Qualifications
Essential criteria
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Job Overview
We are seeking an outstanding senior leader to drive quality insight, clinical effectiveness and regulatory excellence across the Bristol NHS Group.
As Associate Director of Quality (Insight, Clinical Effectiveness & Regulation), you will lead core elements of our quality agenda—including clinical effectiveness and audit, PROMs, mortality governance, consent, shared decision‑making and regulatory readiness. Working with clinical and operational leaders, you will champion evidence‑based practice, strengthen learning cultures and improve outcomes and experience.
You will also advance digital innovation, supporting real‑time learning tools, predictive analytics and proactive risk management. In partnership with digital teams, you will ensure safe implementation of evolving systems and help shape and enhance our Quality Management System.
We are looking for an innovative, adaptable leader with deep expertise in quality governance, regulation, improvement methodologies and national guidance. You will have strong experience using and optimising digital systems to generate meaningful insights.
Educated to master’s level (or equivalent experience), you will work with significant autonomy and act on behalf of the Group Director of Quality, including deputising when required.
This is a unique opportunity to align people, policy and practice to maximise impact within ambitious, learning‑focused organisations.
If you're ready to make a major impact, we’d love to hear from you.
Main duties of the job
This role provides expert leadership across quality governance, clinical effectiveness and audit, PROMs, mortality governance, consent and shared decision‑making, and regulatory readiness. The postholder will work closely with clinical and operational leaders to embed evidence‑based practice, promote a learning culture, and improve clinical effectiveness and experience.
They will translate complex quality, safety and effectiveness data into meaningful intelligence that drives improvement, supports executive and board decision‑making, and assures compliance with national standards and regulatory requirements. They will also lead engagement in regulatory inspections and future planning to optimise outcomes.
The role oversees alignment and continuous improvement of digital insights across the full quality portfolio, including patient safety and experience, working with functional leads and clinical teams. This includes commissioning and enhancing digital systems for patient surveys, safety events, mortality reviews, clinical audits and other future needs.
Given the Group’s ambitions to meet NHS 10‑year plan requirements and future care models, the role requires innovative leadership in digital data quality, intelligence, governance and quality innovation—for example, developing emerging Perception, Decision, Generative or Agentic AI‑based tools within Trust digital policies.
Working for our organisation
University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Foundation Trust and North Bristol NHS Trust are collaborating under a Joint Clinical Strategy as the NHS Bristol Group. During Summer 2026 we aim to become a single Foundation Trust for the benefit of patients, people, population and the public purse.
Together. we employ over 28,000 healthcare professionalsacrossBristol, NorthSomersetand South Gloucestershire, and have been positively progressing our Joint Clinical Strategypublished inMarch2024.
Ouraim as a Group is to deliver even better care by reducing duplication, investing in frontline services, and strengthening integration across our hospitals and communities. We are making great progress but there are still barriers to overcome and complexities to work around. By working together as one team wefirmly believewe will be able to do more than ever for the people and communities we serve.
Within the Bristol NHS Group, we know diverse and inclusive environments lead to happier and healthier teams and improved patient care and outcomes. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are currently underrepresented in NBT’s workforce at Band 8a and above. These include people from global majority backgrounds, disabled people and LGBTQIA+ people
Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description for full details of the main duties and responsibilities that the post holder is required to undertake.
Key Dimensions
* Staffing: Responsible for c. 21 WTE across the Group Quality Insight, clinical effectiveness and regulation function.
* Budget: Direct budget responsibility for c. £1.4m, (pay) with wider influence over budgets linked to quality and governance programmes.
* Portfolio: Group-wide delivery leadership responsibility for quality insight, clinical effectiveness and audit, mortality review, CQC compliance and quality governance. Developing the use of AI=-assisted solutions to enhance the efficiency and foresight across Quality portfolio, working with subject leaders (e.g. also covering patient safety and experience)
* Reach: Operating across all sites within Bristol NHS Group.
