Senior Quality Improvement Lead

Job overview

NCTHnet is actively improving and innovating its service provision in line with NHS England’s Levy Review recommendations and the National Improvement Network.

The post holder will lead the Quality Improvement Initiative working on the Gender Programme within NHS England’s Specialised Commissioning, leading on extensive gender improvement projects and workstreams from within NHSE Specialised Services under the direction of the Quality Improvement Deputy Director. This is a high profile, complex transformation change programme necessitating dedicated leadership and oversight, including close working with several critical partners, providers, and other stakeholders.

The post holder will be expected to work on a range of projects considering financial, operational, and quality aspects to drive sustainable improvement and deliver the best outcomes for patients on the gender pathway.

The Senior Quality Improvement Lead will operate within the Quad Leadership Model, working together with the Head of Patient Safety, Quality & Experience and wider Clinical Leadership to facilitate Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-Led Services delivered within the Community & Specialist Care Group.

NCTHnet reserves the right to to close this advert prior to the closing date if sufficient applications are received.

Main duties of the job

The key elements of the roles are:

Identifying and evaluating the significant issues providers and systems face in the provision of gender services. Leading quality improvement projects focused on improving operational processes and patient outcomes across national NHS healthcare facilities. Developing and implementing data-driven solutions and interventions to optimize healthcare delivery processes, reduce inefficiency, and enhance patient care quality. Utilise statistical analysis and performance metrics to measure the impact of process improvements, tracking progress and reporting results to senior management. Supporting the process by which providers and system partners agree their preferred solution or course of actions. Support the Clinical and Operational leadership in managing the budgetary implications of activity and proposed changes and developments. Proactively manage the key risks and issues associated with ensuring appropriate actions are taken to mitigate, respond and escalate. Monitoring the overall progress of the developed strategies to ensure completion within agreed timescales.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Strategy/Planning:

• Leading on the development and delivery of the service’s Quality Improvement Strategy, connected to the Trust’s priorities, objectives and plans.
• Work closely with relevant members of the senior leadership team to raise the profile of the organisation as a learning organisation.
• Develop and sustain positive relationships, based on the QI agenda, with other services and teams within the Trust, and with other national, regional and international relevant organisations
• Promote the use of QI principles to influence all agendas within the service
• Promoting the sharing of learning across the wider system, with the inclusion of all service stakeholders, both internal and external.
• Establish effective monitoring and reporting systems and tools to inform and facilitate discussion and decision making in relation to the progress and performance of the organisation in relation to its QI needs and the solutions being applied. These systems will offer clear exposition of complex concepts and advance interpretation of results, themes and trends.

Delivery of improvement programmes:

• Lead the prioritisation of opportunities for improvement.
• Enabling and facilitating the implementation of measurable and effective improvement initiatives to address issues, risks and opportunities to improve processes, practices, staff experience, and patient outcomes and satisfaction. With a clear hands-on vocation to ensure the success of improvement initiatives.
• Providing supportive oversight to the improvement activity and performance across the service.
• Support and promote innovation within the service.
• Ensure learning from the improvement activity is shared and influences decision making and improvement practice. Create the necessary structures and governance to ensure the effectiveness of the learning process.
• Apply effective project and programme management approaches to ensure the successful management of the improvement agenda.

Building capacity:

• Establish a clear framework for the identification and prioritisation of opportunities for improvement, and for the implementation of solutions to address these opportunities and to evaluate the impact of such initiatives. This framework will be supported by effective and dynamic governance arrangements.
• Select and adapt well known QI approaches, methodologies and tools, to support the effective application of the service’s QI framework and the success of improvement initiatives. These approaches will be based on recognised methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, Model for improvement, etc.
• Develop and deliver a QI training programme, accessible to all colleagues within the service.
• Establishing supervision and coaching processes to ensure everyone in the organisation is always positively supported in their improvement activity.
• Create a network of QI champions and experts which will contribute to transform the organisation into a team of QI improvers.
• Offer expert advice to all other programmes and workstreams within the organisation.

