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Job summary

Main area
Site Management
Grade
Band 8d
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
259-7868076RLH
Employer
Barts Health NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Royal London Hospital
Town
London
Salary
£99,808 - £113,803 per annum inc
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
12/04/2026 23:59
Interview date
23/04/2026

Employer heading

Barts Health NHS Trust logo

Associate Director of Improvement (Safety)

Band 8d

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

Barts Health supports the Pregnancy Loss Pledge and commits to supporting their staff through the distress of miscarriage.

We are dedicated to being an outstanding place to work and will work with you to get the best experience. We know flexible working is not a one size fits all and will mean something different to everyone. We are inclusive, so if you are interested in flexible working, please speak to the recruiting manager.

Job overview

The Royal London Hospital is seeking an exceptional senior leader to take on the pivotal role of Associate Director of Improvement (Safety). This is a high‑visibility, high‑impact post reporting directly to the Medical Director, responsible for driving measurable improvement in patient safety across one of the UK’s busiest and most complex acute hospitals.

As our senior site‑level safety improvement leader, you will shape and deliver the hospital’s Safety Improvement Plan, championing a culture of learning, reliability, and continuous improvement. You will work across clinical and operational teams, using improvement science, human factors principles, and data‑driven insight to reduce harm, strengthen safety systems, and enhance patient experience.

What You’ll Lead

  • Design and deliver a cohesive, ambitious Safety Improvement Programme for the Royal London Hospital
  • Strengthen safety culture through visible leadership, coaching, and data‑informed decision‑making
  • Embed effective learning systems aligned with PSIRF and trust governance
  • Partner with the Medical Director, Director of Nursing, Clinical Directors and senior leaders to tackle safety priorities at scale
  • Build improvement capability across all services, supporting teams to own and sustain change
  • Provide high‑quality assurance and reporting to site and trust governance forums

Main duties of the job

The Associate Director of Improvement (Safety) is the senior sitelevel leader responsible for driving measurable, sustained improvements in patient safety across the Royal London Hospital. The role provides visible leadership, expert improvement methodology, strategic direction, and operational oversight of all safetyrelated improvement activity across the hospital. Working closely with the Medical Director, Director of Nursing, Clinical Directors, matrons, governance and risk teams, and corporate patient safety specialists, the postholder will embed a culture of continuous learning, evidencebased improvement, and system thinking.

Key points of role

·         Provide strategic and operational leadership for patient safety improvement at RLH.

·         Lead the design and implementation of the RLH Safety Improvement Plan with measurable outcomes in harm reduction, safety culture, reliability, escalation, human factors integration, and deteriorating patient response.

·         Build an embedded culture of continuous safety improvement across clinical and nonclinical services through coaching, capabilitybuilding, structured methodology, and datadriven decisions.

·         Act as the senior improvement expert for safety, ensuring consistent, evidencebased methodologies across the site.

·         Strengthen learning systems and translate insights from incidents, investigations, complaints, audits, and risks into highimpact, sustainable improvements.

Working for our organisation

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers.  

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.  

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.  

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below. 

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates as they are underrepresented within Barts Health at this band. 

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of leading Patient Safety and Quality Improvement programmes
  • Track record of safety improvement
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of working in high acuity environments e.g. major trauma

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Stakeholder engagement experience
  • Evidence of data driven decision making

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Application of PSIRF learning responses
Desirable criteria
  • Knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (A.I) to support analysis

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Masters level study or equivalent
  • Clinical Background
  • Quality Improvement & Safety science
Desirable criteria
  • Patient Safety Specialist

Other

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of sharing learning and successful improvement implementation in the Patient Safety context

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Green@Barts HealthNHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyLondon Living Wage is a voluntary commitment made by employers, who can become accredited with the Living Wage FoundationPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveInvestors in People: GoldImproving working livesMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Pregnancy Loss PledgeDisability confident employerStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Happy to Talk Flexible Working

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Malik Ramadhan
Job title
Medical Director
Email address
[email protected]
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