Health hunts for quality and safety leader

Friday 03 September 2021

Health is on the hunt for a new Director to decide how the quality of the department’s services should be measured, while driving improvements in safety and diversity and inclusion.

The recruitment drive for a Director of Quality and Safety follows the publication of a major health check on the hospital and wider health estate’s activities.

The report found that the department was falling short against targets in around 20 key areas ranging from Accident and Emergency services to maternity and complaints handling.

However, in the areas of Infection Control and Patient Safety, there were no indicators to measure how well the Health Department was doing in these areas.

"You would quite rightly be expecting us as a health provider to be producing a quality account, and we don't," Chief Nurse Rose Naylor said of the indicators' absence.

"This will be one of the first priorities for the Director of Quality and Safety when they are appointed - my aspiration is that as an organisation, we produce a quality account next year, and within that quality account will be all our pre-determined metrics."

Recruitment for that role is now underway, with the Government appealing for an "inspiring clinical leader who is passionate about leading the Quality and Safety agenda across Health and Community Services in Jersey."

Pictured: Indicators were not included for Infection Control and Patient Safety figures in the HCS June Performance report, something it is said the new role will rectify.

According to a job description on the 'OneTeam' recruitment portal, the person in the role "oversees, plans, coordinates and evaluates a comprehensive programme to improve clinical outcomes, enhance value and minimise patient harm", as well as overseeing "incident reporting, root cause analysis, mode analysis, system design, failure modes and effects analysis and proactive staff training and education."

The job has also been advertised on the 'NHS Jobs' website, though applications for the role closed on 25 August.

Some of the other other responsibilities for the role outlined in the job description include:

• ensuring risks at all levels across the organisation are appropriately managed;
• leading HCS's equality, diversity and inclusion agenda;
• responsibility in ensuring HCS exceeds agreed Quality Standards and Risk Management Standards.

Express has asked the cost of the recruitment exercise and is awaiting a reply.