Quality Assurance Auditor

Alternative Futures Group is the North West’s largest Mental Health and Learning Disability charity.

With a strong track record over 30 years, we work and through our  to provide a wide range of innovative and bespoke care services.

We have a vision to create a world where people control their lives.  Here at AFG, we pride ourselves on helping the people we support to design, develop and ‘own’ the support they receive by planning this with them; we support people to make informed choices and increase their own independence; and we support people to maintain their own health, wellbeing and living environment.  These principles are really important to us.

As a ‘values based’ employer, the people that work for us genuinely care about the people they support, and we are seeking likeminded people to join our AFG family.  If you are passionate about working in Health and Social Care and have a real desire to make a positive difference to the lives of the people we support then we would love to hear from you.

At AFG we also recognise the contribution and value that our staff make.  We would not be able to provide the life changing support that we do without people like you 

In return for your contribution we will support you throughout your career and we provide a wide range of employee benefits, career development and lifestyle support services to ensure that you too feel supported, fulfilled and valued from day one of your employment with us.

Job Title:  Quality Assurance Auditor

Reports to:  Regional Manager

Job Purpose

Alternative Futures Group has an ambition to be a sector leader in quality, value and personal outcomes over the next 3 years by delivering:

•  A person-centred, strengths-based, & outcome-focused support model that supports active citizenship, health and well-being.
• CQC ratings of Good or Outstanding in all services and domains.
• A philosophy of continuous improvement, co-production & innovation.

The Quality Assurance Auditor role ensures that the organisation is CQC inspection ready.

They provide a critical friend to audit services on a planned or as required basis using standardised audit tools and reports.. They quickly raise any issues locally and look to take the necessary remedial actions to improve practice and maintain safety.

Dimensions

• Undertake a programme of planned, and reactive, quality assurance audits across services to ensure CQC, commissioner and other statutory standards are met and exceeded by measuring performance against policy, procedure and regulations.
• Identify risks to safeguarding and quality of support, and implement measures to mitigate these, alongside operational managers.
• Accurately record and report on quality, safety and compliance KPIs and statistics to the Regional Manager and Registered Managers.
• There is no budget responsibility.

Principal Accountabilities

• Work across services to ensure the organisation is compliant with regulatory requirements and fulfils its duties and responsibilities in line with evidence-based practice, sector guidance and contractual requirements.
• Assess each registered location in terms of being CQC inspection-ready through mock inspections and audits of key quality, safety and compliance indicators.
• Provide specialist advice and support to operational managers and staff to meet, and exceed, regulatory and contractual standards and provide oversight to the Director of Operations.
• Proactively promote the organisation’s quality assurance agenda for the people we support.
• Contribute to the review of organisational policies and procedures.
• Provide and assist in the provision of reports to internal and external partners.
• Advise and support operational managers in meeting and exceeding sector standards.
• Collect, collate and analyse information to assist compliance and service improvement.
• Support the person supported engagement and co-production agenda involving people with lived experience in quality monitoring and improvement.
• Analyse all audit activity to monitor and report KPIs, identify and report on themes and trends for good practice and areas for improvement and lessons learned at organisational level.
• Develop mock CQC inspection ratings for registered locations.
• Produce a monthly quality and safety report for the Head of Operations.
• Produce any other quality and safety reports as required internally and externally.
• Undertake investigations of serious incidents across the organisation.
• Provide expert support, advice and guidance to operational managers to improve the quality of service delivery, ensuring services meet or exceed quality standards and regulatory requirements.
• Coaching operational managers on quality, safety and improvement, personalisation, co-production, and outcomes.

Person Specification - Quality Assurance Auditor 

Essential 

Skills and Knowledge

• Resilient and able to work at a pace and manage competing priorities.
• Highly numerate and excellent analytical skills.
• Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written) to both operational and corporate colleagues.
• IT literate.
• An understanding of contemporary models of mental health, learning disability and autism support in adult health and social care.
• An understanding of relevant health and social care legislation and regulatory frameworks.
• Awareness of the policy context of adult health and social care.

Values and Attitudes 

• Passion for making a positive difference in the lives of others
• Commitment to AFG values

Experience

• At least 2 years’ experience working in adult health or social care supporting people with learning disability, autism, or mental health problems.
• Experience of working within a creative and innovative environment and using a range of reporting tools and evidence to inform and improve practice.
• Experience of CQC regulatory compliance framework and maintaining high standards of quality and safety.
• Monitoring and reporting quality, safety and operational KPIs for assurance and improvement.

Qualifications and Training

• NVQ Level 4 or equivalent

This role is Field Based with the expectation for you to be in services within the north west of England at lease 4 days per week,  Therefore a driver with the use of a vehicle is required. 

This role is Band I as per our structure.