Head of Patient Safety (PHU)

This vacancy is open to employees of Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust only.

Band: 8b

Hours: 37.5

Contract Type: Permanent

Base location: Queen Alexandra Hospital, Southwick Hill Road, Cosham, Portsmouth, PO6 3LY. Across site travel will be required, the frequency will be agreed locally.

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced and inspirational senior leader to join us as Head of Patient Safety. This is a key leadership role with responsibility for driving patient safety improvement and learning across PHU, while contributing to a shared corporate service working across two NHS Trusts.

The post holder will provide strategic leadership for patient safety, ensuring robust systems are in place to identify, investigate and learn from patient safety incidents. You will play a central role in embedding a culture of compassion, openness and continuous improvement, aligned with national patient safety priorities and organisational objectives.

The role reports to the Associate Director of Quality Governance and is accountable to the Deputy Chief Nurse (Group).

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for patient safety across the organisation.
• Lead the development, implementation and embedding of patient safety frameworks, policies and learning systems.
• Ensure effective systems for reporting, investigating, responding to and learning from patient safety incidents, including learning from deaths.
• Lead and manage the Patient Safety Team, including staff development, appraisal and workforce planning.
• Work collaboratively with clinical leaders, quality improvement teams and corporate colleagues to embed safety learning into practice.
• Provide expert advice and assurance to senior leaders and Trust committees, including the preparation of high‑quality reports.
• Represent the Trust internally and externally on patient safety matters, working with system partners as required.
• Work collaboratively with regulators, commissioners, and other partners including NHS England, ICB, and the CQC.

About You

You will be a confident, compassionate and credible senior leader with a strong background in patient safety and quality within an acute healthcare setting. You will have the ability to influence at senior and Board level, manage complexity, and lead change through collaboration and evidence‑based improvement.

You will bring excellent communication skills, sound judgement, and a clear commitment to creating a just and learning culture that improves outcomes for patients, families and staff.

You will demonstrate:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to handle sensitive and complex information.
• Excellent organisational and analytical skills, with attention to detail.
• The ability to build effective working relationships with clinical and non‑clinical teams.
• A proactive approach to learning, improvement and patient safety.
• A commitment to Trust values and continuous professional development.