Permanent Contract, Full Time Hours.
Purpose of the Role:
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Support the Quality and Risk Management Department (QRMD) and the Hospital in providing a high quality and safe patient environment, in accordance with the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) Strategy 2025-2030 Six Strategic Pillars, one of which is Quality.
- Ensure compliance with the HSE Incident Management Framework, HSE Enterprise Risk Management Policy and HIQA National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Incident Management:
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Ensure compliance with Incident Reporting as per the Hospital's Service Level Agreement with HSE on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Electronic Point of Entry for the Hospital.
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Ensure incidents are appropriately categorised and assessed and followed up in accordance with the HSE Incident Management Framework. This includes NIMS data entry validation, support and provision of training for incident entry and approvers.
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Lead the roll out of the revised Incident Management Framework due in Q3 2026.
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Analyse and interpret incident data, identifying trends of patient safety concerns.
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Assist the Hospital with quality improvement initiatives to reduce clinical risks identified by incidents and near misses.
Regulatory Compliance:
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Assist the QRMD Director achieve the following Strategic objective - We will progress the implementation delivery of HIQA recommendations following announced visit in 2025 progressing to as a minimum compliant across all standards.
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Provide training on preparation for onsite healthcare inspections.
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Ensure documentation is current and accessible.
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Provide requested documentation to HIQA pre, during and post inspections.
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Support the Risk Manager in the management of Claims and Coroners Court Cases and attend as hospital representation if required.
Risk Management:
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Co-ordinate and assist in ensuring the MUH Corporate Risk Register is kept up to date and disseminate reports as required.
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Provide education and support on the preparation of Risk Assessments and Risk Registers to all relevant personnel.
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Acknowledge, disseminate, respond and maintain the MUH database for HSE National Patient Safety Alerts (NPSA).
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Lead the continued delivery of the Patient Safety Walk Rounds Programme.
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Prepare monthly Patient Safety Indicator Reports for HSE South West.
General Duties:
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Deputise for the Risk Manager as required.
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Lead the QRMD team's activities as set out by Quality Risk and Patient Safety Director during periods of leave.
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Management of all staff under the remit of the role and ensure they always work in a professional manner whereby there is a culture of putting the patient first.
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Promote a positive culture and excellent staff relationships, including good employee relations practices.
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Promote excellent inter-disciplinary co-operation to achieve QRMD yearly objectives.
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Assist with implementing the hospital absence management strategy at department level in co-operation with the HR department.
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Represent QRMD function at designated meetings.
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The role requires strong organisational, communication and interpersonal skills - the successful candidate should be highly motivated with the ability to work on his/her own initiative.
- Report any accidents/incidents to the Health and Safety Officer relating to a staff member and, if required, seek support of Occupational Health and/or the Employee Assistant Program.
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Attend courses and events relevant to the position.
Eligibility Criteria - Essential:
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4 years experience in a hospital or patient care setting.
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Excellent computing and database skills and the ability to broaden computing experience with other packages.
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Excellent administration and organization skills with meticulous attention to detail.
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Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills in particular letter and report writing skills.
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Ability to work to deadlines and devise and implement plans and changes.
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Ability to deal with Service Users and colleagues across all departments in a compassionate and supportive manner with an emphasis on a high level of customer service.
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Ability to work on your own initiative and as part of a team.
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Highly organised, resilient and able to remain calm and focused under pressure.
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Readiness to make decisions and initiate action.
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A willingness to undertake role-specific training as required from time to time.
Eligibility Criteria - Desirable:
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Knowledge of HSE Incident Management Framework
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Knowledge of HSE Enterprise Risk Management Policy
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Proven experience of general office procedures.
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Knowledge of iPMS
Full Job Spec is available on request.
Closing Date 1pm on Monday, 27 July 2026.
MUH reserves the right to create a panel for this post from which permanent, fixed term and specified purpose vacancies of a full or part time duration may be filled.
Mercy University Hospital (MUH)
MUH is a growing voluntary hospital in the heart of Cork City. We have over 1,800 staff providing complex diagnostic, medical and surgical care through our inpatient, day patient, outpatient and emergency services.
We are a teaching hospital, a centre of national and international excellence, and are renowned for our research and tertiary services.
Providing 24/7 acute surgical, acute medical and critical care, MUH now has multiple sites across the city and continues to expand. We recently opened our Blarney Rehabilitation Unit, a post-acute care specialist rehabilitation unit with 50 beds in Blarney, County Cork.
We support staff development with approx. 100 promotions annually. We prioritise work life balance with 28% of our team working part time hours. We offer nationally agreed enhanced Salary Scales, Pension Scheme, excellent holidays, canteen, and Study Leave and Assistance.
From Cardiac Care to Intensive Care, our varied specialist services offer real career choice to our team. For fully registered NMBI recognised nurses, we offer a generous relocation package (if coming from abroad).
And we live by our Core Values of Compassion, Excellence, Justice, Respect and Team Spirit.
