Deputy Divisional Director of Quality

Job summary

- The post holder will act as a strong patient advocate ensuring that a culture of continuous improvement and learning is supported in order to drive quality care delivery across the division

- The role of the Deputy Divisional Director of Quality & Nursing will focus on the provision of high quality, visible professional leadership for Wards and Departments within the division of Surgery.

-Provide clinical and professional support to the divisional matrons, band 7 ward and departmental team leaders and clinical practitioners across the division to ensure effective management and drive change.

- To provide guidance, support and leadership to all nursing staff and facilitate the development of nursing practice, to ensure excellent nursing and patient care.

-The post-holder will be required to explore current practice through regular audit and training, identify areas for development and planning.

- Act as a role model, exhibiting high levels of professional value led behaviour at all times, providing clinical leadership and expert advice to the workforce.

Main duties of the job

-The post holder will have both operational and strategic responsibilities for Surgery, working closely with the Divisional Director of Quality & Nursing, to ensure patient safety, service quality and excellent patient experience is maintained consistently.

-Ensure that clinical and non-clinical risks are managed, reported and investigated and that remedial action is completed where appropriate.

- Assist the Divisional Director of Quality and Nursing for Surgery in the implementation of the corporate nursing agenda; taking a specific strategic lead where requested on allocated corporate roles.

- Working with Specialty Directors, Matrons, General Managers, Divisional Chief of Service, Director of Operations and associate nurses, will co-ordinate the management of patient pathways within and across new and existing services to ensure a safe patient management and flow of services.

- In conjunction with the matrons, ward leaders, the post holder will co-ordinate the day-to-day nursing activities and ensure adequate skill mix and staff cover for clinical areas.

- The post-holder will undertake a key role within the Division to ensure resources are used effectively to meet the agreed quality standard of patient care.

About us

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest employer in the county and with over 8,000 staff, we are one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK. We offer a generous annual leave allowance, excellent bank rates, access to the excellent NHS Pension Scheme, discounts for local shops, restaurants and services, access to our health and well-being hub, access to our two on-site nurseries, flexible working options, discounted public transport, reward and recognition schemes, exercise and activity classes and membership to our popular hospital choir.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Leadership and management:

- Support the Divisional Director of Quality and Nursing for Surgery in implementing and monitoring Clinical Governance processes to deliver continuous quality improvements in line with the Trusts Quality Delivery Framework and lead the Nursing Quality Reviews.

- To act as the lead in the monitoring of clinical standards, including observations of care and patient feedback.

- To provide appropriate and consistent professional advice to the multi-disciplinary teams, acting as a point of contact at times of difficulty and when support is required.

- To work in a supportive and collaborative manner in the Trust in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the Trust.

- To monitor sickness and absence across the division and liaise with the appropriate ward/ departmental leader. To liaise with the divisions HR Business Partner regarding all issues relating to staff sickness / conduct.

- To participate in recruitment activity and support the development of a divisional workforce planning.

- To take responsibility for training and supporting ward and departmental managers in good financial, staff and information management.

- To ensure that practice is evidence based, ensuring clinical guidelines are developed and implemented, taking into account the scope of practice within the clinical areas.

- To lead, facilitate and contribute to the management and leadership of organisational flow including the utilisation of assessment areas to ensure patient safety.

- Contribute to the corporate management of the trust with regards to cross Divisional issues site management, operational flow, and lead on the attainment of the 4 -hour constitutional standard.

- Lead and support nursing teams across the division to deliver on all aspects of performance, patient care, quality, people management and finance and address performance management issues where necessary.

- Responsible for the professional leadership of nursing across the division, including devising, implementing and reviewing strategies for the development of clinical practice, education, and management and quality issues.

- Develop communication, measurement and reporting systems for Quality Improvement Initiatives across the medical division.

- Responsible for the performance management of Nursing across the division. Work with key staff to ensure that changes in clinical practice and performance are achieved.

- Act as investigating officer when appropriate for complaints, serious untoward incidents, staff conduct and capability matters or safeguarding, managing confidential and sensitive information.

- Develop and promote effective communication systems across nursing and the wider clinical workforce to support the delivery of quality care.

- To co-ordinate monthly and annual assessments / audits of Health and Safety, ensuring that action plans are in place to address and reduce risk.

- Act as a lead advisor for Safeguarding issues, offering support, guidance and education for the clinical teams.

- To participate in the Director of Nursing on-call rota.

Clinical Responsibilities:

- To ensure the co-ordination of safe and equitable staffing levels, taking into account acuity and dependency needs of each area and having awareness of the financial consequences of the decision making.