Wide culture of improvement:

• Promote an approach of continual improvement across all processes, activities and teams within the organisation.
• Define system for incentivising and empowering colleagues for the identification of opportunities of improvement and the implementation of changes to enhance the quality of the service.
• Establish clear alignment between the priorities and objectives of the service and the improvement decisions.
• Demonstrate the value of small incremental changes.
• Develop an atmosphere of honesty and openness, where errors and suboptimal processes and practices are seen as learning opportunities, avoiding a blame-focused environment.

Data-driven decision-making:

• Development of effective and dynamic measurement systems to help with the prioritisation, monitoring and evaluation of QI needs and the results of improvements.
• Collation, analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data, with different levels of complexity and from a wide range of sources and subjects. This requires the advance use of visual, and analytical tools.
• Establishing indicator dashboards to enable a ‘close-to-life’ understanding of QI needs, and the progress and impact of QI initiatives in place.
• Use of tools that support the understanding of flow and capacity, and can support planning, management and modelling of performance.
• Implementing robust systems to ensure the quality of data used to inform performance and improvement.

Communication, reporting and engagement:

• Build productive working relationships with senior leaders within the service, the Trust, patient forums, and other relevant external stakeholders.
• Provide guidance, advice and support to all teams in the service in relation to quality improvement, including specialist advice to the senior leads.
• Ensuring the benefits of the QI function are clearly communicated within the service and also within the Care Group and Trust.
• Provide relevant information, in the most appropriate format, to serve all the needs for information, analysis and interpretation required by all monitoring and decision-making bodies within the service, Care Group and the wider Trust, and external stakeholders.

Planning & Organisational

• To model a collaborative and influencing style of working, negotiating with others to achieve the best outcomes. Embedding this approach across the Network.
• Plan and organise a broad range of complex activities, including but not limited to preparation for performance meetings to ensure quality and consistency, reviewing and adjusting team and departmental governance.
• Formulate and adjust long term plans and strategies involving uncertainty, which may impact across the whole organisation. This may involve KPI evolution and negotiation.
• Plans and implements new ways of working, facilitates collaborative working across the sector which may include capacity planning. Develops long-term strategic plans for performance and service improvement.
• Drive process efficiency in the continuous development of the end-to-end cycle and its associated performance metrics.

Policy and procedures:

• Responsible for proposing and drafting changes, implementation and interpretation to policies, guidelines and service level agreements which may impact national NCTHnet service delivery.
• The post holder will be responsible for policy implementation such as local change control compliance with national policy and guidelines.
• Develops standardised operating procedures and guidance that are implementable across the organisation and in partner organisations, relating to the use of planning and forecasting models.
• Support the creation and locally implement the operational strategy and business plan, clearly identifying links to national, regional and local priorities and policy objectives.
• To develop business plans and provide expert strategic and policy advice and guidance on all areas of the NCTHnet.

Resource Management:

• Act in a way that is compliant with Standing Orders and Standing Financial instructions in the discharge of any budget management responsibilities.
• Constantly strive for value for money and greater efficiency in the use of these budgets throughout all project activity.
• Defining and ensuring scope of work is appropriate and value for money to deliver sustainable solutions.
• Support the NCTHnet, Care Unit and Care Group Senior Leadership teams on advising on budgetary matters.

Information Management:

• Manage highly contentious situations that require the use of judgements to come to appropriate solutions.
• Oversee the work with the Clinical Director and NCTHnet Senior Leadership team to ensure the information systems are integrated with the overall strategy, ensuring synergy between strategy milestones and objectives.
• Conduct thorough analysis of current processes, identifying inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement using Quality Improvement methodologies and tools.
• Support the appropriate governance structures and programmes of work.
• Develop and implement data-driven solutions and interventions to optimize high-quality healthcare delivery processes, reduce waste, and enhance patient care quality.
• Ensure appropriate stakeholder engagement strategy is in place defining how the strategy will engage with all stakeholder groups and what information flows will be established and maintained.
• Lead the creation, maintenance, analysis and review implementation, of information systems for collecting, evaluating and interpreting complex data. To inform short and medium- and long-term strategies.
• To identify and assess opportunities for new services and threats to existing services.
• To monitor, interpret and quality assure progress against deliverables. Quality assurance and progress of deliverables to the NHS that often require adjustments specifically in relation to the complex corporate business agenda, strategic objectives and the business planning process.

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.