Ministry of Defence (Defence Medical Services)

Band 8c Head of Patient Safety

This job is now closed

Job summary

Reporting to and operating on behalf of the Surgeon General (2* Director), Head of Patient Safety will be accountable for developing, maintaining and enforcing DMS patient safety by providing professional leadership and expert advice on Healthcare Assurance, Governance and Care Quality and Quality Improvement. The role will be key in the development of risk management systems, focused on the 2nd Line of Defence (2LOD), to support the delivery of Healthcare and Medical services to entitled personnel.

Main duties of the job

On behalf of the Surgeon General, the post holder will:

Assure the delivery of healthcare by the Ministry of Defence in line with applicable legislation and national regulation, Defence policy and Defence Safety Authority regulation to ensure that patients are provided with safe, effective, responsive, caring, well-led, and cost effective healthcare and medical support.
Assure the Command that patient safety incidents and near misses are identified and fully investigated, manage significant event reporting systems, assure complaints management processes, ensure that evidence of patient experience is recorded and used appropriately, track action to address regulatory concerns and ensure that lessons from incidents, inquests and service enquiries are incorporated into best practice guidance.
Assure the Command that safeguarding policies and processes are compliant across all DMS operated facilities and will work with senior leadership to ensure that staff have appropriate, effective and psychologically safe opportunities to raise concerns on issues of patient safety and workplace culture where they exist.

Significant travel will be required to undertake assurance and advisory visits and this travel may include travel to overseas and operational locations.

Please see the attached Terms of Reference for full details.

About us

Our success depends on our people, our Whole Force, regular and reservist military, civil servants and contractors, all working as one, working together seamlessly to deliver for us.

Our civil servants are a central part of this Whole Force, developing strategy, making policy, supporting ministerial decision-making and Parliamentary processes. In fact, with over 2,000 different roles working across 650 sites around the world, now really is an excellent time to join one of the largest, most exciting departments in government.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to attracting and retaining people from across the full range of backgrounds and enabling flexible ways of working as the norm. We offer maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks full pay followed by 13 weeks of statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid, and paternity leave of 2 weeks full pay.

In return, you can expect a department that helps you learn and develop that recognises your expertise and contribution, both as an individual and part of a team.

If you've ever wanted to do more, see more, go further or be better, we have roles in more professions and vocations than ever before. Let's see where your future will take you, together.

Date posted

25 August 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8c

Salary

£76,965 to £88,682 a year Per annum (pro-rata for part time)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Job share

Reference number

K0003-26-0255

Job locations

HQ Defence Medical Command

Whittington Barracks

Lichfield

Staffordshire

WS14 9PY

United Kingdom

Job description

Job responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities for the role include but are not limited to:

Managing patient safety, governance, assurance and quality improvement policy, including setting standards and assurance frameworks for the DMS, responding to patient experience, and managing patient safety risks, across the DMS. This involves effective risk management, stakeholder engagement across Defence and wider Health ecosystem, and effective interaction with the Cyber and Specialist Operations Command (CSOC), Defence Safety Authority (DSA) and Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA), to align policy, practice, and compliance with the operating environment.
Work with clinical teams and regulators, including the DSA, to ensure systemwide compliance; track risks, areas of non-compliance and corrective action plans; supporting the restoration of safe, effective and caring services as soon as possible.

Please see the attached Terms of Reference for the full list of duties.

Selection Process

At application stage you will be assessed against the following:

CV:

Please ensure you demonstrate that you have the required skills, knowledge, experience, qualifications and memberships in the CV section of the application form.
Please provide information of how you meet the criteria set out in the Job Description. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlined in the job advert.

Behaviours:

Leadership
Communicating and Influencing
Working Together
Managing a Quality Service

Functional Competence Framework:

Previous experience of senior leadership/management role in clinical governance, assurance and quality improvement.
Experience in senior clinical/leadership/management role in healthcare.
Experience in the management of complex information and sharing across a wide variety of stakeholders using a variety of methodologies.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see the supporting information link for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

At interview you will be assessed against the following:

Behaviours:

Leadership
Communicating and Influencing
Working Together
Managing a Quality Service

Functional Competence Framework:

Previous experience of senior leadership/management role in clinical governance, assurance and quality improvement.
Experience in the management of complex information and sharing across a wide variety of stakeholders using a variety of methodologies.

Please see the attached link to our YouTube channel for advice preparing your best responses with some hints and tips on answering behaviour-based questions. Hints and tips such as: Your behaviours can be based on situations from work, volunteering or home; match your situation to the behaviour requested and how to use your 250-word limit.

The sift will be completed within 10 working days of the vacancy closing date. Interviews will be held on a date to be confirmed.

There will be no reimbursement for any travel expenses for the interview.

Requests to work flexibly and/or part time will be considered, taking into account business needs. Please note the salary will be pro-rata where part time hours are undertaken.

All employees joining Ministry of Defence who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a 6-month probation period (unless otherwise advised) effective from the employment start date.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

Access to the NHS pension scheme is available to the successful candidate.

To be considered for this role, qualifications and memberships detailed must be held in full, prior to submitting your application.

The post does NOT offer relocation expenses (move of home, excess fares or temporary transfer). Non-Standard move applicants will be eligible for the full package, subject to eligibility.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

This vacancy is part of the A Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact DBSCivPers-SGDMSResourcing@mod.gov.uk.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities for the role include but are not limited to:

Managing patient safety, governance, assurance and quality improvement policy, including setting standards and assurance frameworks for the DMS, responding to patient experience, and managing patient safety risks, across the DMS. This involves effective risk management, stakeholder engagement across Defence and wider Health ecosystem, and effective interaction with the Cyber and Specialist Operations Command (CSOC), Defence Safety Authority (DSA) and Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA), to align policy, practice, and compliance with the operating environment.
Work with clinical teams and regulators, including the DSA, to ensure systemwide compliance; track risks, areas of non-compliance and corrective action plans; supporting the restoration of safe, effective and caring services as soon as possible.

Please see the attached Terms of Reference for the full list of duties.

Selection Process

At application stage you will be assessed against the following:

CV:

Please ensure you demonstrate that you have the required skills, knowledge, experience, qualifications and memberships in the CV section of the application form.
Please provide information of how you meet the criteria set out in the Job Description. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlined in the job advert.

Behaviours:

Leadership
Communicating and Influencing
Working Together
Managing a Quality Service

Functional Competence Framework:

Previous experience of senior leadership/management role in clinical governance, assurance and quality improvement.
Experience in senior clinical/leadership/management role in healthcare.
Experience in the management of complex information and sharing across a wide variety of stakeholders using a variety of methodologies.

At interview you will be assessed against the following:

Behaviours:

Leadership
Communicating and Influencing
Working Together
Managing a Quality Service

Functional Competence Framework:

Previous experience of senior leadership/management role in clinical governance, assurance and quality improvement.
Experience in the management of complex information and sharing across a wide variety of stakeholders using a variety of methodologies.