentation and the setting up of investigation interviews.
• To participate as a member of the Perinatal Mortality Reporting Tool Group to review all fetal losses and neonatal deaths. Attend the Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity Meetings.
• Liaise with Professional Midwifery Advocates (PMA) to make sure that all midwifery staff involved in clinical incidents and investigations are supported.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Work with the Women's services management team and the clinical governance leads to ensure all governance arrangements and reporting are in place and effective within the directorate.
• To be responsible for all aspects of the clinical governance and risk portfolio within Women's Services. This includes the management and investigation of incidents, clinical effectiveness, audit, and complaints.
• Assist the Women & Children's services management team in the investigation of complaints as appropriate.
• Work with Medical (obstetrics, gynaecology, neonatal and anaesthetic), Midwifery and Nursing teams to implement any changes and staff development requirements identified through the governance process.
• Provide reports and evidence to demonstrate compliance with the CQC Outcomes for Quality and Safety and NHS Improvement Quality Governance Framework.
• Ensure that all maternity incidents which are likely to result in severe brain injury (as defined by NHS Resolution Early Notification scheme) are reported to the Head of Legal services within 48 hours.
• Ensure all cases that meet the Each Baby Counts (RCOG) criteria and any maternal deaths are notified to MNSI for investigation within set time frame.
• Oversee the tracking of progress against LMNS, and ICB plans and transition milestones ensuring appropriate processes are in place to flag issues, risks and concerns with the relevant stakeholders.

Provide reports for the BOB LMNS regional committees, Quality Assurance and Learning committee and Patient Safety Committee

Provide information for Quality accounts

Ensure data and information quality standards are met

To provide expert clinical advice and guidance on Trust wide policies that require specialised patient safety input

Work with Ward / Department Managers to support and empower them to make effective risk assessments and risk management decisions; identifying deficits and developing action plans to address and monitor identified issues.

Analyse complex data from complaints, incidents and patient feedback recognising and interpreting trends. Present information/ findings to senior managers, consultants and colleagues in a variety of formats including written and oral presentations in one-to-one and large group settings

To represent the Trust at STP Local Maternity System governance meetings.

Ensure the compliance of all relevant Trust wide policies and guidelines within Maternity, Gynaecology, Neonatal and Paediatrics and that all safety alerts are disseminated in a timely manner and any actions are reported

Provide written monthly and quarterly annual reports on risk / incidents complaints issues identifying trends, making recommendations for action and progress on implementation of actions for dissemination.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.