Senior Advisor - QPS Mental Health and Addictions - Clinical Leadership at Te Whatu Ora, All Locations

Mō tēnei tūranga mahi | About this role

• Full time permanent opportunity
• Location: Flexible

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is the country's largest employer, delivering universal public healthcare to 5 million New Zealanders.

We provide essential hospital, specialist, and community health services across 80+ locations from large urban centres to rural towns and remote communities. 

Our goal is to improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders by delivering equitable, accessible and innovative care.

About the Role

The National QPS Senior Advisor – MH&A is responsible for supporting all quality and patient safety systems and processes at national level. They work with the QPS teams across the motu, to ensure the delivery of safe, high quality patient care to achieve Health NZ goals.

The National QPS Senior Advisor – MH&A will provide patient safety expertise, develop national policy and processes, support the development of quality improvement and patient safety programmes, facilitate and lead clinical governance and quality reviews. They will enable the national patient safety agenda by supporting MH&A QPS data intelligence and reporting and developing patient safety training in support of national QPS policy.  The role will build and strengthen the patient safety culture within mental health and addiction services and support national quality improvement of systems and processes to improve outcomes and experiences for tāngata whai ora.

About the Team/Service/ Location

The National Quality and Patient Safety (QPS) Senior Advisor – Mental Health & Addictions (MH&A) role will report to the National Quality and Patient Safety Manager and help support implementation of the QPS work plan and the MH&A improvement plan. The role will work in collaboration with the National Chief Mental Health & Addictions, National Clinical Governance Manager and the Regional QPS Leads in support of the nationally agreed work programme

About you                                                                                                                

You are a skilled and organised Senior Advisor with relevant experience in Quality and Patient Safety. You are able to deliver high quality work under pressure, set priorities and manage tight deadlines. You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and the ability to build collaborative and positive working relationships with staff across the wider organisation as well as all key stakeholders, internally and externally.

• Demonstrated experience in the health sector in Quality and Patient Safety
• A relevant health qualification and/or clinical experience in MH&A is essential
• Understanding of clinical governance systems and risk management
• Experience in serious adverse event reviews and reporting, HDC and coronial case management.
• Experience working in government services and/or proven skill with developing high quality written documents for senior leadership e.g. ELT papers, MEMOs, Committee/Board papers, funding requests, OIA and HDC responses
• A strong working knowledge of policy and ability to interpret and understand, legislation and the machinery of government
• Excellent interpersonal and relationship management skills with the ability to foster good stakeholder relationships

Working for Health New Zealand

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is dedicated to ensuring excellent healthcare for the people of New Zealand. We embrace a workforce that is diverse and inclusive so that we are better positioned to understand and service our community. We welcome applications from our diverse Māori, Pacific, disabled, and rainbow communities.  

How to Apply

To apply please click “apply now.”  All applications must be submitted through our online careers' portal by Friday, 17 April 2026.  If you have any questions about the role, please contact Anesha Pillay at Anesha.Pillay@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz

Whilst Health New Zealand is undergoing change affected employees will be given preference and priority for this position.