Job summary
- Main area
- Deputy Director of Nursing
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 371-CS303
- Employer
- Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Deputy Director of Nursing Patient Safety and Quality , London House
- Town
- Bracknell
- Salary
- £57,888 - £64,880 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 12/10/2025 23:59
- Interview date
- 23/10/2025
Employer heading
Learning Response Lead
Band 8a
Job overview
Join us as a Learning Response Lead – Champion patient safety and drive change!
This is an exciting role for a dynamic and resourceful individual who has a genuine interest and experience in patient safety and who is willing to further develop in this specialist field.
It is a senior role to support our team with meeting the requirements of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) specially focusing on leading a high quality process for our learning responses including Swarm Huddles, After Action Reviews, MDT Roundtables and Thematic Reviews.
The Learning Response Lead will work as part of a wider multi-disciplinary team across the organisation to ensure the delivery of robust patient safety learning responses; to investigate, review and analyse, using recognised tools encompassing principles of human factors and ergonomics, systems engineering, psychology, and recognised best practice.
A high level of sensitive engagement with patients, families, staff, and others affected by incidents is expected of this role. The post holder will work predominantly from home using virtual technology, although there is a requirement to be able to travel across the organisation boundaries, maintain regular face to face contact with colleagues and attend face to face meetings as required. Our current head quarters’ base is in Bracknell (London House).
Main duties of the job
- The post holder will lead high-quality learning responses to patient safety incidents, driving meaningful improvements in care across our Trust.
- They will be responsible for coordinating and facilitating comprehensive patient safety reviews (PSRs), applying human factors and systems thinking alongside compassionate engagement with patients, families, and staff, ensuring sensitive and effective learning processes.
- Collaborating with clinical, corporate, and executive stakeholders, they will embed a just culture and endorse psychological safety
- They will deliver training on our key learning response methodologies supporting local teams to understand their application.
- Presenting findings at key internal forums and influencing change at every level is pivotal to the role.
- The postholder will support and inspire a culture of continuous learning and improvement in physical health, mental health, and children’s service
The postholder will work 37.5 hrs per week, ideally 7.5 hours a day (exclusive of breaks) over five days. This is currently a Monday to Friday job.
Working for our organisation
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’re committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. As an employer, we’re committed to offering an inclusive and compassionate environment where our people share in a sense of belonging and are supported to flourish.
Our values at Berkshire Healthcare are:
- Caring for and about you is our top priority
- Committed to providing good quality, safe services
- Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions
Your wellbeing is important to us. Some of the benefits of working for us include:
- Flexible working options to support work-life balance
- 27 days’ annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
- Generous NHS pension scheme
- Excellent learning and career development opportunities
- ‘Cycle to Work’ and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
- Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
- Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
- Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment and armed forces community to support equality
- Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave
- Free parking across Trust sites
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The “must haves” for this role:
-
Relevant experience in patient safety and/or governance and leading patient safety learning responses
-
Leadership qualification or demonstrable equal level of understanding and experience
-
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, report writing experience and strong analytical skills
-
Experience in presentation and teaching
-
Dynamic, resourceful, pragmatic
For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.
We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.
We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.
We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to call: Helen de Gruchy, Head of Patient Safety / Patient Safety Specialist, on 07870 484430; or email : [email protected] who’ll be delighted to help.
Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.
Interview will be held on 23rd Oct 2025
Person specification
Education/Qualifications/Training
Essential criteria
- Master’s Degree (or willingness to work towards) or equivalent level of experience
- Leadership qualification or demonstrable equal level of understanding and experience in leadership principles and practice
- Experience to deliver educational sessions and presentations
- Patient Safety Syllabus levels 1&2
- Recent training in systems-based patient safety methodologies and tools
Desirable criteria
- Clinical Qualification – i.e., RGN, RMN
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
- Relevant experience in patient safety or a governance role including conducting incidents’ reviews
- Relevant experience in staff management
- Relevant experience in incident reporting
- Ability to influence and engage stakeholders in patient safety learning responses
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working within a range of healthcare services
- High level of understanding of CQC registration and essential standards
- Clinical Experience
- Data Analysis
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria
- Good understanding of national guidance influencing learning responses to patient safety incidents
- High level of communication skills including the ability to deliver conversations at different organisational levels and including highly complex and potentially clinically sensitive information
- Excellent report writing skills, attention to detail and ability to provide objective critical analysis within a supportive and psychologically safe approach
- Advanced keyboard skills
- Dynamic, resourceful, pragmatic, result focused and service-need focused
- Ability to develop and use complex multi-media materials for presentations in public, professional and academic settings
- Able to apply critical appraisal skills and constructively apply these in reviewing evidence against national standards
- Able to reflect, analyse and interpret highly complex information and concisely draw conclusion, making sound judgement and confidently justify decisions made
Desirable criteria
- Highly developed skills in providing consultation to other professional and non-professional groups
Additional Requirements
Essential criteria
- Ability to travel to multiple sites
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Helen de Gruchy
- Job title
- Head of Patient Safety / Patient Safety Specialist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07870 484430
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