Become a Patient Safety Partner

We are seeking motivated and interested individuals who want to help influence and improve patient safety across St. George’s, Epsom and St. Helier hospitals (gesh) by becoming Patient Safety Partners.

What is a Patient Safety Partner?

NHS England’s ‘Framework for Involving Patients in Patient Safety’ sets out approaches and standards designed to strengthen the role of patient, families and carers in improving patient safety across the NHS.

A key part of the framework is the introduction of Patient Safety Partners, who work in partnership with staff to improve patient safety in NHS organisations.

Patient Safety Partners make a vital contribution to patient safety by ensuring the patient voice is represented in decisions about the safety and quality of our services.

What work would you be involved in?

The main role of the Patient Safety Partner is to ensure that the patient voice is heard within gesh, with the core purpose of improving safety and quality. Everyone has unique skills and experience, and we will decide together where your skills can be best used at gesh.

Examples of Patient Safety Partner opportunities include:

• Join us as a peer at regular meetings to contribute your thoughts and guide our thinking – these could be face-to-face or held remotely via Microsoft Teams
• Get involved in improvement projects; helping us to identify what systems we should have in place to maximise the likelihood of things going right
• Be involved in staff training to bring a patient perspective
• Help us write information for patients, carers and families so that it is easy to understand
• Be involved in learning from incidents when care does not go as expected

More information is included in the job description [insert hyperlink or add to page]

What are we looking for?

At gesh we have four Patient Safety Partner positions in total, with two for St. George’s and two for Epsom & St. Helier.

Skills and experience

Candidates will need to demonstrate a genuine commitment to developing and improving the safety of health services along with an understanding of patient safety. The ideal candidate will have personal or lived experience relating to local NHS healthcare services.

As an advocate of patient safety, there is a requirement that candidates will have the confidence to communicate well verbally with senior leaders over strategic issues and provide a patient, carer or lay perspective. They will be willing to challenge as a ‘critical friend’.

Time commitment

Each Patient Safety Partner role requires about 1 day per month, with flexibility on when these hours are used depending on the work you are involved with. Each role is for 2 years, with the option to extend.

How will we support you?

Induction and training

All Patient Safety Partners will receive an induction and ongoing training which will include both generic and role-specific information. You will therefore need to be willing to receive training in patient safety and attend other mandatory training sessions relevant to the role.

Ongoing support

Ongoing supervision and support will be provided by a mentor or “buddy” – a senior member of staff who will support you to:

• Review information and help you to understand, contribute and develop your ideas.
• Develop within your role.
• Ensure your views and feedback are heard and responded to.

In addition, you will have access to support from members of the patient safety team, other gesh Patient Safety Partners, and a national network.

Patient Safety Partners at gesh are paid for their time, in addition to reasonable out of pocket expenses.

How do I apply? 

Please read the job description - Patient Safety Partner Job description - to make sure this role is right for you.

If you’d like to discuss the role, please contact:

Otilia Beres, at esth.qualityandpatientsafety@nhs.net or 07584183711

If you’d like to apply, please download and complete the Expression of Interest Form then email it to the email address above.

Please complete the form carefully as we will rely on the information you provide in the application form to assess whether you have the skills and experience required for this role. When applying think about

• Why you are interested, including personal experiences of processes in the NHS (or other organisations).
• What skills, past experiences, and insights you feel you can bring to the role.
• Any communication or accessibility issues we need to make adjustments for.
• Any potential conflicts of interest we should consider.

Once we receive your application the steps will be:

• We will acknowledge receipt of your application form via email (unless otherwise specified).
• Applications will be assessed for values, skills and experience by a panel
• We will contact those unsuccessful to signpost to other opportunities at the Trust
• Successful applicants will be invited to an informal discussion

What happens next if I am successful?

Before you start in the role, there are a few checks we need to do. The Patient Safety role is hosted by the staff bank, so you may be contacted by a member of the bank team. We will:

• Send you a link to Trac, the computer software we use to support recruitment checks.
• Ask for 2 references where the referee has known you for at least 6 months. Referees must not be family members but could be a current or recent employer, someone from an academic institution or a person of standing in the community, such as a medical or nursing professional, a teacher, a civil servant or a religious leader.
• Ask you to complete an Equal Opportunities Monitoring form.
• Ask you to complete an occupational health clearance form.
• Verify your identity.
• Complete a Disclosure and Barring (DBS) check (standard level).

When these checks are complete (usually only a couple of weeks), you will be invited to attend Trust induction and an initial welcome meeting with the patient safety team and your mentor to help you settle in.