Job summary
- Main area
- Patient Safety
- Grade
- Band 8a - subject to job evaluation
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 249-8166341
- Employer
- Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Great Western Hospital
- Town
- Swindon
- Salary
- £57,528 - £64,750 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 21/09/2026 08:00
Employer heading
Patient Safety Incident Investigator
Band 8a - subject to job evaluation
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a unique organisation, serving as the sole integrated provider in the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, and Wiltshire system. Our scope extends beyond boundaries as we oversee adult community services in Swindon and provide acute care from the Great Western Hospital.
Our 5,500 staff have 1.2m patient contacts a year, with 13,000 operations carried out in our Theatres, around 4,000 babies born, and our emergency attendances are now well over 100,000 per year. Those numbers only tell part of our story about what an exciting time it is to join Great Western Hospitals.
We are cultivating a culture that fosters our ambitions, prioritising equality, diversion, inclusion, wellbeing, and leadership. We aim to create an environment where every member of our team can truly thrive.
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used, then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.
If we receive a high volume of applications, we may close adverts prior to the published closing date. Therefore, we advise you to complete and submit your application as soon as possible.
Job overview
A fantastic and exciting opportunity has arisen for a motivated, experienced and enthusiastic individual to join the Quality and Safety Team at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as our Patient Safety Learning and Improvement Lead.
This is an opportunity to play a key role in improving patient safety across the organisation by supporting the delivery of high-quality, systems-based learning responses and translating insight into sustainable improvement. The ideal candidate must have a flexible proactive attitude as they will work alongside clinical teams across organisational and professional boundaries to support the delivery of high-quality patient centered care.
The successful candidate will be an experienced patient safety professional with a strong understanding of systems thinking, human factors and quality improvement. You will be an excellent communicator, capable of building effective relationships across organisational and professional boundaries, and confident in working autonomously while supporting and developing others. Previous experience within a healthcare setting and experience of leading patient safety learning responses are essential.
Main duties of the job
The role will support the Associate Director of Quality and Safety in providing Trust-wide leadership and oversight of patient safety learning, improvement and assurance. You will lead high-quality patient safety investigations and reviews, ensuring they are compassionate, evidence-based, and focused on learning rather than blame. You will work collaboratively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to understand how care is delivered, identify contributory factors and support the development of meaningful, measurable actions that reduce risk and improve care.
Working for our organisation
We are proud to be part of BSW Hospitals Group – a formal partnership between Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust. With a combined workforce of over 17, 600 colleagues, and budget of 1.6 billion the Group is united by a common purpose to deliver the best possible care to over 1 million people.
We are creating a health and care system that works with the people we care for, reducing the differences people currently face in access, experience and outcomes, improving the experience of our colleagues and tackling shared challenges like sustainability and finances. Every improvement we make across our Group will be guided by what creates the greatest benefit for our colleagues, our patients, our communities and our partners.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The post holder will be designated Trust Patient Safety Specialist, sharing the responsibility with the other designated Patient Safety Specialists. You will be a highly visible and accessible leader, providing expert advice and guidance on patient safety, safety culture and improvement. You will support delivery of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy and help strengthen partnerships locally, regionally and nationally. A flexible approach is needed to manage the changing picture of healthcare patient safety in line with the national agenda.
The post holder will contribute to the development and delivery of patient safety education and training across the Trust, promoting systems thinking, human factors, psychological safety and just culture principles to help build organisational capability for learning and improvement.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to master’s level (in a relevant discipline) or equivalent level, or equivalent experience of working at a senior level.
- Post-graduate management, leadership or specialist qualification or previous experience.
- Qualification in Patient Safety and incident investigation, including level1 and level 2 National Patient or willingness to work towards safety training.
Desirable criteria
- Qualification in NHS leadership.
- Qualification In Human Factors.
- Quality improvement qualification or previous experience.
- Post-graduate patient safety or human factors qualification, or willingness to work towards or previous experience
- Recognised management qualification at minimum of post graduate diploma level.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of investigating patient safety incidents within a large/complex organisation using systems learning approaches.
- Broad understanding of the NHS governance agendas.
- Experience in delivering improvement projects and change.
- Highly developed knowledge of patient safety and investigation.
Desirable criteria
- Experience and knowledge of the components of quality governance, incident response, risk management and assurance function; current NHS national policies, standards, requirements and directions that relate to measuring and improving the quality and safety of patient care.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Candace Wood
- Job title
- Deputy to Associate Director of Patient Saftey
- Email address
- [email protected]
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