Job summary
The post holder will be a senior nurse within the Trusts Psychiatric Decision Unit known as Lotus Assessment Suite. As a deputy unit manager, you will work within an award-winning, nurse-led service to provide interim mental health care for service users. The role involves undertaking prolonged bio-psychosocial assessments to be able to meet the holistic needs of all service users and empower them to have the optimum level of responsibility for their individual care and treatment by following recovery principles and approaches. Service specific training and support will be provided to successful candidates as well as access to trust wide training opportunities.
The post holder will be able to provide a broad range of specialist psychosocial treatments for individual patients and a specialist consultation-liaison service to referring clinicians and clinical teams, assisting them in decision making in difficult and complex cases.
The post will enhance your skills in autonomous clinical decision making, assessment of mental health and physical health needs, risk management, crisis management, development of managerial skills as well as joint working with multiple agencies/services.
Main duties of the job
As a deputy unit manager you will lead on assessments, support discharges and support junior staff with decision-making. You will support and promote the fundamentals of mental health and physical health care for our patients, by carrying out needs assessments and working collaboratively with patients to develop crisis and discharge plans.
If you are a forward thinking experienced band 5 nurse ready to develop your clinical skills further or a seasoned band 6 expert, this is an exciting opportunity to consider. We are looking for someone who is clinically competent with the appropriate skills to join a diverse and experienced team.
Lastly the candidate will be able to mentor, counsel, coach and generally support those who are not confident in the clinical environment, building morale and self-esteem and generally encouraging others to give their best performance.
- You should be focused, highly motivated and have good communication, listening and problem-solving skills.
- You should be proactive, able to use your initiative, enthusiastic and energetic.
- Be willing to enhance or have experience in autonomous clinical decision making, biopsychosocial assessment of mental health and physical health needs, crisis management, and joint working with multiple agencies/services.
- Be willing to develop or have experience in quality improvement
- Be willing to develop or have experience in risk management skills
- Be willing to develop or have experience of leadership skills
About us
We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.
We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.
This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services.
We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.
We offer flexible working, career development and a variety ofbenefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.
About our locations:
Springfield University Hospital, Tooting
Our largest, 19-ward site is in Springfield Village, created following our £150m investment into two new world class mental health facilities. A 32-acre public park, shops and cafes are coming soon. Close to shops, cafes and Tooting Bec on the Northern Line plus Earlsfield and Tooting rail stations and bus routes.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Lead/facilitate robust gatekeeping 2 assessments making clear decisions, based on an analysis of complex presenting problems and judgement about available options. This will include those related to the admission and discharge of patients (when working with out of hours service providers such as home treatment teams, bed management and/or on-call SpR and AMPHs can be utilised to provide support).
- Manage the trust health based place of safety (i.e. s.136 suite), ensuring trust polices are adhered to where appropriate i.e. seclusion policy.
- Utilise a wide variety of clinical skills appropriate to the needs of individual patients and the clinical setting in which they are required to be seen.
- Ensure discharge from Lotus is clinically sound and timely.
- Have an ability to engage challenging and/or acutely distressed patients in potentially hostile and/or antagonistic situations.
- Provide a broad range of specialist psychosocial treatments for individual patients and a specialist consultation-liaison service to referring clinicians and clinical teams, assisting them in decision making in difficult and complex cases.
- Work with colleagues to develop and promote the services philosophy, framework of care delivery and strategic objectives.
- Deliver care that is evidence based, reflecting current best practice and research.
- Participate in structured clinical supervision in accordance with Trust policies and procedures.
- Demonstrate sound understanding of the legal and ethical issues in caring for the mentally ill. In particular, demonstrating sound understanding of the Mental Health Act /Mental Capacity Act and its use in a non-mental health inpatient setting.
- Promote recovery and social inclusion throughout the patient journey.
- Help the client identify strengths to achieve goals and aspirations.
- Contribute to a comprehensive risk assessments in accordance with the Trust Policies and Guidelines.
- Raise safeguarding alerts if you suspect that a service user and/or carer has been exposed to harm or abuse.
- Demonstrate the ability to receive and give complex clinical details clearly using SBAR, with patients, carers and colleagues.
- Communicate clear decisions and rationale when agreement cannot be reached e.g. in situations where the Mental Health Act or Mental Capacity Act or Common Law may be needed to be used.
