Clinical Governance and Patient Safety Lead

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The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Clinical Governance and Patient Safety Lead

The closing date is 10 November 2026

Apply for this job

Job summary

Are you ready to take an opportunity to join our dynamic patient safety team within the board of Medicine, Emergency Care and Community at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals?

We are looking for someone who is passionate about patient quality and safety, is highly motivated, dynamic and experienced in clinical practice with knowledge of risk management, audit and quality improvement.

The patient safety leads bring clinical leadership experience and excellent interpersonal skills to support the delivery of our clinical board quality and safety strategy. As a patient safety lead you work closely with the Medical Quality and Safety Lead and Head of Nursing in collaboration with key stakeholders across the board and wider trust facilitating the delivery of the overarching patient safety incident framework supporting high quality patient care. This will incorporate fostering a safety culture through quality improvement methods such as risk management, audit and quality initiatives through QI methodologies and patient safety principles using well established communication skills and credibility.

The successful candidate will be an excellent communicator and act as an ambassador for high quality patient care. It is essential that you bring a flexible and adaptable approach to meet the exciting challenge of this role, supporting the multi-professional team in enhancing quality and improving the patient experience.

Main duties of the job

Work with all services within the Clinical Board to promote and create a culture of openness, transparency and collaboration, including ensuring compliance with duty of candour and being open. Support a culture of incident reporting and support investigations into adverse events, incidents, and near misses, identifying systems issues, implementing corrective actions, and facilitating local and organizational learning. Lead on our Patient safety incident framework within and across the Clinical Board.

In conjunction with and on behalf of the Medical Quality and Safety Lead, Head of Nursing and CGARD Clinical Board representatives, support the development of a robust patient safety and clinical governance framework within the Board to ensure the provision of safe and high-quality care. This will involve collaboration with Quality and Safety leads, Head of Nursing and Matrons within the board and other stakeholders to champion patient safety initiatives and drive continuous improvement. As a key member of the Quality Oversight Group (QOG) for the Clinical Board, facilitate learning and continual improvement in response to concerns raised, incidents and complaints. Sharing local learning within the Board and contributing to Trust wide learning forums e.g. Patient Safety Briefings.

About us

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

With around 2 million contacts with patients every year, we deliver care from:

• Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
• Freeman Hospital
• Newcastle Dental Hospital
• Cramlington Manor Walks
• Urgent treatment centres
• Newcastle Fertility Centre
• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
• Northern Genetics Service

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under 'Documents to download' or 'Supporting documents'.

For further information on Careers at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit our website: Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Details

Date posted

05 November 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£49,387 to £56,515 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

317-2026-44-23-DR

Job locations

Freeman Hospital

Freeman Road

Newcastle Upon Tyne

NE7 7DN

United Kingdom

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Medicine and Emergency Care Clinical Board is made up of 18 quality and safety teams across the RVI and Freeman hospitals, covering 19 medical wards, Medical Assessment Suite, Emergency Department, Urgent Treatment Centres, Dialysis Unit, Diabetes Centre and 7 additional outpatient departments covering a number of specialities, we also support out teams in community as they form part of our clinical board.

You may be required to assist in the development of cross cutting policies, procedures, and guidelines that promote a culture of patient safety, risk identification and mitigation throughout the Clinical Board. In conjunction with the Head of Nursing, Medical Quality and Safety Lead, Matron, clinical governance and audit leads for the Clinical Board advise on all aspects of clinical governance, clinical risk management and patient safety.

As an integral part of the Clinical Board QOG you will facilitate, develop and co-ordinate clinical risk management within the Board. Foster a just culture in line with the corporate objectives, resulting in the delivery of a high-quality, cost-effective service. In addition, promote a positive learning environment where lessons are learnt and changes implemented to ensure a quality service working in partnership with the Director of Operations, Clinical Board Chair Head of Nursing, Matron and Clinical Directors.

