Head of Patient and Donor Safety: Sponsorship Available

Job summary

At NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT) we are a unique organisation that works with donors and patients to save and improve lives every day. Our mission is to ensure that every patient receives the donation they need.

Working within the nursing directorate as a member of the corporate team you will help save and improve lives, as you lead on patient and donor safety throughout NHSBT including the development of strategy, training and continuous improvement through learning responses for the further implementation and embedment of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework. NHSBT is responsible for organ and tissue donation and transplantation, blood donation and transfusion medicine, therapeutic apheresis and stem cell transplantation meaning there is a wide variety of services requiring differing approaches to ensure safety of service users.

You will be critical to driving transformation and improvements in patient and donor safety to ensure that NHSBT continues to deliver on its core values of Expert, Caring and Quality.

We’ll look to you to bring leadership and focus through identification, innovative and problem-solving approaches to patient and donor safety ensuring that all opportunities to bring improvement are realised, learning optimised and evidenced, and that we maintain our excellent collaborative relationships with our partners in the wider NHS.

Main duties of the job

• The Head of Patient and Donor Safety will be the lead patient and donor safety expert in NHSBT.
• They will provide dynamic, senior leadership, visibility, and expert support to the patient and donor safety work throughout NHSBT.
• They will support the development of a patient and donor safety culture and will collaborate with wider networks to share good practice and learn from each other taking responsibility for the functioning and oversight of the National Patient and Donor Safety Strategy and related processes (incident management systems, national reporting databases, education and training, policies and procedures).
• They will support the development and implementation of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) in NHSBT and will lead, and directly support, patient and donor safety improvement activity ensuring that systems thinking, human factors understanding and just culture principles are embedded in all patient and donor safety processes.
• The Head of Patient and Donor Safety will work collaboratively with the Nursing Leadership team and the quality specialists to ensure that patient and donor safety is appropriately prioritised and considered throughout NHSBT.
• Support the self-assessment process for CQC, leading the evidence and document repository for safety and experience.
• This role includes supporting NHSBT to ensure that patients and donors are at the centre of all patient and donor safety activity

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters or equivalent level, or equivalent demonstrable experience of working at a senior level
• Registered Nurse or Registered Healthcare professional with an aligned clinical/academic qualification. Registration must be maintained in the role
• Demonstrate commitment to own Continued Professional Development (CPD)

Experience

Essential

• Substantial experience of working at a senior level
• Proven ability to understand and to provide advice to colleagues on relevant legislation, regulations and standards
• Extensive experience in patient/donor safety related role, with an understanding of the principles that underpin approaches to improving safety in health systems
• Evidence of experience of regulatory inspections
• Experience of training delivery and facilitating learning
• Evidence of experience dealing with complex and/or sensitive information and unpredictable situations
• Previous experience of safety investigations
• Experience of complaints processes
• Proven ability in engaging and influencing stakeholders at all levels with credibility and authority

Closing Date: 1 November 2026