DIRECTOR OF CARE, QUALITY & TRANSFORMATION
Ed Bliss
Ed is a senior care-sector director with 20 years’ experience spanning adult social care, dementia, mental health recovery, quality improvement, multi-site operations, workforce development, education and commercial leadership.
“I am passionate about delivering high standards of care and investing in people, with a focus on quality, long-term growth and the communities we serve.”
- Ed Bliss
Currently a Group Director with responsibilities extending across approximately 180 beds, encompassing nursing and dementia care alongside specialist mental health recovery services. Ed holds particular strategic responsibility for dementia services while contributing more broadly to group quality, operational performance, service development and organisational strategy.
His role combines specialist care-quality knowledge with the operational requirements of running sustainable services, including regulatory performance, occupancy, resident retention, workforce retention, management development, family relationships and the translation of organisational strategy into frontline practice.
Quality Improvement & Regulatory Transformation
Ed joined the organisation in 2018/19 during a period of significant regulatory challenge. At that time, one service was rated Inadequate and operating under an admissions embargo, while another was rated Requires Improvement.
He played a senior role in the subsequent improvement programme, working closely with the Group Managing Director and operational leadership to establish new systems, expectations and infrastructure across the organisation.
The admissions embargo was successfully addressed within approximately 12 months. The service subsequently achieved a Good CQC rating in 2022, while services in Devon also progressed to Good.
This work involved developing and embedding structured approaches to care quality, dementia practice, environmental assessment, personhood, workforce knowledge, care planning, family involvement and practice assurance.
The impact of these programmes can be evidenced through longitudinal organisational data, including regulatory outcomes, audit performance, incidents, restrictive practice, staff knowledge, safeguarding, care-plan compliance, medication and antipsychotic use, family experience, occupancy and workforce outcomes.
The emphasis has been not simply on achieving regulatory compliance, but on establishing systems and cultures capable of sustaining improvements in care quality over time.
Dementia & Mental Health Recovery
Ed provides strategic leadership across an organisation supporting approximately 180 beds, incorporating established nursing and dementia care alongside specialist mental health recovery provision.
This provides him with experience extending from dementia and complex later-life care through to mental health recovery, behavioural support, risk management and person-centred approaches.
Within dementia services, Ed has developed significant elements of the group’s current infrastructure, including environmental auditing, care-delivery assessment, personhood and dementia-knowledge auditing, care-plan governance, family involvement and workforce development.
Within mental health recovery services, he works alongside specialist clinical leadership and delivers NAPPI UK training, supporting approaches to behaviour, safety, recovery, therapeutic relationships and the reduction of restrictive practice.
Together, these areas provide Ed with a perspective on care that considers personhood, recovery, independence, risk, environment and workforce capability within the wider culture of an organisation.
Education, Research & Workforce Development
Ed designs and delivers specialist education across the organisation and delivers a university module to staff, connecting academic knowledge with the realities of frontline care.
He is currently undertaking PhD-level research, building upon further education and specialist study in dementia. His areas of study include diagnosis and its impact, identity, personhood, roles within a diagnosis and family dynamics.
A central principle of Ed's work is that training alone does not constitute improvement. Education is therefore linked to observation, audit, care planning and management oversight, with consideration given to how learning is translated into realistic and sustainable changes in working practice.
This provides him with experience not only in considering what good care should look like, but also in developing systems that help organisations embed that knowledge into everyday practice.
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