Job title: Senior Improvement Advisor - Registered Nurse (focus on tissue viability and palliative end of life care)

Responsible to: Quality Improvement Manager (Health and Social Care Improvement Team)

Principal working contacts

Internal:

  • Quality Improvement Manager
  • Health and Social Care Improvement Team
  • Chief Inspectors
  • Head of Quality Improvement and Participation
  • Quality Improvement Support Team
  • Participation and Equalities Team
  • Senior Leadership Team
  • Scrutiny and Assurance Service Managers
  • Team Managers, and Inspectors
  • Policy Team Intelligence Team and Communications team

External:

  • Scottish Government policy leads
  • Service providers and care service staff
  • Other regulatory, scrutiny and improvement bodies
  • NHS boards staff and agencies, local authorities, partnerships, and integrated joint boards
  • National specialist groups
  • Members of the public and other stakeholders
  • Professional Bodies and Royal Colleges

Job purpose

Working alongside the Quality Improvement Manager, Health and Social Care Improvement Team, wider improvement section colleagues and with close collaboration with Scrutiny and Assurance. The post holder will promote standards and good practice in nursing-based care and support:

  • Lead and deliver key elements of the Care Inspectorate’s health and wellbeing improvement activities.
  • Lead and develop aspects of the Care Inspectorate’s health improvement support functions based on current and emerging models of delivery that will facilitate improvements in practice in care services and improve the outcomes for people experiencing care
  • Ensure effective coordination between sources of health and wellbeing advice and inspection, complaints, and registration teams, building capacity internally and externally
  • Build and develop strategic partnerships across the health and social care landscape to support the delivery of health and wellbeing improvement advice and improvement support.

Key responsibilities

  • To build capacity for health and wellbeing quality improvement in the care sector and in the Care Inspectorate, across all scrutiny and quality improvement activities
  • To ensure professional advice is provided and sourced to support the Care Inspectorate in the delivery of its scrutiny and improvement activities
  • To lead the development of specific health and wellbeing focused quality illustrations / indicators, tools and improvement support materials to support the current inspection frameworks for use by inspectors and in care services
  • To develop and maintain the relationships with national bodies/improvement bodies to co-create developments in health and social care improvement, developing guidance, sharing good practice, and expert advice and support
  • To lead in ensuring the development of effective practice materials for use by inspectors and care services
  • To advise on quality improvement design and delivery to ensure the scrutiny and improvement plan is met, and to determine impact, ensuring that health and wellbeing priorities are addressed
  • To provide expert advice and guidance to internal and external stakeholders on health and wellbeing improvement in social care
  • To promote the Care Inspectorate’s improvement work and to maintain the organisation’s reputation for supporting the development of high-quality, safe, compassionate care
  • To establish and maintain robust working relationships with stakeholders across the health and social care sectors
  • To maintain and further develop skills in quality improvement and safety including coaching, mentorship and facilitation of staff and managers both internally and externally
  • To challenge outdated and unsafe practice directly with service providers, sharing evidence from research and expert advice to shift practice and achieve the necessary improvement in care quality
  • To support the delivery of the Care Inspectorate’s corporate plan
  • Monitor, evaluate, and report on all key areas and tasks advising on progress and challenges regularly
  • To carry out any other reasonable tasks necessary to support the Care Inspectorate’s business.

People management

  • Demonstrate commitment to the safety and security of the Care Inspectorate’s data, information systems and devices.
  • Promote the health, safety and welfare of employees, with responsibility for ensuring that the Care Inspectorate health and safety policies, procedures and practice and legislative requirements are met across the team.
  • Carry out your duties in accordance with our Health and Safety policies, procedures, guidance, practices and legislative requirements, taking reasonable care for your safety and that of others who may be affected by what you do or fail to do while at work
  • Promote diversity, equality of opportunity, fairness, dignity and trust, ensuring that these principles are upheld across all areas of service delivery.

Relationship management

  • Work with the Care Inspectorate’s Quality Improvement Manager, Head of Improvement Support and Chief Inspectors to develop and facilitate a comprehensive approach to relationship management between the Care Inspectorate and various parts of the health and social care sector
  • Ensure effective communication of the Care Inspectorate’s quality improvement support role in social care to practitioners and managers in the health sector
  • Demonstrate a commitment to the Care Inspectorate’s aims, vision and values and to the Care Inspectorate’s overall objective of improving care in Scotland.

