Clinical audit fulfills a vital role within the NHS; it is the tool that offers the greatest potential to assess the quality of care routinely provided for NHS users and is a primary driver for improving the quality, safety, and delivery of patient care.
The clinical audit team supports the development and delivery of the Trust's Quality and Clinical Audit Strategies and champions an open, honest, and inclusive culture. We aim to support our colleagues in ensuring that patients receive the best possible care and to drive continuous improvement and innovation, leading to improvements in both staff and patient experience.
The post holder will work closely with staff at all levels across the Trust, including senior consultants, managers, and governance teams to support the delivery of the clinical audit programme and to seek assurance that the Trust is meeting its obligations with respect to national clinical audit programmes and other external requirements. They will identify opportunities for improvement within audit projects and internal processes and will work to support clinical teams and the clinical audit team to implement those improvements.
Main duties of the job
1. Work with Clinical Leads, Managers, and Governance Teams to support the delivery of the Clinical Audit Programme and to ensure that clinical audit/quality improvement projects are carried out effectively, and appropriate action plans are developed to improve the service.
2. Promote a culture of continuous improvement by supporting clinical teams to improve the audit process and leading on improvement projects within the clinical audit team.
3. Manage internal and external data collection platforms, ensuring accurate records of clinical audit activity are maintained.
4. Review and production of audit reports with clinical colleagues to identify areas of concern, opportunities for improvement, and areas of good practice.
5. Presentation of clinical audit findings and the position of the audit program to specialty and care group governance meetings.
6. Develop procedures, templates, training materials, and other documentation for use within the clinical audit team.
7. Use initiative to resolve issues independently while escalating issues/concerns to the line manager as appropriate.
8. Support the application of the Trust's information governance policies.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The successful candidate will:
1. Work closely with the Clinical Audit & Quality Assurance Lead to coordinate the Trust's clinical audit programme as well as individual clinical audit projects, and develop close working relationships with staff at all levels across the Trust including clinical leads, managers, and governance teams.
2. Manage internal and external data collection platforms and work to ensure that data is submitted within specified timeframes, that clinical audit activity is appropriately recorded, and that it is undertaken in accordance with external and internal requirements.
3. Work with complex data sets and structure data to enable further processing or submission to external platforms.
4. Positively impact the care patients receive through the collection and processing of clinical data to produce and present impactful reports that demonstrate the Trust's performance against specific policies or guidelines, highlighting both areas of excellence and where necessary, opportunities for improvement.
5. Work with the Clinical Audit & Quality Assurance Lead to drive innovation and contribute to the continuous improvement of the clinical audit service by highlighting potential improvements and supporting the team to develop robust systems and processes.
6. Be fully supported in your professional development and have the opportunity to help shape the future of quality within the Trust.
7. Receive direction but will be expected to manage their own workload, determine priorities, achieve deadlines, and identify future tasks and work needs.
Person Specification
Special Requirements
Essential
* Able to travel across Trust sites to meet the requirements of the post.
Qualifications
Essential
* GCSE English and Mathematics or equivalent qualification.
* NVQ level 3/A-Levels or equivalent work-based experience.
Desirable
* Evidence of recent/ongoing further education and training.
* Evidence of clinical audit training/study.
* NVQ level 4/Undergraduate Degree or equivalent work-based experience.
* Evidence of training in data science or similar field.
Experience
Essential
* Significant experience of working in a quality assurance, regulatory audit, clinical governance, or similar role.
Desirable
* Previous experience of working within a healthcare setting.
* Experience working with data visualization platforms to generate reports or dashboards.
* Experience with quality improvement tools and of putting them into practice.
Special Skills and Knowledge
Essential
* Experience working with large data sets and structuring data in a useful way.
* Good presentation skills, including the delivery of presentations in person and online via Teams or similar applications.
* Able to produce concise reports that detail key findings and present data in an easy-to-understand and meaningful way.
* Broad understanding of the NHS and the key determinants of health and health care policies.
* Demonstrable understanding of the quality and patient safety agenda in healthcare.
* Knowledge and understanding of Clinical Audit and Quality Improvement.
* Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office software including Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Teams.
* Basic knowledge of Excel or other data processing and visualization tools and methods of structuring data.
* Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
* Ability to effectively organize and prioritize own workload.
* Excellent interpersonal skills.
Desirable
* Knowledge of the Data Protection Act.
* Knowledge of working with data visualization platforms to generate reports or dashboards.
* Proficient in the use of MS Access.
* Knowledge of automation tools such as Microsoft Power Automate.
* Knowledge of Microsoft SharePoint.
* Good knowledge and understanding of Clinical Audit.
* Advanced knowledge of Excel or other data processing and visualization tools and methods of structuring data.
Employer details
Employer name
County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust
Hollyhurst Road
Darlington
County Durham
DL3 6HX
Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.
C9439-25-0050 #J-18808-Ljbffr