* Impact: Critical to achieving and sustaining “Good” and “Outstanding” CQC ratings, enabling corporate and clinical teams to gain quality insight for assurance and improvement to enhance care delivery.
Key Relationships
* Internal: Group Executive Team, Group Directors, Divisional Directors, Clinical Directors, senior nursing and medical leaders, corporate functions (governance, risk, audit, digital, HR), patient and staff networks.
* External: NHS England, Care Quality Commission, Integrated Care Board, academic partners, Health Education England, professional regulators (NMC, GMC, HCPC), voluntary/community organisations, patients, and carers.
Key Responsibilities
* Strategic and Operational Leadership of Quality Insight and Intelligence
* Provide strategic leadership for the development and integration of Group-wide corporate quality insight and intelligence systems, ensuring alignment with organisational strategy (including the development of a Quality Management System) and national priorities.
* Working fully in line with Group Business Intelligence teams, lead the synthesis of data from multiple sources (e.g. quality dashboards, audits, outcomes, patient experience, mortality reviews, incidents and complaints) into coherent, actionable intelligence. This will include seeking innovative solutions to shift from reactive to predictive insights, including the potential use of differing types of Artificial Intelligence.
* Translate complex data into meaningful narratives and insights that support clinical teams, inform executive decision-making and provide assurance to the Board.
* Drive the use of insight to proactively identify risk, variation and opportunity, enabling continuous improvement in safety, effectiveness and outcomes.
* Champion data quality, benchmarking and analytical capability across quality functions.
* Lead the business case development, procurement and project implementation of new digital systems, where required.
* Ensure the optimisation and continuous improvement of digital systems that are owned within the quality portfolio, meeting the requirements of Information Asset Ownership in line with Group policies.
* Lead the oversight and, where necessary, improvement of supplier performance.
* Oversight of Quality Governance Frameworks
* Provide expert leadership in the design, delivery and continuous improvement of the Group’s quality governance framework, including committee structures, reporting mechanisms and lines of accountability. This will apply equally to pre- and post-merger arrangements at trust level, providing advice and expertise into the merger programme.
* Ensure governance arrangements provide robust assurance on quality, safety, outcomes and patient experience at all levels of the organisation.
* Align governance frameworks with national standards, regulatory requirements (including CQC and NHS England) and internal assurance processes.
* Lead and produce the Trust’s annual Quality Account ensuring that this statutory document is developed according to the necessary timescales, receiving Trust Board approval prior to submission to the Secretary of State
* Support Divisions and Care Groups to strengthen local quality governance and escalation processes.
* Contribute to Board and sub-committee reporting, ensuring high-quality, clear and evidence-based assurance.
* Clinical Audit and Effectiveness Policy, Development and Delivery
* Lead the strategic direction, policy development and delivery of the Group-wide clinical audit and clinical effectiveness programme.
* Ensure robust systems are in place to deliver high-quality clinical audit, re-audit and demonstrable improvement.
* Embed evidence-based practice through effective implementation and monitoring of NICE guidance, national audits and best practice standards.
* Align clinical audit and effectiveness activity with organisational priorities, quality improvement programmes and regulatory requirements.
* Working with the CMIO leadership team develop the Group’s strategic approach and oversight framework for clinical outcome measures, in particular Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).
* Provide expert advice and challenge to clinical teams to maximise the impact of audit and effectiveness work on patient outcomes.
* Link with clinical divisions to ensure appropriate oversight of clinical accreditation standards, quality assurance visits and other compliance-based mechanisms that apply across clinical services across the Group.
* Regulatory Compliance and Mortality Oversight
* Provide senior leadership to ensure sustained compliance with CQC standards and other external regulatory frameworks, working closely with subject matter expert leads for Clinical Accreditation, Quality Audits and other assurance sources for compliance with professional standards.
