A Vacancy at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust. The postholder will oversee and optimise the patient journey from admission to discharge, focusing on efficient bed management, timely care delivery, and clear pathways to prevent blocks and improve patient outcomes.
Responsibilities
* Ensures a seamless process from admission to discharge by organising and tracking tasks for clinical teams and the patient flow team.
* Maintains real‑time data on inpatient bed capacity and demand, adjusting plans to maximise capacity and address resource issues.
* Works with teams to enable effective and timely patient discharges by addressing barriers, including those related to housing and legislation.
* Gathers and collates information on patient flow and bed availability, often using daily checklists, spreadsheets, and databases.
* Liaises with various teams, including ward managers and other service leads, to facilitate daily tasks and resolve service delivery issues.
* Supports the development and implementation of strategies to achieve performance targets, such as reducing length of stay and improving overall patient care.
* Communicates effectively with staff through regular briefings and provides opportunities for staff involvement in service development.
* Communicates policies and procedures within the service, with partners and externally to ensure effective understanding and implementation.
* Communicates complex service‑related information to senior managers, partners and relevant stakeholders using a variety of methods including reports, presentations etc.
* Maintains effective and helpful relationships with service users, their relatives, friends and carers.
* Maintains effective relationships with members of the Trust, and other statutory and voluntary agencies.
Service Development and Review
* Responsible for the regular review and updating of the service's operational policy.
* Contributes to the ongoing development and evaluation of the services in relation to need, local and national quality standards and target frameworks.
* Ensures that partners are involved in service development and that developments within the third sector are accounted for.
* Works with service users, carers and other local stakeholders to tackle health inequalities.
* Ensures all service developments and commissioned services function within the parameters outlined by clinical governance requirements.
* Participates in the development and implementation of Trust policy within the service and takes an active role in all operational and business planning.
* Ensures safeguarding vulnerable adults and children policy and protocols are adhered to.
* Plans and co‑ordinates service review activities and delivers regular audit and continuous service improvement.
* Leads the community engagement programme and delivery of tailored and coproduced services for key priority population groups.
Management of Resources and Performance
* Uses integrated management information systems to ensure resources are managed effectively.
* Ensures all members of the team record clinical and patient management information using IAPTus and RiO, as required.
* Undertakes regular skill mix review to ensure the workforce structure meets service demands.
* Applies structured management for safe and effective use of all resources within budget and legislative frameworks.
* Leads the data analysis via RIO and collates monthly and quarterly CCG and Trust performance reports, as required.
Financial and Performance Management
* Responsible for ensuring that the service meets Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) agreed with CCG commissioners as well as nationally agreed targets (access and recovery).
* Delivers the services within the allocated budget and ensures monthly financial reviews are undertaken.
* Works closely with the service's Financial Business Partner to keep the financial position within budget.
* May be responsible for an allocated budget for the service in agreement with the Head of Service Delivery.
* Oversees the development of and distribution of key service performance reports to internal and external stakeholders, such as the Trust Board and the CCG.
Service Delivery
* Ensures the service is delivering effective health care and wellbeing interventions in accordance with NICE Guidelines, Royal College of Psychiatry standards and Policy Implementation guidelines.
* Applies and reviews service standards, informing the Matron/Clinical Manager and Head of Service Delivery of any significant problems.
* Promotes and develops positive and integrated working relationships with the service's third sector partners.
* Ensures all staff members are aware of and trained to apply safeguarding procedures.
* Ensures the team interfaces effectively with other teams and services, referring agencies, service users and carers.
Leadership
* Develops and promotes collaborative and integrated working across all elements of the service.
* Defines roles, responsibilities and accountability for team managers, partners and staff.
* Devolves resource management to team managers where appropriate.
* Opens effective systems for supervision and developmental review/apraisal, ensuring central report returns are made.
* