Group Head of Quality & Patient Safety

POSITION Group Head of Quality \& Patient Safety

Reporting to Group CEO along with a dotted line reporting to the Group Clinical Director regarding clinical governance, policy and clinical matters.

Base Initially located in Group Head Office in Fonthill but will be required to be located at the clinical sites including Blackrock Clinic, Hermitage Clinic, Galway Clinic and Women's Health Centre as required.

Working Hours 37 hours per week

Key stakeholders

Group CEO

Group Clinical Director

Group Chief Transformation Officer

Hospital CEO's including Blackrock Clinic, Hermitage Clinic, and Galway Clinic

Hospital Heads of Quality

Hospital Directors of Nursing

Hospital Heads of HR

Group Chief People Officer

Group Chief Information Officer

Group Chief Financial Officer and Clinic Finance Teams

Role purpose

Working as part of the Group Leadership team, this role will promote and sustain a quality culture in accordance with the Blackrock Health Vision and Mission and hospital strategy.

The aim of this role is to optimise quality and patient safety across Blackrock Health.

The appointed Group Head of Quality and Patient Safety will be responsible for all key drivers of Quality \& Patient Safety, incorporating but not limited to Clinical Audit, Clinical Effectiveness, oversight of Risk Management (including Incidents, Complaints and Claims), Accreditation and providing support to clinicians and managers for clinical quality improvement strategies.

Key responsibilities

Leadership

• Champion a visible and inspiring leadership style that drives a culture of continuous quality improvement across the Group.


• Develop and maintain a collaborative close working relationship with the Group Clinical Director.


• Serve as a core member of the Group Clinical Governance Committee.


• Participate in Group Executive and Hospital Leadership, communicating and working with multidisciplinary teams to embed quality as a shared organisational value.


• Act as a key conduit, strengthening communication lines between Group Executive leadership and hospital clinical teams.


• Lead the Group's Data Protection function, ensuring ongoing compliance with data protection legislation and safeguarding all personal data under BHG's control, while acting as the primary liaison with relevant internal departments and with third\-party partners and stakeholders on data protection matters.


• Support and work closely with the Medical Societies, Medical and Nursing Leadership and other clinical groups to ensure the highest clinical standards and evidence\-based best practice.


• Prepare and present clear, insight\-driven reports to the Group Clinical Governance Committee and Board, and others as requested.


• Provide reports to the Group and Hospital Clinical Directors on all aspects of Quality as required.


• Represent Quality and Patient Safety on Group projects, such as EHR implementation and Sustainability.

• Lead and foster a proactive and enduring strong culture of safety at every level of the organisation.


• Promote a culture of high reliability.


• Act as Group Accreditation Lead, to ensure accreditation standards are being achieved including JCI, HIQA and other national and international accreditation bodies with which we are aligned.


• Support internal and external inspections by regulatory and other bodies


• Ensure alignment the Quality \& Patient Safety Programme with the Group Strategy to deliver measurable outcomes for patients and staff.


• Provide strategic direction and operational oversight for the Quality \& Patient Safety strategy at Hospital level


• Develop an annual Quality Plan in conjunction with Hospital Quality teams and monitor progress of implementation of priority areas.


• Continuously monitor the changing national and international global regulatory environment and proactively adapt the Group policies and practice.


• Align Group Patient Safety policies and identify opportunities for alignment of cross\-site Safety Committees including areas such as infection control, medication administration, hemovigilance, radiation safety and other safety areas.


• Identify opportunities with the Quality teams to align clinical policies, pathways and procedures on a Group\-wide basis and to ensure that they are compliant with national and industry standards and best practice.


• Oversee and pilot Group Patient Safety Initiatives, in conjunction with local teams.

• Review hospital reports on adverse occurrence investigations, identify monitoring trends and working with hospital staff and consultants to improve quality and reduce risk.


• Update and develop policies and procedures to reduce risk of recurrence of adverse events.


• Analyse reports from the Incident Management System to inform decision making and monitoring of performance indicators.


• Provide strategic oversight of Clinical Claims management, liaising with local teams and indemnifiers, to manage claims efficiently and reduce risk.


• Update Group Clinical Governance on Claims progression, risks, learning and changes introduced as a result.


• Work closely with Insurance Indemnifiers to reduce risks and identify learnings.

• Work closely with multidisciplinary teams to develop and align audit strategies for improving quality and patient safety within the organization.


• Participate in development of quality initiatives including clinical audit, and KPIs


• Lead the coordination and implementation of Group\-wide initiatives.

• Engage with the Group and Hospital Clinical \& Medical Directors, relevant hospital teams, and CEOs, to have oversight of the process of Consultant privileging, annual review, and ongoing consultant accreditation. Report results of local audits of these activities to Group level /GCGC.


• Advocate for optimal MDT structures in each hospital to enhance patient safety and align with national, international and specialty norms.

• Monitor results of Patient Experience surveys and liaise with the provider in the analysis of action plans to improve the patient experience.


• Oversee the development and implementation of a Patient Council(s) in each site.

• Proactively identify opportunities for the digitalisation of Quality and Patient Safety processes, Claims Management, Complaints Management and patient/staff engagement.


• Champion patient centred outcomes during the identification and introduction of new devices, new technologies, including digital and AI initiatives. Participate in the appropriate decision\-making forums.

• Design, develop and facilitate impactful education and training programmes on Quality and Patient Safety for all hospitals


• Identify lessons learned through the risk management programme and employ mechanisms for these to be shared through the organisation.


• Develop a Group\-wide Grand Rounds programme to advance clinical education and shared learning. education meetings)


• Serve as a valued resource for support/advice to colleagues engaging in relevant continuous professional development


• Provide expertise, support and leadership for management and staff in terms of Quality Improvement / Risk Management.


• Act as resource for HR in relation to patient safety education, including developing appropriate onboarding content for new staff induction.


• Engage in Performance Review processes where required.

• Post\-Graduate qualification, or equivalent, in Quality \& Patient Safety


• Seven years post\-graduate experience in acute care setting


• Minimum 3\-5 years' experience at management level


• High professional standards in relation to confidentiality and ethics


• Working knowledge of relevant legislation


• Claims Management experience


• Experience managing and working collaboratively with multiple internal and external stakeholders, as relevant to this role


• The requisite knowledge and ability (including a high standard of suitability and management ability) for the proper discharge of the duties of the office.

*May 2026*

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