Regional Quality Support Manager

Purpose of the Role

Provide visible, practical quality support and independent assurance across allocated Macklin Care Homes. Work alongside Registered Managers and regional leaders to improve resident outcomes, strengthen clinical practice, identify risks early and deliver sustained improvements in safe, effective and compassionate care.

Support the Macklin leadership lenses of care, compliance, culture and commercial responsibility to achieve continuity. Balance constructive challenge with hands-on coaching, ensuring improvement is demonstrated in residents’ everyday experience.

Key Responsibilities:

Scope and Accountability

• Plan regular visits and targeted support according to each home’s risks, performance and improvement needs. Maintain an objective view of quality and escalate concerns promptly.

• Work with Registered Managers, Deputy Managers, regional management, the Managing Director, HR, learning and development teams, residents, families and external professionals.

• Support and challenge home leadership without replacing the Registered Manager’s accountability or the provider’s responsibilities. Exercise clinical duties only within current registration, competence and agreed authority.

• To cover Home Management vacancies until recruited into. Includes supporting the homes when the Home Manager is on leave.

• To support the Regional Managers with completion of Regulation 29 visits if required.

• To focus on quality improvement programmes and service improvement plans within each service as required and following discussion with the regional managers and managing director.

Care and Resident Experience

• Observe care, speak with residents and relatives, and use feedback to assess dignity, choice, consent, involvement, meaningful activity and end-of-life experience.

• Review care plans, risk assessments and delivery of care, including deterioration, falls, medicines, nutrition, swallowing, skin integrity, infection prevention, dementia care and restrictive practices. Prioritise concerns according to potential harm.

Compliance and Quality Assurance

• Deliver a consistent programme of announced and unannounced quality visits and audits. Triangulate records, direct observation, resident experience and staff knowledge rather than relying on completed checklists.

• Assess practice against applicable Northern Ireland care home regulations, minimum standards, RQIA requirements, registration conditions, the Statement of Purpose and Macklin policies.

• Produce clear visit reports that identify strengths, gaps, risk ratings and required action. Agree named owners and deadlines; verify completion and effectiveness through evidence and follow-up visits.

• Support homes before, during and after inspections and commissioner reviews. Track inspection findings, requirements and recommendations through to evidenced closure.

• Review incidents, safeguarding concerns, complaints, near misses and clinical indicators to identify recurring themes, underlying causes and opportunities for shared learning.

• Support investigations and reviews when commissioned. Preserve records, maintain confidentiality and provide balanced findings with practical recommendations.

• Check that concerns requiring external referral or notification are recognised, escalated to the accountable person and tracked through the appropriate process.

Risk Management and Escalation

• Review home clinical risk registers with managers and deputies, checking that significant risks have effective controls, clear ownership and review dates.

• Escalate immediate or serious threats to resident safety without delay to the Registered Manager and the appropriate senior leader. Support immediate protective action and activate emergency or safeguarding pathways where required.

• Do not wait for a routine report or meeting to raise urgent concerns. Record the concern, action taken, person informed and follow-up required; escalate further where the response does not adequately address the risk.

• Support homes with repeated incidents, overdue actions or deteriorating performance through focused improvement plans and increased oversight.

Culture and Workforce Development

• Coach Registered Managers, deputies, nurses and care teams through supportive challenge, reflective discussion and practical teaching.

• Identify gaps in induction, mandatory training and role-specific competence. Work with managers and learning teams to agree development and check that learning changes practice.

• Promote a respectful, inclusive and open culture in which staff raise concerns, learn from incidents and take responsibility for standards.

• Facilitate clinical and quality forums, share learning between homes and support consistent use of agreed tools and policies. Address poor practice promptly through the appropriate management process.

Commercial Responsibility and Continuity

• Identify the staffing, equipment and training resources needed for safe care. Present evidence-based recommendations and escalate gaps that threaten quality or service continuity.

• Support efficient use of resources and reduce avoidable harm, waste and duplication while protecting resident outcomes.

• Help embed improvements so standards remain consistent through leadership changes, staffing pressures, admissions and service development.

Reporting and Measures of Success

• Provide a monthly regional quality report and prompt exception reports. Include significant risks, resident and staff feedback, audit findings, incident themes, inspection progress, overdue actions and the support required. Agree numerical targets and reporting arrangements with the Managing Director.

• Visits and reports completed within agreed timescales, with all serious concerns escalated promptly.

• Improvement actions completed on time and independently verified, with fewer recurring findings and repeat incidents.

• Improved resident experience, care outcomes, staff competence and sustained compliance with required standards.

Additional Information

Sponsorship for this role is not offered. Applications requiring sponsorship will not be considered.

Interviews may take place before the job advertisement closes. Submit your application promptly as the role may close early if a suitable candidate is appointed. In addition, we also reserve the right to enhance the criteria at the shortlisting stage.

An Enhanced Access NI Check will be required for this post. If successful, please be aware that we do have a policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders. As per the Access NI Code of Practice, Macklin Care Homes also has a policy on the secure handling, use, storage, and retention of disclosure information. Copies of these documents, along with the Access NI Code of Practice, are available upon request by contacting the HR Department.

It is Macklin Care Homes' policy that the existence of a criminal conviction will not necessarily lead to the withdrawal of a job offer, but the failure to disclose all criminal convictions fully and accurately will lead to the withdrawal of a job offer.

Macklin Care Homes is an Equal Opportunities Employer.