Our vision for Single Corporate Services

Isle of Wight NHS Trust (IWT) and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) have a shared vision of a single corporate service across our two organisations, supported by a single set of identical systems and processes, under joint leadership, to drive significant efficiencies, improve employee experience, and return time to patient care.

This vacancy is part of the Single Corporate Services Division.

Why are we changing the way we deliver Corporate Services?

Working as a partnership, both IWT and PHU have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this. The creation of a single corporate service is essential for us to support our clinical and operational services, and our wider transformation programme

The vision for our single corporate services is to:

• Be an employer of choice for corporate talent, attracting and retaining people who share our values for excellence in care and welcome the opportunity to benefit from the broad range of flexible career and development opportunities we can offer.

• Improve efficiency through simplified and standardised policies, processes, and systems, drawing on the best from both Trusts.

• Do things once and reduce any duplication on transactional tasks giving corporate staff the ability to focus on higher value and more diverse activities.

• Co-invest in the latest digital solutions and standardise our approach, meaning we do things once for both organisations.

• Improve learning and development opportunities and sharing best practice, upskilling both Trusts.

• Co-locate teams in purpose-built facilities on the Island and in Portsmouth to enable closer working and sharing.

• Build resilience for individuals and our teams.

The single corporate service is delivered across both organisation. You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally

This vacancy is open to employees of Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust only.

Band: 8b

Hours: 37.5

Contract Type: Permanent

Base location: Queen Alexandra Hospital, Southwick Hill Road, Cosham, Portsmouth, PO6 3LY. Across site travel will be required, the frequency will be agreed locally.

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced and inspirational senior leader to join us as Head of Patient Safety. This is a key leadership role with responsibility for driving patient safety improvement and learning across PHU, while contributing to a shared corporate service working across two NHS Trusts.

The post holder will provide strategic leadership for patient safety, ensuring robust systems are in place to identify, investigate and learn from patient safety incidents. You will play a central role in embedding a culture of compassion, openness and continuous improvement, aligned with national patient safety priorities and organisational objectives.

The role reports to the Associate Director of Quality Governance and is accountable to the Deputy Chief Nurse (Group).

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for patient safety across the organisation.
• Lead the development, implementation and embedding of patient safety frameworks, policies and learning systems.
• Ensure effective systems for reporting, investigating, responding to and learning from patient safety incidents, including learning from deaths.
• Lead and manage the Patient Safety Team, including staff development, appraisal and workforce planning.
• Work collaboratively with clinical leaders, quality improvement teams and corporate colleagues to embed safety learning into practice.
• Provide expert advice and assurance to senior leaders and Trust committees, including the preparation of high‑quality reports.
• Represent the Trust internally and externally on patient safety matters, working with system partners as required.
• Work collaboratively with regulators, commissioners, and other partners including NHS England, ICB, and the CQC.

About You

You will be a confident, compassionate and credible senior leader with a strong background in patient safety and quality within an acute healthcare setting. You will have the ability to influence at senior and Board level, manage complexity, and lead change through collaboration and evidence‑based improvement.

You will bring excellent communication skills, sound judgement, and a clear commitment to creating a just and learning culture that improves outcomes for patients, families and staff.

You will demonstrate:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to handle sensitive and complex information.
• Excellent organisational and analytical skills, with attention to detail.
• The ability to build effective working relationships with clinical and non‑clinical teams.
• A proactive approach to learning, improvement and patient safety.
• A commitment to Trust values and continuous professional development.

Qualifications

Essential qualifications:

• Professional qualification with current or previous registration as a Registered Nurse or Allied Health Professional (NMC or HCPC).
• Master’s degree or equivalent level of knowledge and experience.
• Evidence of recent and relevant continuing professional development.
• Significant senior clinical leadership experience within an acute healthcare setting.
• Demonstrable knowledge of the national patient safety agenda.
• Experience of leading patient safety investigations and quality improvement activity.
• Experience of managing staff and contributing to service development at organisational level.

Desirable:

• Patient Safety Syllabus (Levels 1–4).
• Formal safety science or investigation science training.
• Experience of working across organisational or system boundaries.
• Budget or resource management experience.

Why Join Us?

You’ll be joining a forward-thinking, collaborative team working across two innovative NHS Trusts. We are committed to professional development, inclusive leadership, and fostering a culture of learning and excellence. You’ll have the opportunity to influence at a senior level and shape the future of quality governance across both organisations.

The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.

We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.