Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Band 6 Charge Nurse - Blackberry Hill Hospital, Bristol

The closing date is 15 July 2025

Job summary

Are you keen to develop your skills and CV further?

You are passionate about providing high quality care as part of a skilled multi-disciplinary team?

We are looking for experienced staff that are motivated to:

Be part of new developments, and be at the forefront of planning, implementing and quality improvement plans
To help us take these services to the fore in the field of forensic services!
Secure services are currently working hard to develop and improve our services, and we require outward thinking and innovative approaches from our staff whilst remaining committed to maintaining safety and security.
We are currently recruiting for B6 RMN's/RNLD's.

NOTE: This post is open to newly qualified social workers. In line with AWP trust policy all newly qualified social workers (NQSW) will be recruited initially at Band 5 level, regardless of advertised role banding. All NQSW's are expected to successfully complete their ASYE within 2 years of employment, unless there are exceptional circumstances in which case it may be extended for a further 2 years.

If you have been appointed to an advertised Band 6 role this will be an automatic progression, following confirmation of your successful ASYE completion. If you have been appointed to a Band 5 post you will then be eligible to apply for a subsequent Band 6 vacancy upon successful ASYE completion.

Main duties of the job

To provide, and supervise the delivery of high standards of nursing care to service users, in accordance with up-to-date evidence-based professional practice and AWP policies.

To provide clear clinical leadership to Staff Nurses and Health Care Assistants working on the ward. Ensure the continuity of care for service users and full implementation of Trust policies.

To supervise Band 5 staff and below in developing, implementing and assessing individual programmes of care. An integral part of the role is to undertake appraisals, clinical supervision and teaching.

For a full list of duties and responsibilities please see attached job description.

About us

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust): a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Date posted

01 July 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£37,338 to £44,962 a year (pay award pending)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

342-SEC075-0725

Job locations

Fairfax Ward, Wickham Unit

Blackberry Hill Hospital

Bristol

BS16 1EG

Job description

Job responsibilities

1. Scope & Range

As per the NMC Code, operational responsibility for the day-to-day clinical management of the Unit and the safe running of the shift, ensuring mechanisms are in place to support, develop and monitor all aspects of care and service delivery.

To take the role of Nurse in Charge on a rota bases as allocated.

Oversee and deliver clinical practice within the designated clinical areas, ensuring that high quality evidence based nursing assessment, care planning, risk assessments, interventions and evaluations for patients is provided.

Being an accountable, candid and responsible point of contact and facilitator for clinical quality, collaboratively responsible for reporting, presenting and acting upon improvement actions (in accordance with internal, Care Quality Commission, Local Authority or Clinical Commissioning Group requirements).

Facilitate a learning environment that coaches and enables others to develop advanced clinical skills e.g. specialist assessment, planning, and evaluation for individuals with a Learning Disability and Autism.

Demonstrate competence in complex decision making, assessment and the management of clinical needs.

Monitor standards, conduct audits and lead innovative processes to improve quality and the operational management of the unit.

Ensuring the team works in accordance with organisational, regional and statutory guidelines, as well as best practice guidance as outlined in formal benchmarks or standards (e.g. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence etc.).

Mentor and teach as required with specific responsibility for the provision of leadership and clinical practice using a just culture, compassionate management and coaching approach as required to develop and maintain the skills required within a forensic environment.

To rotate and ensure others work with different service users to ensure maintenance of skills and to manage their own wellbeing. Qualified staff are allocated as named nurse for a service user, however, are responsible each shift for their own wellbeing of all of the service users.

2. Clinical Practice Leadership

Ability to administer medicine within relevant Trust and legislative guidance e.g. NMC Standards for Medicines.

Management 2010, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, MHA 1983.Ensure all others apply these, to support safe practice.

Be a clinical Leader within the inpatient environment, responsible for the shift management and accountable for the quality of all clinical activity within the designated area working independently in the absence of senior management.

Confidential, sensitive and comprehensive, person-cantered assessment of the full range of patient safety and wellbeing needs (includes risk, behavioural and mental state assessments).

Work with the team to ensure that every service user has a SMART, person-centred, evidence-based and holistic care and treatment plan ensuring service users are supported to reach the optimum level of independence and that robust processes are in place to keep such plans under continual review.

Work with the team to ensure that service users are able to take an active role in the assessment, management and evaluation of their care and treatment plan, as well as all relevant risk and personal safety plans.

Enabling service users to be at the centre of their care, ensuring patient and carer participation in decision-making, and promoting health and independence through raising awareness and care navigation to other professionals as appropriate.

As directed, setting and maintaining high standards for the ordering, storing, administering, disposal and recording of service user medicines, including all assessment, monitoring and response requirements related to it (this will be informed by relevant AWP Trust Policies and national standards set by NMC, NICE and the Mental Health Act (1983/2007)).

Support the team to establish, embed and maintain a sustainable programme of psychosocially-informed therapeutic engagement, affording service users opportunities for connection, interpersonal understanding and shared personal learning.

Support the team to offer individualised care and treatment interventions based service users care plans.

Embed, audit and maintain high standards for clinical record keeping (progress notes, care planning and the full range of service user assessments), actively support team members to meet and build on these standards.

Address concerns, supporting people to resolve problems and overcome barriers effectively.

Using own specialist skills and knowledge, act as a conduit and translator of corporate clinical guidance for the team, actively translating policy and protocol guidance into the clinical setting. Protecting time for clinicians to engage actively with Trust and national policy related to clinical care delivery and safety.

3. Communication & Relationships

Communicate with individuals, carers and other visitors in a courteous and helpful manner, whilst being mindful that there may be barriers to understanding.

Demonstrate those inter-personal skills that promote clarity, compassion, empathy, respect and trust.

Many of the service users will present with wide variety of mental health conditions, which might result in distressing and emotional situations. The post holder will often be required to role model, lead and develop the teams skills. Supporting the team when these demanding situations occur, utilising de-brief processes and other specialist support as required.

4. Culture of Reflective Learning, Development and Progression Objective

Embedding a reflective learning and development culture, in which team are encouraged to be curious, analytical and constructively critical in their work, providing regular advice and mentoring.

Support students, preceptors and new employees on the unit, utilising mentoring and buddy skills to enable full integration and welcome to the unit.

Ensuring team members have access to ongoing practice development activities in addition to their statutory and mandatory training this may be in the form of formal learning programmes, or something more local / regional.

Recognize the wards function as an educational hub and centre of learning for nurses, occupational therapists, medics, physiotherapists, support workers, nursing associates, paramedics and many more.

Lead by example, motivating and empowering others and promoting positive attitudes, mutual understanding and collaboration between service users, carers and colleagues.

Promote and embed a sustainable culture of continuing professional development and everyday learning by ensuring all team members have access to rigorous formative and restorative clinical supervision and practice development support.

Treat all feedback from any source (e.g. service users, carers, visiting professionals, CQC, CCG etc.) as an invitation to review and maintain high standards, supporting the clinical team to be actively engaged with improvement as a day-to-day activity (i.e. not only in response to formal feedback).

Work within the spirit of everyday learning, and recording / evidencing of development activity for practitioner revalidation.

Form strong professional relationships with colleagues both within and beyond the locality, to ensure the inpatient clinical team is connected to the wider mental healthcare and/or learning disabilities care landscape, including attendance of, and participation in, relevant professional forums (these colleagues may include locality clinical, operational and subject-matter leads, Nursing & Quality, clinical networks, Learning & Development etc.).