Quality Officer (Acute and Elective Care)NHS

Job summary

The Quality Officer supports the Integrated Care Board (ICB) in assuring, monitoring and improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of commissioned services. Working as part of the Quality and Safety Team, the postholder will collect, analyse and triangulate quality intelligence from a range of sources to identify risks, trends, learning opportunities and areas of good practice, supporting organisational assurance and decision-making.

The role supports quality assurance, governance and patient safety activities through the monitoring of quality indicators, coordination of reviews and production of assurance reports. The postholder will contribute to the identification, assessment and escalation of quality concerns, support provider oversight arrangements, monitor improvement actions and contribute to the delivery of quality assurance frameworks across commissioned services.

The postholder will work collaboratively with providers, clinicians, commissioners and partner organisations to support quality improvement, patient safety and organisational assurance. Strong analytical, organisational and communication skills are essential, together with the ability to interpret and present complex information, influence stakeholders and build effective working relationships across the health and care system.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will support quality assurance and oversight, monitoring and improving quality, safety and patient experience across commissioned services. They will review, analyse and interpret quality intelligence from multiple sources to provide assurance to senior leaders and governance forums.

Working with providers, clinical colleagues, commissioners and partners, they will help identify, escalate and manage quality risks, emerging issues and good practice. They will support quality assurance, provider oversight and improvement, triangulating intelligence to inform decisions and organisational assurance.

They will produce and present reports, briefings and assurance information, monitoring quality performance, improvement programmes and agreed actions. They will contribute to reviews, audits, visits and other assurance activities, ensuring learning is identified, shared and embedded to support continuous improvement.

They will maintain effective systems to record, report and monitor quality information, complying with organisational policies, governance requirements and professional standards. They will provide flexible support for quality, safety, governance and service improvement priorities, helping deliver organisational objectives and better outcomes for patients and populations.

Job description

Please refer to the full job description and person specification attached

The postholder will be accountable for:

• Provides support for the Quality & Safety Team in the delivery of business objectives in relation to effective assurance of quality and safety for the organisation and strategically commissioned services.
• Work closely with the Quality & Safety Teams to work with partners to develop, manage and support mechanisms for ensuring quality and safety and ensure the ICB fulfils its statutory duties in relation to Quality & Safety
• Support the provision of an efficient, effective and high quality professional and co-ordinated team in providing assurance of commissioned services and ensuring that the ICB meets its statutory and regulatory duties in line with NHS requirements.
• Ensure accurate and open communication with a range of organisations and individuals, researching and drafting correspondence and papers and ensuring the management of specific tasks, lead reporting and analysis across a range of specialties, functions and projects
• Participate in relevant internal and external working groups/projects, services, and initiatives which may be highly complex, sensitive, political, and contain contentious information with the aim of providing information and analytical advice to the teams.
• Work with members of the team to develop and implement project data collection systems that will provide accurate and timely data.
• Communicate information, risks, issues and dependencies, including briefings and reports to wider ICB teams, sponsors and a range of internal and external staff.
• Liaise with members of the public and various professionals in response to queries, quality matters and complaints about commissioned service and ICB business.
• Undertake complex and detailed information analysis of specific projects/reports requiring high levels of concentration.
• Update, maintain, organise, gather and analyse information to predict/meet future organisational and team needs by identifying best professional practice.
• Monitor and tracking risks and issues tracking mechanism and its proactive resolution and escalation processes.
• Contribute to the information management of quality and performance, taking a lead for specific projects.
• Provide coordination of and participate in relevant meetings, reporting attendance and providing information advice and support where requested.
• Ensure that data collected is analysed, reported by the team as appropriate and monitor the processing of data and information.
• Co-ordinate a wide range of diverse & sensitive information to enable quality assurance to be obtained & reported upon including complaint, quality matters, recording and monitoring SI's/Nevers Events reported via providers via the STEIS system.
• Liaise with providers to determine status of investigations & ensure all relevant financial penalties are recorded.
• Analyse various sources of patient safety information through triangulation of a range of information to identify trends/emerging themes investigating with support from team colleagues.
• Actively collate a range of patient safety information for each sector maintaining a range of records using new & existing systems & processes within the team.
• Prepare and maintain quality visit programs for announced/ unannounced visits for all sectors. Including, preparation of visit criteria/rationale & reporting on findings & preparation of action plans where improvements have been identified.
• Maintain informal & formal complaint records including Quality Matters.
• Triangulate various sources of soft/hard intelligence from carers/relatives, service users, complainants, health professionals and colleagues associated with clinical quality and services commissioned by the ICB.
• Obtain assurance on patient experience from a range of sources including providers, regulators i.e. CQC, Monitor etc, Local Authority & any other stakeholders for onward assurance reporting within the ICBs systems/processes.
• Liaise with members of the public, health professionals & any other stakeholders on clinical quality matters ensuring their queries/concerns are processed effectively.
• Monitor investigations, action plans, visit & improvement plans to ensure timely progression & completion of actions.
• Coordinate and maintain the implementation status of NICE guidance for provider/commissioned services in preparation for assurance, quality and contract meetings.
• Produce assurance reports for relevant groups to demonstrate the extent of assurance available for each sector.
• Co-ordinate & take part in audits pertaining to ICB quality projects in accordance with the program of work for ICB quality assurance.
• Actively implement the risk management strategy across the organisation including risk assessment & active utilisation of the risk management system.
• Coordinate and maintain all risk information (risk assessments, incidents, alerts etc) entered onto the risk management system for the organisation & liaising with other ICB teams where appropriate.
• Undertake risk analysis & reporting providing assurance & identifying gaps in assurance as applicable.
• Prepare information for inclusion within reports using a range of skills including written & illustrative formats providing clear & concise explanation(s) and interpretation of analysis.
• Lead projects/time limited/specific clinical quality work including development & monitoring of clinical indicators, dashboard development, analysis, benchmarking & ongoing monitoring across all sectors of ICB.
• Develop appropriate record management systems to demonstrate how information is monitored & escalated accordingly.
• Maintain contract records for clinical quality and support in the development of monitoring tools & assurance documentation.
• Support on the implementation & review of quality & risk strategies.
• Deliver against organisational objectives, achieving quality outcomes, prioritising own workload and working to tight deadlines.
• Support and inform teams on the targeting of resources, monitoring, implementing, evaluating and delivery of plans by providing sophisticated, high quality information and analysis.
• Support training and induction of new staff, supervises other team members as required.
• Updating, maintaining, organise, gather and analyse information to predict/meet future organisational and team needs by identifying best professional practice.
• Lead on development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of new information systems/databases as required.
• Actively supports and contributes to the development of key performance indicators for the successful assessment of performance.
• Support implementation of strategic modernisation/service improvement, public health, workforce or commissioning strategies and any associated action plans, in accordance with the agreed priorities of the team.
• Work closely with Patient Safety Team to ensure full triangulation of information relating to themes and trends of patient safety incidents.

About us

Birmingham, the Black Country and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB) brings together the NHS, local councils and voluntary sector partners to support 2.7 million people. Our vision is to make the area the healthiest place to live and work by improving life chances and reducing inequalities.

As an employee, you will demonstrate our system values, champion inclusion and help address health inequalities so everyone can thrive. In return, the ICB offers a supportive, ambitious and inclusive workplace, with opportunities to develop and work with partners to deliver meaningful change.

The ICB is committed to a workforce that reflects the population of Birmingham, the Black Country and Solihull. We promote equality, diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from everyone who meets the role criteria, regardless of age, gender, disability, race, religion or sexual orientation.

The ICB is a registered Disability Confident Employer. We welcome applications from disabled people and will shortlist suitable applicants who meet the essential criteria.

Employees formally notified that they are at risk of redundancy within the organisation will receive priority consideration for this vacancy if they meet the roles essential requirements. This supports redeployment and helps minimise compulsory redundancies.