* Lead and coordinate the Group’s approach to regulatory readiness, inspections, engagement meetings and ongoing assurance.
* Provide strategic oversight of mortality governance, including Learning from Deaths, Structured Judgement Reviews and medical examiner processes (as applicable), ensuring delivery of the Group’s Mortality Improvement programme
* Ensure robust systems are in place to identify, review and learn from deaths, translating learning into measurable improvement opportunities in care and outcomes and signposting into clinical and corporate improvement structures.
* Oversee and ensure effective operation of processes for managing mortality alerts and other alerts relating to the quality and safety of services, ensure these are investigated thoroughly and action take where required, and to provide assurance for the Board and external stakeholders (CQC, commissioners, NHSE).
* Work proactively with Executive, operational and Divisional leads to ensure the Trust maintains a state of readiness for CQC inspections: this includes maintaining a corporate record of evidence of compliance with relevant standards and ensuring widespread staff awareness of the requirements and implications of the CQC’s compliance framework.
* Present assurance on mortality, clinical effectiveness and regulatory compliance to executive and board forums.
* Leadership, Culture and Improvement
* Act as a senior role model for quality, safety and continuous improvement, promoting a just, learning and compassionate culture.
* Act as a change leader in alignment requirements for the Bristol NHS Group embracing the opportunities this presents and supporting clinical and corporate teams through any changes from legacy approaches.
* Provide leadership, development and performance management for teams within the portfolio.
* Influence and support senior clinical and operational leaders to embed quality control and assurance into everyday practice.
* Hold delegated responsibility for managing budgets associated with the quality insight, effectiveness and governance portfolio and will ensure resources are deployed effectively to maximise quality impact.
* Represent the Group at system, regional and national forums as required.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
* Educated to master’s level or equivalent experience in a relevant field (e.g. healthcare, quality, patient safety, public health, management).
* Relevant professional qualification or registration (e.g. clinical, nursing, allied health, or equivalent senior quality/governance background).
* Evidence of strong and recent commitment to relevant ongoing professional development
Desirable criteria
* Formal training in quality improvement methodologies (e.g. QI, Lean, Six Sigma, Human Factors).
Knowledge & Experience
Essential criteria
* Significant senior leadership experience within the NHS or a complex healthcare organisation
* Demonstrable experience in developing and using quality insight, intelligence and outcomes data to drive improvement and provide board-level assurance.
* Experience of working with external regulators (e.g. CQC, NHS England) including inspections and assurance processes.
* Proven experience of leading quality governance, assurance and regulatory compliance at Trust or system level.
Desirable criteria
* Experience of leading large-scale transformation or improvement programmes.
* Experience of digital or advanced analytics supporting quality insight.
* Experience of working across systems or integrated care environments.
Skills & Behaviours
Essential criteria
* Ability to concurrently manage a number of very different and complex work streams
* Ability to analyse and interpret complex qualitative and quantitative data and translate it into actionable insight
* Commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion and reducing health inequalities.
* Strong strategic understanding of digital systems, supplier procurement and contract management
If you apply for this vacancy and have not received a communication from North Bristol NHS Trust within three weeks of the closing date, please assume that on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful.
Please note that North Bristol NHS Trust does not reimburse travel expenses relating to interview attendance.
If you feel you meet the requirements of the Disability Act / Two Ticks scheme and require further support/advice, please contact us on tel 0117 414 1151.
North Bristol NHS Trust are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
The successful applicant(s) will normally commence at the minimum of the scale unless they have previous NHS service at the same band. Progression through the scale is by annual increments.
At North Bristol Trust (NBT), we know diverse and inclusive environments lead to happier and healthier teams and improved patient care and outcomes. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are currently underrepresented in NBT’s workforce at Band 8a and above. These include people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people and LGBTQIA+ people.
Please note that stringent pre-employment checks are undertaken on all successful applicants prior to commencement in post. #J-18808-Ljbffr