- Liaise with other individuals and services in the interest of collaborative crisis and discharge planning for patients, i.e. social services, community teams, carers/families, drug and alcohol teams.
- Support the Ward Manager in implementing Directorate and Trust initiatives on the ward and for playing a key role in monitoring and evaluating the quality of care delivered locally.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Lead/facilitate robust gatekeeping 2 assessments making clear decisions, based on an analysis of complex presenting problems and judgement about available options. This will include those related to the admission and discharge of patients (when working with out of hours service providers such as home treatment teams, bed management and/or on-call SpR and AMPHs can be utilised to provide support).
- Manage the trust health based place of safety (i.e. s.136 suite), ensuring trust polices are adhered to where appropriate i.e. seclusion policy.
- Utilise a wide variety of clinical skills appropriate to the needs of individual patients and the clinical setting in which they are required to be seen.
- Ensure discharge from Lotus is clinically sound and timely.
- Have an ability to engage challenging and/or acutely distressed patients in potentially hostile and/or antagonistic situations.
- Provide a broad range of specialist psychosocial treatments for individual patients and a specialist consultation-liaison service to referring clinicians and clinical teams, assisting them in decision making in difficult and complex cases.
- Work with colleagues to develop and promote the services philosophy, framework of care delivery and strategic objectives.
- Deliver care that is evidence based, reflecting current best practice and research.
- Participate in structured clinical supervision in accordance with Trust policies and procedures.
- Demonstrate sound understanding of the legal and ethical issues in caring for the mentally ill. In particular, demonstrating sound understanding of the Mental Health Act /Mental Capacity Act and its use in a non-mental health inpatient setting.
- Promote recovery and social inclusion throughout the patient journey.
- Help the client identify strengths to achieve goals and aspirations.
- Contribute to a comprehensive risk assessments in accordance with the Trust Policies and Guidelines.
- Raise safeguarding alerts if you suspect that a service user and/or carer has been exposed to harm or abuse.
- Demonstrate the ability to receive and give complex clinical details clearly using SBAR, with patients, carers and colleagues.
- Communicate clear decisions and rationale when agreement cannot be reached e.g. in situations where the Mental Health Act or Mental Capacity Act or Common Law may be needed to be used.
- Liaise with other individuals and services in the interest of collaborative crisis and discharge planning for patients, i.e. social services, community teams, carers/families, drug and alcohol teams.
- Support the Ward Manager in implementing Directorate and Trust initiatives on the ward and for playing a key role in monitoring and evaluating the quality of care delivered locally.
Person Specification
Education and Qualification
Essential
- Registered Adult Nurse and/or Registered Mental Health Nurse and/or Registered Learning Disabilities Nurse
- Mentorship qualification
Desirable
Experience and Knowledge
Essential
- Experience of research-based/reflective practice, e.g. understanding and ability to use supervision to reflect on skills, attitude and knowledge and develop these by using evidence based practice.
- Significant relevant clinical experience
- Evidence of continuing professional development
- Experience as a preceptor / mentor
- Knowledge of clinical governance and audit
- Knowledge of relevant Professional and Clinical legislation
Desirable
- Experience of taking responsibility for a ward / clinical unit.
- Experience of engaging / supporting clinical research projects
- Experience of supporting practice development in clinical areas
- Experience of teaching. e.g. lecturer practitioner/preceptorship
- Experience of recruitment and selection of staff
Person Specification
Education and Qualification
Essential
- Registered Adult Nurse and/or Registered Mental Health Nurse and/or Registered Learning Disabilities Nurse
- Mentorship qualification
Desirable
Experience and Knowledge
Essential
- Experience of research-based/reflective practice, e.g. understanding and ability to use supervision to reflect on skills, attitude and knowledge and develop these by using evidence based practice.
- Significant relevant clinical experience
- Evidence of continuing professional development
- Experience as a preceptor / mentor
- Knowledge of clinical governance and audit
- Knowledge of relevant Professional and Clinical legislation
Desirable
- Experience of taking responsibility for a ward / clinical unit.
- Experience of engaging / supporting clinical research projects
- Experience of supporting practice development in clinical areas
- Experience of teaching. e.g. lecturer practitioner/preceptorship
- Experience of recruitment and selection of staff
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