Other duties

This job may require extensive travel and involve overnight stays. This job profile is a broad picture of the post at the date of preparation. It is not an exhaustive list of all possible duties and it is recognised that jobs change and evolve over time.

Consequently, the post holder will be required to carry out any other duties to the equivalent level that are necessary to fulfil the purpose of the job, and to respond positively to changing business needs. The post holder will be expected to work autonomously in the main but also within a group, with agreed priorities and objectives. Objectives for this post will be agreed jointly with the relevant line manager and Head of Improvement Support and will be reviewed on a regular basis.

Attributes

We will use these attributes to recruit the role.

Experience

Essential:

  • Registered nurse with substantial clinical, managerial and leadership experience
  • Tissue viability and palliative end of life care experience
  • Be a senior practitioner/manager with a proven track record of delivery with the ability to lead and operate at a national level
  • Have current credibility in their field, be this as a practicing clinician or a nationally recognised role
  • Significant experience of designing and delivering health/wellbeing improvement programmes applying improvement methodology
  • Experience of working creatively with partners to develop ideas and solutions to deliver change and improvement in a range of areas
  • Experience of developing and delivering educational programmes in a variety of formats.

Desirable:

  • Experience of successfully managing multidisciplinary and multiagency teams across health and social care
  • Research experience
  • Experience of Evidence Based Policy Development
  • Experience of working closely with a variety of national bodies.

Education, qualifications and training

Essential:

  • Educated to degree level or equivalent
  • Registered with a relevant professional body
  • Hold a formal qualification in an aspect of improvement science such as Scottish Improvement Leader (ScIL) programme or working towards this or an equivalent improvement qualification
  • Commitment to own CPD.

Skills and knowledge

Essential:

  • Enhanced clinical skills in a relevant discipline with the ability to apply this into the social care context.
  • Understanding of the importance of the involvement of people experiencing care in the co-design and co-production of improvement initiatives
  • Ability to work autonomously in partnership and collaborate with key stakeholders including Scottish Government, LAs, Health Boards and service providers in the statutory, independent and voluntary sector
  • Excellent negotiating, facilitating, influencing and coaching skills
  • Extensive knowledge and understanding of improvement theory and its practical application in health and social care settings
  • Ability to set up systems to monitor improvement, analyse data and develop improvement solutions
  • Understanding of, and ability to demonstrate, the management of a complex improvement project/programme
  • Ability to use continuous improvement methodologies to support implementation, spread and sustainability of specific improvements
  • Ability to develop and maintain extensive internal and external communication systems
  • Ability to respectfully challenge and influence at all levels
  • Excellent communicator with the ability to translate plans into actions
  • Politically astute.

Desirable:

  • Expert knowledge of the social care sector and the interface with health.

Key performance outcomes

We will use these key performance outcomes to recruit for the role.

Leading others

Essential:

  •  Ability to provide leadership, a clear sense of purpose and direction to a professional team and meet the outcomes/improvements of the programme of work.

Management of resources

Essential:

  • Ability to bring together the overall work of a team of staff, including staff and budget responsibilities
  • Ability to manage resources and budgets in achievement of the Care Inspectorate
  • Ability to drive continuous improvement and manage planning and performance processes.

Effective communication

Essential:

  • Articulate and positive communicator both in verbal and written communication skills
  • Ability to engage, influence and lead the development of a wide range of key stakeholder relationships, both internally and externally
  • The ability to build and guide key stakeholder strategies and manage relationships to secure delivery of the programme and sustain improvements.

Impact and influence

Essential:

  • Demonstrates ability to influence at all levels
  • Ability to promote, lead and implement strategies and change programmes to improve the development and quality of services and reduce health inequalities
  • Evidence of building positive relationships, engaging and collaborating effectively with others internally and externally and at all levels
  • Demonstrates personal resilience, being able to work flexibly under pressure with stamina and tenacity to deliver results.

Desirable:

  • Ability to take account of wider political and organisational sensitivities to deliver strategic objectives.

Objective decision making

Essential:

  • The ability to assist senior/executive management to set, in consultation with others, the overall strategic agenda objectives and performance standards for the programme
  • Demonstrates analytical and systematic approach to problem solving
  • Ability to make appropriate and realistic judgments, based on relevant, up to date and verifiable information
  • The ability to take responsibility for difficult decisions and to remain resilient against possible criticism.