- To be responsible for ensuring that clinical initiatives and service developments become truly embedded in clinical practice and that staff have a clear understanding and opportunity to contribute to the change process.

- To ensure that there is a system of Reflective and Supervisory Practice in place in order to provide support to all nursing staff as required.

- To investigate Datix incidents; identify and implement corrective action where necessary, ensure Datix is managed and trend analysis completed in conjunction with the Divisional Director of Quality and Nursing and the Risk Manager.

- To ensure that all staff adhere to Infection Control policies and that procedures are audited to ensure compliance. Ensure all staff maintain mandatory training in relation to IP&C.

Education and training:

- Participate in education and training when appropriate to do so.

- Ensure the clinical environment meets the requirements for Student and Post-Registration Nurse placements.

- To support the introduction of Nursing Associates, Chief nurse Fellows, return to practice and international recruits.

- Ensure all staff participate in nursing and professional development to maximize the potential for best practice in patient care and maintain research based knowledge and practice.

Improving quality and developing practice

- Support service development within the surgical division across both sites, working collaboratively with the divisional and specialty tris to implement the Trusts strategy and business plan.

- Work alongside the Divisional Director of Quality and Nursing to develop a culture of continuous quality improvement through ensuring processes and systems are in place to monitor and improve quality (quality dashboard) across the division and wider organization.

- Lead and develop on clinical audits.

- Lead on and support the Divisional Director of Quality and Nursing on unannounced quality inspections to monitor the standards of care given at ward / departmental level, in line with national and constitutional standards.

- Support the divisional chief nurse on compliance with Care Quality Commission, NHSLA and NICE standards working closely with corporate /divisional leads for governance and risk.

- Ensure the management and prevention of hospital-acquired infection in liaison with Infection Control Team and working to national Standards.

- Develop and implement a strategy for meaningful patient /carer engagement in design/delivery and monitoring of services, with consideration of the challenges of this feedback within specific care environment.

- Develop and implement strategies to deliver measurable and sustainable improvement in quality and safety, in line with local and national best practice standards.

- Lead the development and implementation of nursing and governance policies.

- Represent the division internally and externally as required. This will include chairing of meetings, the preparation and writing of papers. Presenting at various meetings and boards and deputising for the Divisional Director of Quality & Nursing when requested to do so.

- To lead on cultural improvement within the divisional to embed NHS Model Employer ethos; and be committed to ensuring that Ethnic Minority representation, at senior management level & beyond matches that across the NHS workforce

Communication and interpersonal skills:

- Identifies and deals with issues of poor performance.

- Provide education and training to other staff; ensures compliance with, and develops, policies, procedures and guidelines as required.

- To be highly visible, accessible and approachable to all staff, patients and public so that open and honest communication and feedback is received and effective assessments of care delivery can be undertaken and acted upon.

Physical, Mental & Emotional Effort & Working Conditions:

The post holder will work in a variety of settings and across site/Trust with unpredictable work patternsresponding to the changing and challenging situations, which may expect prolonged periods of concentration.

There may be occasional exposure to distressing or challenging behaviour (verbal/physical aggression)

The role will require considerable mental effort to engage with both patients, relatives and staff to understand situations, explore options for improvements and achieve positive outcomes

Will frequently be expected to manoeuvre patients/objects, in concurrence with the Trust Manual Handling Policies

Will have frequent exposure to unpleasant working conditions and will be required to follow Policies and Procedures pertaining to bodily fluids, infection control and COSHH regulations.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

1st Degree Level or Equivalent Experience Evidence of relevant post graduate clinical education. Evidence of Continuing Professional Development Recognised leadership / management qualification Teaching and Assessing Qualification RGN /RN

Experience

Essential

Appropriate years' experience in a senior management role Demonstrate a sound knowledge of current developments in nursing and more widely in the NHS including monitoring, reporting, safety and quality along with an understanding of contemporary issues. Able to manage self and demonstrate ability to communicate effectively during difficult and challenging situations both with and across all teams. Good understanding of financial and budget management. Substantial management experience. Change management and project management experience.

Knowledge/ Skills

Essential

Able to plan divisional workloads and supervise staff at all levels and provide effective feedback on performance. Excellent problem solving and decision making skills. Able to audit practice and make recommendation for change. Ability to work effectively within a team. Excellent communication skills both verbal and written. Advanced communication skills. Good business planning skills; able to plan patient pathways and operational flow. Ability to manage large and diverse teams. Resilient and able to cope with an unpredictable work pattern, working under pressure and timescales. Ability to work unsupervised with a high level of freedom to act.

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