York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Lead Professional for Mental Health Care

The closing date is 26 April 2026

Job summary

Are you passionate about driving high-quality mental health care across acute settings? Do you thrive on influencing practice, supporting staff, and leading meaningful change? If so, we'd love you to join our Safeguarding & Complex Needs Team as our Lead Professional for Mental Health Care Improvement. This is an exciting opportunity to play a central role in delivering the Trust's Complex Needs Implementation Plan and strengthening how we identify, assess, and support patients with mental ill health across all ages. This role requires autonomy, expert judgement, and the ability to influence and inspire others across the organisation.

Main duties of the job

As the Lead Professional, you will:

Provide specialist clinical advice on the identification and management of mental health needs.
Lead service improvement initiatives, supporting prevention, early intervention and high-quality care.
Support the Head of Safeguarding & Complex Needs in developing and implementing mental health pathways, policies, training programmes and quality standards.
Work collaboratively with clinical and non-clinical teams to embed best practice and ensure compliance with national legislation and guidelines.
Deliver and oversee specialist training and safeguarding supervision for staff.
Contribute to investigations, audits, reports, research, and service evaluations.
Communicate effectively with colleagues on complex and sensitive matters, supporting a culture of continuous improvement and patient-centred care

You will be aregistered member of a professional body with significant senior clinical experience supporting people with mental ill health. You will bring:

Strong leadership skills and experience mentoring or training others.
The ability to engage and influence staff at all levels.
Sound knowledge of mental health legislation, policy and best practice.
Excellent communication skills--including when managing sensitive, emotional or complex situations.
A commitment to continuous professional development and service improvement.
Strong organisational skills, resilience, and the ability to prioritise effectively in a busy environment.

About us

Trust Information Pack:

https://yorkhospitals.pagetiger.com/hdjgxd

Our benefits

We offer a range of benefits to support our staff including:

Access to the NHS Pension Scheme, providing generous benefits upon retirement, as well as a lump sum and pension for dependants
27 days holiday rising to 33 days (depending on NHS Trust service)
A generous relocation package of up to 30% of salary (capped at £18k) to support with relocation expenses for hard to fill positions where relocation would be an expectation to undertake the role fully. If you would like to discuss a potential relocation package, please speak to the recruiting department/manager
A variety of different types of paid and unpaid leave covering emergency and planned leave
Confidential advice and support on personal, work, family and relationship issues, 24/7, from our Employee Assistance Programme
NHS Car Lease scheme and Cycle to Work scheme
An extensive range of learning and development opportunities
Discounts on restaurants, getaways, shopping, motoring, cinema and finance from a range of providers

For further information on the fantastic range of benefits we offer please visit the Trust's dedicated Staff Benefits pages.

Date posted

11 April 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£57,528 to £64,750 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

419-7892095-LP-CNT

Job locations

Cross site

Wigginton Road/Woodlands Drive

York or Scarborough

YO10 8HZ

Job description

Job responsibilities

A full description of the role is available in the attachment: job description.

Please note that if a high number of applications are received this advert may close early. You are advised to submit you application at the earliest opportunity.

Working for the Trust

Across our organisation, people are guided by values that were co-developed with staff: we are kind; we are open; and we pursue excellence.

Our values play into our ambition to develop a more diverse workforce, truly representative of our communities. We welcome applications from everyone, while working with our Staff Networks - including our Race Equality, LGBTQ+, Disability and Carers Networks - to increase the number of applications we receive from different backgrounds. If there is anything we can do to make our application process more accessible to you, please contact:yhs-tr.recruitment@nhs.net.

As part of seeking to become more inclusive, we will consider requests for flexible working from the start of your employment. It may not be suitable for every role, but we will try and be supportive where we can. We would encourage you to speak to the recruiting manager named within this advert to discuss any requirements you may have.

Armed Forces Friendly Employer

We are holders of the Gold Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which is helping actively promote SaBRE - Supporting Britains Reservists and Employers. This means that we have made a statement of intent to support all Defence personnel, including with applications for employment.

Job description

Job responsibilities

A full description of the role is available in the attachment: job description.

Please note that if a high number of applications are received this advert may close early. You are advised to submit you application at the earliest opportunity.

Working for the Trust

Across our organisation, people are guided by values that were co-developed with staff: we are kind; we are open; and we pursue excellence.

Armed Forces Friendly Employer

Person Specification

Experience and Knowledge

Essential

Significant experience as a senior clinician concentrating in the care of patients with mental ill health.
Evidence of involvement and leadership in teaching and mentoring learners and training needs analysis.
Experience of supporting and leading engagement processes and influencing thinking and opinions.
Experience of supporting and providing leadership within strategic reviews/planning for service development.
Ability to contribute to the design of, and to help maintain, complex processes
Ability to engage clinical and professional staff in all aspects of the role, demonstrating excellent influencing and negotiating skills
Sound Mental Health knowledge, acting consistently with legislation, policies and procedures and other approaches and promote the value of those approaches to others

Qualifications and Training

Essential

Registered member of a professional body, such as NMC or HCPC
Evidence of continued professional development

Skills

Essential

IT skills including use of email and commonly used software

Aptitude

Essential

Determination to always achieve high standards and constantly strive to deliver improvements

Person Specification

Experience and Knowledge

Essential

Significant experience as a senior clinician concentrating in the care of patients with mental ill health.
Evidence of involvement and leadership in teaching and mentoring learners and training needs analysis.
Experience of supporting and leading engagement processes and influencing thinking and opinions.
Experience of supporting and providing leadership within strategic reviews/planning for service development.
Ability to contribute to the design of, and to help maintain, complex processes
Ability to engage clinical and professional staff in all aspects of the role, demonstrating excellent influencing and negotiating skills
Sound Mental Health knowledge, acting consistently with legislation, policies and procedures and other approaches and promote the value of those approaches to others

Qualifications and Training

Essential

Registered member of a professional body, such as NMC or HCPC
Evidence of continued professional development

Skills

Essential

IT skills including use of email and commonly used software

Aptitude

Essential

Determination to always achieve high standards and constantly strive to deliver improvements

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

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

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Cross site

Wigginton Road/Woodlands Drive

York or Scarborough

YO10 8HZ

Employer's website

https://www.yorkhospitals.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Cross site

Wigginton Road/Woodlands Drive

York or Scarborough

YO10 8HZ

Employer's website

https://www.yorkhospitals.nhs.uk (Opens in a new tab)