Job summary
Are you an experienced senior nurse with the credibility, expertise and ambition to shape quality and patient safety across one of London's large mental health trusts?

We are seeking an exceptional Associate Director of Nursing for Quality and Safety to join our senior Nursing Directorate leadership team at North London NHS Foundation Trust.

This is a pivotal Trust-wide leadership role, with responsibility for providing strategic nursing leadership and oversight across quality, patient safety, integrated governance and organisational learning.

The opportunity
Working alongside the Chief Nursing and AHP Officer, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer and senior clinical and operational leaders, you will have the opportunity to influence how we understand quality, respond to risk and translate learning into measurable improvements.

You will provide leadership across a significant portfolio including:

• the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF)
• Learning from Deaths and mortality governance
• integrated quality governance and assurance
• development and delivery of the Trust's annual Quality Priorities
• learning from incidents, complaints, mortality reviews and patient feedback
• patient and family involvement in learning responses
• improvement and learning across clinical services.

Main duties of the job
About you
We are looking for a Registered Nurse with current NMC registration who brings significant senior NHS leadership experience across quality, patient safety and governance.

You will be able to demonstrate:

• substantial senior leadership experience within a complex NHS environment
• experience of quality surveillance, performance reporting and identifying emerging risks
• the ability to interpret complex quality and safety information and translate it into clear priorities and action
• experience of influencing senior clinical, operational and corporate leaders
• strong leadership of multidisciplinary teams and the ability to develop high-performing services

A key part of the role will be bringing together information from across the organisation to identify emerging themes and risks, ensuring that quality intelligence leads to action and sustainable improvement. You will provide expert advice and assurance to senior leaders, Executive committees and the Board and will work closely with Clinical Care Groups and corporate teams across the organisation.

Just as importantly, you will bring compassionate, visible and values-led leadership. You will be comfortable working in a complex environment, able to navigate competing priorities and confident communicating highly sensitive information with clarity, judgement and diplomacy.

About us
North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.

Our Five-Year Strategy:

• We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.
• With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
• We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.
• We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, quality improvement and technology.

Why NLFT?

• We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.
• We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.
• NHS Discounts, generous annual leave and NHS pension scheme
• Excellent internal staff network

In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that fall under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.

Details
Date posted: 03 November 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 8d
Salary: £100,493 to £114,951 a year Per Annum including HCAS
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 455-NLFT-8365309
Job locations: North London NHS Foundation Trust, St Ann's Hospital, St Ann's Road, London, N15 3TH, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
Why this role?

This is an opportunity to make a significant contribution to the next phase of our quality and safety journey.

You will have the scope to strengthen how we triangulate intelligence, learn from patient safety events, understand variation and risk, and ensure that the voices of patients, families and staff influence improvement. You will also play an important role in supporting an organisational culture characterised by openness, learning, continuous improvement and compassionate leadership.

The postholder will lead senior patient safety and governance functions, including the Head of Integrated Governance Systems, Head of Patient Safety Incident Management and Patient Safety and Family Liaison Manager, and will deputise for the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer when required.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential:

• Registered Nurse with current NMC registration
• Master's degree (or equivalent experience at senior level).

Desirable:

• Patient Safety Specialist

Experience
Essential:

• Significant senior nursing leadership experience within a complex NHS organisation
• Significant experience leading quality, patient safety and governance functions.
• Demonstrable experience implementing and overseeing PSIRF and duty of candour.
• Significant experience leading Learning from Deaths and organisational learning processes
• Experience of providing assurance, reports and strategic advice to Executive and/or Board-level forums.
• Experience of developing and delivering Trust-wide quality improvement, quality priorities or patient safety programmes
• Experience of quality surveillance, performance reporting and identifying emerging quality and safety risks.
• Experience of leading and developing multidisciplinary teams.

Knowledge
Essential:

• Expert knowledge of quality governance, patient safety and risk management.
• Detailed knowledge of PSIRF, Learning from Deaths, Duty of Candour and relevant NHS patient safety frameworks

Skills
Essential:

• Ability to analyse complex quality and safety information and translate it into clear actions and priorities.
• Ability to influence and challenge senior clinical, operational and corporate leaders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presentation of complex information to senior audiences.

Other
Essential:

• Demonstrates values aligned with the North London Way.

Employer details
Employer name: North London NHS Foundation Trust
Address: St Ann's Hospital, St Ann's Road, London, N15 3TH, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.northlondonmentalhealth.nhs.uk/

For questions about the job, contact: PA and Quality Governance Support Officer, Yvette Pople, yvette.pople2@nhs.net

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions. Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Applicants must have current UK professional registration.