You will be a key driver in raising the profile of clinical governance and risk management, highlighting in practice the relationship between patient safety and the management and everyday clinical practice and the effects on the patient to identify areas of good practice and highlight areas that can be improved.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Medicine and Emergency Care Clinical Board is made up of 18 quality and safety teams across the RVI and Freeman hospitals, covering 19 medical wards, Medical Assessment Suite, Emergency Department, Urgent Treatment Centres, Dialysis Unit, Diabetes Centre and 7 additional outpatient departments covering a number of specialities, we also support out teams in community as they form part of our clinical board.

You may be required to assist in the development of cross cutting policies, procedures, and guidelines that promote a culture of patient safety, risk identification and mitigation throughout the Clinical Board. In conjunction with the Head of Nursing, Medical Quality and Safety Lead, Matron, clinical governance and audit leads for the Clinical Board advise on all aspects of clinical governance, clinical risk management and patient safety.

As an integral part of the Clinical Board QOG you will facilitate, develop and co-ordinate clinical risk management within the Board. Foster a just culture in line with the corporate objectives, resulting in the delivery of a high-quality, cost-effective service. In addition, promote a positive learning environment where lessons are learnt and changes implemented to ensure a quality service working in partnership with the Director of Operations, Clinical Board Chair Head of Nursing, Matron and Clinical Directors.

You will be a key driver in raising the profile of clinical governance and risk management, highlighting in practice the relationship between patient safety and the management and everyday clinical practice and the effects on the patient to identify areas of good practice and highlight areas that can be improved.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Education

Essential

• Degree level qualification and evidence of CPD
• Post-graduate qualification to Masters level or significant experience in clinical practice, involvement in developing practice, clinical risk management and/or clinical audit/QI

Desirable

• Qualification or CPD relevant to patient safety/clinical governance/quality improvement
• Masters level qualification in a related topic.
• Management qualification or experience

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

• Proven experience in a clinical leadership role including involvement in incident reporting and investigation.
• In depth knowledge of clinical governance frameworks, QI methodologies and patient safety principles.
• Evidence of continuous professional and personal development
• Project leadership
• Production of written work to a high standard within tight deadlines

Desirable

• Evidence of leading programme/programmes of education and/or training

Skills & Abilities

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills in person and written
• Analytical skills with the ability to interpret data, identify trends and lead data driven improvement initiatives
• Presentation skills, computer use including word processing, Excel and database

Person Specification

Qualifications & Education

Essential

• Degree level qualification and evidence of CPD
• Post-graduate qualification to Masters level or significant experience in clinical practice, involvement in developing practice, clinical risk management and/or clinical audit/QI

Desirable

• Qualification or CPD relevant to patient safety/clinical governance/quality improvement
• Masters level qualification in a related topic.
• Management qualification or experience

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

• Proven experience in a clinical leadership role including involvement in incident reporting and investigation.
• In depth knowledge of clinical governance frameworks, QI methodologies and patient safety principles.
• Evidence of continuous professional and personal development
• Project leadership
• Production of written work to a high standard within tight deadlines

Desirable

• Evidence of leading programme/programmes of education and/or training

Skills & Abilities

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills in person and written
• Analytical skills with the ability to interpret data, identify trends and lead data driven improvement initiatives
• Presentation skills, computer use including word processing, Excel and database

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Freeman Hospital

Freeman Road

Newcastle Upon Tyne

NE7 7DN

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://careers.nuth.nhs.uk/why-us (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Freeman Hospital

Freeman Road

Newcastle Upon Tyne

NE7 7DN

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://careers.nuth.nhs.uk/why-us (Opens in a new tab)

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Head of Nursing

Catherine Carr

[email protected]

01912821568

Details

Date posted

05 November 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£49,387 to £56,515 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

317-2026-44-23-DR

Job locations

Freeman Hospital

Freeman Road

Newcastle Upon Tyne

NE7 7DN

United Kingdom

Supporting documents

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