This is a unique opportunity for a motivated and organised leader to join the Acute & Crisis Mental Health Directorate leadership team in Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. The post holder will report to the relevant Service Manager, and work alongside an established group of clinical, operational and administrative leaders to oversee a range of 24 hour clinical mental health services. The Directorate incorporates Crisis, HBPOS, Liaison and Inpatient services for working age adult and older people. The Service Improvement Operational Manager is responsible for ensuring the efficient and effective management of services. The role provides high‑level professional and managerial leadership, offering expert advice, interpretation and guidance to support the delivery of high‑quality, patient‑focused care within available resources.
We encourage interested applicants to speak to Paul Beynon or Aisling Clifford to discuss the role.
Location: Services are located in multiple locations across Bromley, Bexley and Greenwich. The directorate office base is Pinewood House, Pinewood Pl, Dartford, Bexley DA2 7WG.
The role also requires the post holder to work collaboratively across the Directorate to maintain high standards of service delivery while responding effectively to operational pressures. This includes coordinating with internal teams and external partners to resolve issues quickly, ensuring that patient pathways remain safe, efficient and person-centred. By maintaining a strong presence across teams, the post holder will ensure that services remain aligned with Trust values and stakeholder expectations.
A key duty of the job is to provide consistent leadership that strengthens communication across the service. This involves keeping teams informed about strategic developments, performance expectations and organisational changes. The post holder is expected to support managers to implement service improvement initiatives, enabling continuous innovation and fostering a culture that embraces constructive change.
The post holder must also demonstrate strong analytical and problem-solving abilities to address operational challenges proactively. This includes interpreting performance data, identifying risks, and developing sustainable solutions to improve service quality. By ensuring compliance with policies and standards, the manager plays a key role in supporting safe, equitable and effective service delivery across multiple sites.
Additionally, the role involves fostering an environment where staff development and wellbeing are prioritised.
Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.
We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.
Our Purpose Is To Improve Lives By Providing The Best Possible Care To Our Patients And Their Families. This Is Strengthened By Our New Values
We're Kind
We're Fair
We Listen
We Care
For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Aisling Clifford / Paul Beynon Job title: Service Director / Associate Director Email address:
Please contact Courtney Robinson, Executive Assistant to the Acute & Crisis Mental Health Directorate, via email, to arrange an informal discussion with Aisling Clifford or Paul Beynon.