Group Head of Quality & Patient Safety
Med Connect is currently recruiting for a Group Head of Quality & Patient Safety on behalf of a leading Irish healthcare group.
This is a senior leadership opportunity for an experienced healthcare quality professional who is passionate about clinical governance, patient safety, risk management and continuous quality improvement across multiple acute healthcare sites.
Reporting directly to the Group CEO and working closely with the Group Clinical Director, the successful candidate will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering the organisation's quality and patient safety strategy across a network of hospitals and specialist healthcare facilities.
The Opportunity
As a member of the Group Leadership Team, you will lead the strategic development and implementation of quality, patient safety and clinical governance initiatives across the organisation.
You will work closely with executive leaders, clinicians, nursing teams and operational management to ensure the highest standards of patient care, regulatory compliance and organisational learning.
This role offers the opportunity to influence healthcare delivery at a national level while driving measurable improvements in patient outcomes, safety culture and quality performance.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Clinical Governance
- Provide strategic leadership for Quality & Patient Safety across the healthcare group.
- Partner closely with the Group Clinical Director and executive leadership team.
- Lead the development of a strong culture of quality, safety and continuous improvement.
- Present quality and patient safety reports to executive committees and board-level stakeholders.
- Support multidisciplinary teams in embedding evidence-based clinical practice across all sites.
Quality, Safety & Accreditation
- Lead organisation-wide quality and patient safety programmes.
- Drive accreditation initiatives including JCI, HIQA and other relevant regulatory standards.
- Support hospital quality teams in achieving compliance and best practice standards.
- Develop and oversee annual quality improvement plans and strategic objectives.
- Foster a culture of high reliability and patient-centred care.
Risk Management & Governance
- Provide oversight of incident management, complaints and clinical claims.
- Identify trends and implement risk reduction strategies across multiple sites.
- Support investigations and learning from adverse events.
- Work closely with insurers, indemnifiers and healthcare leaders to minimise organisational risk.
Clinical Audit & Quality Improvement
- Lead the development of group-wide clinical audit programmes.
- Establish meaningful quality metrics and KPIs.
- Coordinate strategic quality improvement initiatives across hospitals and clinical services.
- Promote innovation and best practice in healthcare quality management.
Patient Experience
- Oversee patient experience initiatives and patient engagement programmes.
- Analyse patient feedback data and implement improvement actions.
- Support the development of patient advisory and engagement structures.
Digital Innovation
- Champion the digitalisation of quality and patient safety processes.
- Support technology initiatives including electronic health records, quality reporting systems and emerging healthcare technologies.
- Ensure quality and patient safety considerations remain central to innovation projects.
Education & Organisational Learning
- Develop and deliver quality and patient safety education programmes.
- Promote shared learning across hospitals and clinical teams.
- Support onboarding, professional development and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Act as a subject matter expert and trusted advisor to leadership teams and healthcare professionals.
Requirements
Essential
- Postgraduate qualification in Quality, Patient Safety, Clinical Governance or a related discipline.
- Minimum seven years' experience within an acute healthcare environment.
- Minimum three to five years' experience in a senior management or leadership position.
- Strong understanding of healthcare governance, risk management and regulatory compliance.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and influencing senior stakeholders.
- Excellent communication, presentation and leadership skills.
Desirable
- Experience managing accreditation programmes including JCI, HIQA or equivalent.
- Clinical claims management experience.
- Experience supporting digital transformation initiatives within healthcare.
- Proven track record of leading quality improvement programmes across complex healthcare environments.
What is on Offer
- Senior leadership position within a respected healthcare organisation.
- Opportunity to influence quality and patient safety strategy at group level.
- Exposure to multiple acute hospital environments.
- Opportunity to lead significant quality improvement and patient safety initiatives.
- Salary DOE
- 10% bonus (Blackrock Health & Personal performance dependent)
- Employer Pension after probationary period has passed
- 30 days annual leave
- Location: West Co. Dublin.
- Remote availability: There are WFH options, however each week will probably require a presence in at least one of the sites (Dublin & Galway), and then 2 days in West Dublin and the remainder to be worked out with line manager.
- Contracted hours: 37 per week.
Apply
For a confidential discussion regarding this opportunity, please contact Tom Garvey on +353 87 703 4652 or email [email protected].
All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Pay: €95,000.00-€105,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Experience:
- Risk management: 5 years (required)
- clinical governance: 5 years (required)
- Leadership: 5 years (required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Dublin, County Dublin
