Quality Assurance Officer - Smoking Cessation
| Company: | NHS Jobs |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £40,000 |
| Hours: | Full-time |
| Location: | Kent, TN23 1PP |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Posting date: | 24 Jul 2026 |
| Closing date: | 6 Aug 2026 |
Summary
The Clinical Governance and Pharmacotherapy Lead will provide clinical, governance, and pharmacotherapy expertise to the Stop Smoking Service within One You Kent. The post holder will play a key role in ensuring the delivery of safe, effective, and high-quality smoking cessation interventions through robust clinical governance, quality assurance, audit, and oversight of pharmacotherapy pathways. Working as part of the wider One You Kent team, the post holder will contribute to continuous improvement, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance across the service, ensuring practice aligns with national guidance, contractual requirements, organisational policies, and local population health priorities. The role will support the development and maintenance of high standards of clinical practice, governance, and service delivery, while promoting evidence-based approaches to smoking cessation and reducing health inequalities. The post holder will lead and undertake monthly service-wide clinical audits, including oversight and review of auditor activity, and complete regular observations of Stop Smoking Advisors to ensure quality, consistency, and adherence to agreed standards. They will support the Professional Lead in delivering monthly quality governance processes, reporting requirements, and continuous improvement initiatives, ensuring compliance with relevant national guidance, local policies, and One You Kent quality frameworks. The role will provide pharmacist oversight and internal clinical sign-off for Patient Group Directions (PGDs), where appropriate, ensuring they remain safe, current, legally compliant, and fit for purpose. The post holder will provide pharmacotherapy-related governance and administrative support through the audit and monitoring of dispensing and supply practices, review of referrals to prescribers, development and maintenance of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and contribution to training materials, service development activities, and service bids. The post holder will contribute to a range of governance and assurance activities, including audits of audit processes, DSS-related audits, and NRT storage audits at sites not covered by DSS. They will support the development, implementation, and monitoring of action plans arising from audit findings, ensuring learning is embedded within practice and quality improvement opportunities are identified and acted upon. As a senior clinical representative within the service, the post holder will deputise for the Professional Lead across One You Kent services and, where required, across wider ABL services nationally. They will represent the service at Local Pharmaceutical Committee (LPC) meetings and other stakeholder forums, contributing to partnership working, service development, and the promotion of best practice. They will also support the delivery of pharmacotherapy training, governance, and clinical development activities to ensure staff competence, confidence, and adherence to clinical standards. The post holder will maintain professional registration and practise in accordance with the standards and requirements of their relevant regulatory body. They will work in line with organisational policies, procedures, and clinical governance frameworks, ensuring compliance with confidentiality, information governance, safeguarding, and data protection requirements at all times. They will actively promote equality, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of service delivery, supporting One You Kent's commitment to reducing health inequalities and improving population health outcomes. We are seeking a registered pharmacist or experienced registered healthcare professional, such as a nurse or paramedic, with a strong interest in clinical governance, quality improvement, public health, and smoking cessation services. The successful candidate will have experience supporting the safe and effective delivery of pharmacotherapy and be confident providing clinical oversight within community, public health, or lifestyle service settings. They will be highly organised, analytical, and detail-focused, with experience undertaking audits, reviewing clinical practice, interpreting findings, and implementing quality improvement initiatives. The successful candidate will be a credible and professional clinician who can build effective working relationships with practitioners, prescribers, commissioners, and external partners, while providing practical guidance and support to frontline teams. They will be an excellent communicator with the ability to translate clinical, governance, and regulatory requirements into clear and actionable practice. They will be a collaborative team player who values partnership working and is committed to supporting integrated, high-quality care. Above all, they will be passionate about improving health outcomes, reducing health inequalities, and supporting individuals to achieve long-term behaviour change through evidence-based smoking cessation interventions.