Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Band 6 Charge Nurse - Kingfisher Inpatient Service - Bristol

The closing date is 19 November 2025

Job summary

Do you bring passion and commitment to delivering high quality care?Do you understand the clinical and sensory needs of people with a Learning Disability and or Autism?

If you are prepared to deliver evidence-based change to implement clinical service delivery, this role will provide you with a rare and exciting career opportunity.

Avon and Wiltshire Partnership (AWP) are looking to recruit an exceptional person to provide leadership to support delivery of our vision of excellence to people with a learning disability and autistic people in our specialist acute inpatient mental health services.

The ambition is to deliver specialist, acute mental health care in a setting designed and staffed to meet the specialist environmental and clinical needs of people with a learning disability and or autism where access to mainstream inpatient services cannot be achieved through implementation of reasonable adjustments.

The Kingfisher inpatient service will be a centre of excellence and has been carefully designed and developed with clinicians and people with lived experience. We expect to open in early 2026. You will be employed in AWP Specialised Services division and work as a core member of the project team until opening. You will be instrumental in the development, implementation and delivery of the clinical and operational model for the inpatient service.

Main duties of the job

To inspire, lead and provide clear leadership to those working on the ward, enabling service delivery of the highest quality, ensuring that people who have Mental Health concerns are provided with a quality, person centred approach to care delivery, which always considers people's safety, privacy and dignity.

To work within a multi-professional team in an inpatient setting, providing, support, care, and treatment to individuals, within guidelines and protocols identified. Managing the development and practice of a set of therapeutic care skills, making a significant contribution to service users' psychological, emotional and social wellbeing. Overseeing that the service provided enables patients to reach their optimum level of independence, take responsibility for ensuring individuals and their relatives receive care that prioritises safety, effectiveness, partnership and hope. To provide enhanced support to our service users who often have complex needs as expected from a secure service.

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.

Details

Date posted

04 November 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£38,682 to £46,580 a year (pro rata)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

342-SS156-1125

Job locations

Kingfisher Inpatient Service

Blackberry Hill Hospital

Bristol

BS16 1EG


Job description

Job responsibilities

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 the service users.

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.

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.

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.

Recognise 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.).

Finance, Workforce and People Management Objective

Manage resources to maximize the teams ability to perform its core function of providing safe and effective patient care, Oversee the management, completion of appropriate supervision, MAST and Appraisal for a small team. Cross covering for peers as required.

Ensure that all nurses, for whom the post-holder is responsible, abide by all Trust and local policies and procedures, in particular, Health and Safety at Work, Security and Confidentiality to guarantee legal obligations are fulfilled.

Ensure the environment is clean, tidy, comfortable, safe and clinically appropriate, establishing and participating in robust environmental monitoring, reporting and improvement processes (including all aspects from hygiene, safety to clinical risk e.g. ligatures, blind spots etc.).

Contribute to reviews of staffing resource and skill mix, ensuring that service provision is both safe and therapeutic.

Develop/review staff rosters in line with AWP guidance utilising electronic rostering systems, and delegate the clinical and administrative elements of this appropriately.

Monitor, record and manage performance and conduct in accordance with Trust policy.

Participate in the relevant informal HR processes e.g. Health and wellbeing support, raising performance concerns, active participant in recruitment, on boarding, induction etc.

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

Job description

Job responsibilities

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 the service users.

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.

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.

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.

Recognise 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.).

Finance, Workforce and People Management Objective

Manage resources to maximize the teams ability to perform its core function of providing safe and effective patient care, Oversee the management, completion of appropriate supervision, MAST and Appraisal for a small team. Cross covering for peers as required.

Ensure that all nurses, for whom the post-holder is responsible, abide by all Trust and local policies and procedures, in particular, Health and Safety at Work, Security and Confidentiality to guarantee legal obligations are fulfilled.

Ensure the environment is clean, tidy, comfortable, safe and clinically appropriate, establishing and participating in robust environmental monitoring, reporting and improvement processes (including all aspects from hygiene, safety to clinical risk e.g. ligatures, blind spots etc.).

Contribute to reviews of staffing resource and skill mix, ensuring that service provision is both safe and therapeutic.

Develop/review staff rosters in line with AWP guidance utilising electronic rostering systems, and delegate the clinical and administrative elements of this appropriately.

Monitor, record and manage performance and conduct in accordance with Trust policy.

Participate in the relevant informal HR processes e.g. Health and wellbeing support, raising performance concerns, active participant in recruitment, on boarding, induction etc.

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

Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential

  • Registered Nurse (Learning Disabilities, Mental Health or Adult) with current NMC registration

Desirable

  • Qualification in Management and/or leadership
  • Training around understanding of behaviours that challenge and RRI
  • PBM & PBS Training

Knowledge and skills

Essential

  • Ability to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate programmes of care and treatment (2)
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including report writing (2)
  • Ability to organise and manage day to day departmental activities and the activities of large multidisciplinary team (2)
  • Good working knowledge of relevant statutory codes of conduct and practice- . NMCs the Code, Mental Capacity Act, Mental Health Act, DoL's (2)

Desirable

  • Knowledge of PBS
  • Auditing and quality improvement

Experience

Essential

  • Substantial post-registration clinical practice, and experience of managing / leading
  • Experience of medication administration, and related monitoring, reporting and response activities e.g. DEPO, Epilepsy mgt etc

Desirable

  • Experience of leading team with the provision of care and treatment
Person Specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential

  • Registered Nurse (Learning Disabilities, Mental Health or Adult) with current NMC registration

Desirable

  • Qualification in Management and/or leadership
  • Training around understanding of behaviours that challenge and RRI
  • PBM & PBS Training

Knowledge and skills

Essential

  • Ability to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate programmes of care and treatment (2)
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including report writing (2)
  • Ability to organise and manage day to day departmental activities and the activities of large multidisciplinary team (2)
  • Good working knowledge of relevant statutory codes of conduct and practice- . NMCs the Code, Mental Capacity Act, Mental Health Act, DoL's (2)

Desirable

  • Knowledge of PBS
  • Auditing and quality improvement

Experience

Essential

  • Substantial post-registration clinical practice, and experience of managing / leading
  • Experience of medication administration, and related monitoring, reporting and response activities e.g. DEPO, Epilepsy mgt etc

Desirable

  • Experience of leading team with the provision of care and treatment

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.

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Address

Kingfisher Inpatient Service

Blackberry Hill Hospital

Bristol

BS16 1EG


Employer's website

http://www.awp.nhs.uk/about-us/working-for-us/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Address

Kingfisher Inpatient Service

Blackberry Hill Hospital

Bristol

BS16 1EG


Employer's website

http://www.awp.nhs.uk/about-us/working-for-us/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Ward Manager

Hailey Brooks

haileybrooks@nhs.net

07701261876

Details

Date posted

04 November 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£38,682 to £46,580 a year (pro rata)

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

342-SS156-1125

Job locations

Kingfisher Inpatient Service

Blackberry Hill Hospital

Bristol

BS16 1EG


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

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