Job overview

Are you an experienced Gynaecology governance professional with a passion for patient safety, quality improvement and risk management?

We are seeking an outstanding Deputy Head of Governance for Women's and Gynaecology Services (Band 8a) to join our Governance Team at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a key leadership role in supporting the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality care for women accessing our gynaecology services across the Trust.

Reporting to the Head of Governance, you will provide senior leadership for governance across gynaecology services, ensuring robust governance systems are embedded, maintained and continuously improved.

You will lead on risk management, patient safety, incident investigations, complaints, claims, clinical audit and regulatory compliance, whilst promoting a culture of learning, continuous improvement and excellence in women's healthcare.

Working closely with clinical, nursing and operational leaders, you will support the delivery of key priorities across gynaecology, including elective and emergency services, early pregnancy and specialist pathways, ensuring that patient experience, safety and quality remain at the heart of service delivery.

This is a full-time role based at Watford General Hospital, with some cross-site working required. Working hours are primarily Monday to Friday, with flexibility to meet service needs.

Advert

As Deputy Head of Governance for Women's and Gynaecology Services, you will provide operational leadership for governance systems and processes across the specialty, ensuring compliance with Trust, regional and national standards.

You will oversee risk management processes, maintain specialty risk registers, and support clinical and operational leaders to identify, manage and mitigate risks effectively across gynaecology services.

You will lead on patient safety and incident management within gynaecology, including supporting the implementation of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), overseeing complex investigations and driving learning from incidents, complaints, claims, audits and inquests.

Working closely with multidisciplinary teams, you will ensure that learning is embedded into practice to improve patient safety, experience and outcomes across gynaecology pathways, including elective, emergency, early pregnancy and specialist services.

The successful candidate will have significant experience in NHS governance, patient safety or risk management, ideally within women's health, maternity or gynaecology services.

You will possess excellent analytical, organisational and communication skills, with the ability to influence and build strong relationships with senior clinical, nursing and operational leaders.

Working for our organisation

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key responsibilities include overseeing governance systems, speciality risk registers, incident management, complaints and claims processes, clinical audit and effectiveness programmes, governance reporting, regulatory compliance and the development and review of policies, guidelines and standard operating procedures relevant to Gynaecology services.

The post holder will lead and support complex patient safety investigations, oversee the development and monitoring of safety and quality improvement plans, and provide assurance reporting to Gynaecology Governance Meetings, Divisional Committees and Trust-wide governance forums.

They will support consultants, nursing staff and multidisciplinary teams through training, coaching and development in governance, patient safety, human factors and quality improvement methodologies.

Working closely with clinical leads, matrons, service managers and corporate teams, the Deputy Head of Governance will ensure learning from incidents, complaints, audits, risk reviews, patient feedback and external reviews is effectively embedded within practice and translated into sustainable service improvements.

The role will provide strategic oversight of governance activity across Gynaecology, supporting the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality care for women accessing services across the Trust.