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Patient Safety Incident Investigator

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Swindon, SN3 6BB £57,528 – £64,750 a year Permanent Posted 7 September 2026 Apply by 21 September 2026

Home Office register entry: The Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Swindon

Visa sponsorship

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Role description

Job summary

A fantastic and exciting opportunity has arisen for a motivated, experienced and enthusiastic individual to join the Quality and Safety Team at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as our Patient Safety Learning and Improvement Lead.

This is an opportunity to play a key role in improving patient safety across the organisation by supporting the delivery of high-quality, systems-based learning responses and translating insight into sustainable improvement. The ideal candidate must have a flexible proactive attitude as they will work alongside clinical teams across organisational and professional boundaries to support the delivery of high-quality patient centered care.

The successful candidate will be an experienced patient safety professional with a strong understanding of systems thinking, human factors and quality improvement. You will be an excellent communicator, capable of building effective relationships across organisational and professional boundaries, and confident in working autonomously while supporting and developing others. Previous experience within a healthcare setting and experience of leading patient safety learning responses are essential.

Main duties of the job

The role will support the Associate Director of Quality and Safety in providing Trust-wide leadership and oversight of patient safety learning, improvement and assurance. You will lead high-quality patient safety investigations and reviews, ensuring they are compassionate, evidence-based, and focused on learning rather than blame. You will work collaboratively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to understand how care is delivered, identify contributory factors and support the development of meaningful, measurable actions that reduce risk and improve care.

About us

We are proud to be part of BSW Hospitals Group - a formal partnership between Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust. With a combined workforce of over 17, 600 colleagues, and budget of 1.6 billion the Group is united by a common purpose to deliver the best possible care to over 1 million people.

We are creating a health and care system that works with the people we care for, reducing the differences people currently face in access, experience and outcomes, improving the experience of our colleagues and tackling shared challenges like sustainability and finances. Every improvement we make across our Group will be guided by what creates the greatest benefit for our colleagues, our patients, our communities and our partners.

Date posted

07 September 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£57,528 to £64,750 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

249-8166341

Job locations

Great Western Hospital

Marlborough Road

Swindon

SN3 6BB

United Kingdom

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be designated Trust Patient Safety Specialist, sharing the responsibility with the other designated Patient Safety Specialists. You will be a highly visible and accessible leader, providing expert advice and guidance on patient safety, safety culture and improvement. You will support delivery of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy and help strengthen partnerships locally, regionally and nationally. A flexible approach is needed to manage the changing picture of healthcare patient safety in line with the national agenda.

The post holder will contribute to the development and delivery of patient safety education and training across the Trust, promoting systems thinking, human factors, psychological safety and just culture principles to help build organisational capability for learning and improvement.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Educated to master's level (in a relevant discipline) or equivalent level, or equivalent experience of working at a senior level.
Post-graduate management, leadership or specialist qualification or previous experience.
Qualification in Patient Safety and incident investigation, including level1 and level 2 National Patient or willingness to work towards safety training.

Desirable

Qualification in NHS leadership.
Qualification In Human Factors.
Quality improvement qualification or previous experience.
Post-graduate patient safety or human factors qualification, or willingness to work towards or previous experience
Recognised management qualification at minimum of post graduate diploma level.

Experience

Essential

Experience of investigating patient safety incidents within a large/complex organisation using systems learning approaches.
Broad understanding of the NHS governance agendas.
Experience in delivering improvement projects and change.
Highly developed knowledge of patient safety and investigation.

Desirable

Experience and knowledge of the components of quality governance, incident response, risk management and assurance function; current NHS national policies, standards, requirements and directions that relate to measuring and improving the quality and safety of patient care.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.