Service Quality Manager

About the role

We are looking for an experienced Service Quality Manager to join our Quality Team, supporting a range of care services including residential and nursing care, homecare and specialist services.

This is a hands-on quality and compliance role and we are looking for someone who can make an immediate impact. You will need to be confident working directly with service managers and operational teams, identifying areas of concern, supporting improvement and ensuring actions are completed and improvements are sustained.

The role will be predominantly based across Weymouth, Bournemouth and Milford on Sea, so applicants must be able and willing to travel regularly between these locations. There may also be a requirement to support services in other areas from time to time.

Reports to: Director of Service Quality

You will work closely with service managers and operational teams to monitor and improve the quality and safety of care across our services.

Your responsibilities will include:

·         Completing quality, compliance and service audits and identifying areas requiring improvement.

·         Reviewing care documentation, governance systems and evidence of regulatory compliance.

·         Supporting services to develop and complete robust action plans following audits, inspections or identified concerns.

·         Working alongside managers to embed improvements rather than simply identifying what needs to change.

·         Monitoring outstanding actions and providing appropriate challenge where improvements are not progressing.

·         Supporting services preparing for, or responding to, CQC inspections and other regulatory or commissioner activity.

·         Identifying emerging risks, themes and trends and ensuring these are appropriately escalated.

·         Providing practical advice, coaching and guidance to managers and teams.

·         Following up improvements to ensure changes have been embedded and sustained.

·         Promoting a positive culture of learning, accountability and continuous improvement.

Skills and attributes

This role requires someone with strong, practical experience of quality and compliance within adult social care.

You should have:

·         Proven experience in a quality, compliance, auditing or senior operational role within adult social care.

·         A strong working knowledge of CQC regulations and the regulatory framework.

·         Experience of auditing care services and developing and monitoring improvement plans.

·         The confidence to identify poor practice, challenge appropriately and support managers to make improvements.

·         The ability to review information critically, identify risk and distinguish between isolated issues and wider systemic concerns.

·         Strong written skills and the ability to produce clear, evidence-based reports.

·         Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.

·         The ability to manage your own workload and prioritise effectively across several services.

·         A practical, solutions-focused approach and a genuine commitment to improving outcomes for people receiving care.

·         The ability to travel regularly between services.

Experience of working across residential, nursing, homecare or specialist services would be advantageous.

Important information for applicants

This is a field-based role involving regular travel and a significant amount of time working directly within our services. It is not a predominantly home-based quality or administrative position.

We are therefore looking for someone who is comfortable being visible within services, working alongside managers and teams, reviewing practice first-hand and taking ownership of driving improvements through to completion.

You will join an experienced and supportive team with a genuine opportunity to influence the quality of care across our services.

You will have the autonomy to use your professional judgement, while receiving support from the wider Quality and Operations teams. We encourage constructive challenge, shared learning and practical improvement, with opportunities for continued professional development.

If you are an experienced care quality professional who enjoys getting into services, identifying what needs to improve and working with teams to make that improvement happen, we would like to hear from you.