About this role
Job summary
University Hospitals Sussex is undergoing a significant Independent Maternity Review (IMR), commissioned by the Department of Health, which will examine around 1,000 cases of stillbirth, neonatal and maternal deaths, severe neonatal brain injury and severe maternal harm since 2018. The review aims to identify learning, provide answers for families and drive improvements across maternity services.
Working across Obstetrics, Anaesthetics, Gynaecology, Neonatology and Paediatrics, the postholder will coordinate delivery of the Trust's response to the IMR and support implementation of improvements arising from the Nottingham and Amos maternity reviews. The role will ensure actions are effectively tracked, monitored and evidenced, maintaining robust governance and audit trails for assurance to senior leaders and executives.
The postholder will work closely with the core IMR team, supporting staff, managing sensitive information in line with information governance requirements, and helping to minimise operational impact. They will also lead and support improvement projects, establish systems to evidence completion of actions and demonstrate measurable benefits and impact for women, families and staff.
Main duties of the job
Maintain robust systems to track actions, owners, deadlines and evidence arising from the Sussex IMR, Nottingham and Amos reviews. Develop project plans, monitor progress, manage risks and escalate issues in line with Trust governance processes. Lead and support quality improvement projects, ensuring implementation is evidenced and measurable benefits are demonstrated. Work collaboratively with clinical, managerial and external stakeholders to deliver improvement programmes. Coordinate communication and engagement activities, ensuring staff are informed, involved and supported throughout the IMR process. Prepare reports and updates for Directorate, Divisional, Executive and Board-level oversight. Support the development of accessible communications for staff, service users and the public. Analyse, interpret and present data with clinical and business intelligence teams to inform decision-making and demonstrate outcomes. Promote a culture of psychological safety, teamwork, continuous improvement and shared learning. Coach colleagues in project management, improvement methodologies and effective use of data. Ensure compliance with information governance requirements when handling sensitive review information. This role requires a highly organised, proactive individual with the ability to manage competing priorities, work independently and build effective relationships across a wide range of stakeholders to support sustainable improvements in maternity and neonatal services.
About us
Working for our organisation
At UHSussex, diversity is our strength, and we want you to feel included to help us always deliver Excellent Care Everywhere, as shown in our Outstanding for Caring CQC rating. Your uniqueness and experiences will be part of our creative and innovative community where everyone is encouraged to succeed. We have a range of staff networks to help break down barriers, and can offer abuddy to help new members settle in. We're proud to be a Disability Confident Employer (Level 3) and a Veteran Aware Trust.
Candidate Pack
Job description Job responsibilities
This vacancy is advertised as a time-limited opportunity is expected to be undertaken on a secondment basis for internal applicants.Before applying, internal colleagues must discuss the opportunity with their current line manager to confirm whether they can be released from their substantive role if successful.Release to undertake a secondment is not automatic and must be agreed between the colleague, their current line manager, and the recruiting line manager.
Please see attached job description for full details.
Please note: This role does not meet the minimum criteria for visa sponsorship under the current UK immigration rules, which set specific salary and skill thresholds. As such, we are unable to provide sponsorship for this post. Applicants will therefore need to already have the right to work in the UK to be considered. We include this information at the outset to provide clarity and avoid unnecessary inconvenience for applicants.
If you do not meet the sponsorship requirements, and you are applying using a Graduate visa as your right to work, you must have a minimum of 18 months remaining on your visa at time of application.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Educated to Master's level or demonstrable equivalent career path experience Evidence of continuous professional development Programme or Project Management qualification eg PRINCE 2 or MSP Knowledge acquired within area of specialism through training / attending study days and / or courses
Desirable
Leadership or Coaching qualification Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or equivalent qualification. Familiarity with the themes in findings from previous Independent Maternity Reviews Understanding of the components of good care for women in pregnancy, labour and postnatally
Experience Essential
Knowledge of continuous improvement tools/ knowledge Experience of supporting complex programmes of improvement, ideally involving working across multiple clinical specialties Experience of autonomously managing projects from initiation to closure Ability to maintain, timely, highly complex and accurate information sources and databases Intermediate knowledge of MS Office software, in particular Excel. Experience of presenting to groups using Microsoft PowerPoint or similar.
Desirable
Experience of working in women and children's healthcare services in a project management or quality improvement role Experience of leading an end to end continuous improvement project in any industry. Experience of applying continuous improvement methodologies within a healthcare setting. Experience in coaching or mentoring individuals in project management and / or quality improvement approaches
Skills Essential
Excellent communication and presentation skills, through all mediums, with experience of successful influence and engagement influence of Senior Leaders and Managers through the lifecycle of continuous Improvement projects. Able to build constructive relationships with staff from a range of professional and cultural backgrounds and build a culture of mutual aid, psychological safety Ability to adapt communication style depending on stakeholder. Strong analytic skills and knowledge of how to use data appropriately and correctly Understands the method and theory of different continuous improvement methodologies and how to adapt the relevant parts to work in different settings. Intermediate Excel skills and experience of using other MS Office software e.g. Visio, PowerPoint. Able to analyse, interrogate and present data.
Desirable
Understanding of common measures of quality, safety, effectiveness and experience in women and children's services Experience of using best practice data analysis approaches eg Statistical Process Control charts
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Essential
Evidence of having championed diversity in previous roles (as appropriate to role). Evidence of having undertaken own development to improve understanding of equalities issues
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details Employer name University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279)
Address Worthing Hospital
Worthing
BN11 2DH
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.uhsussex.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)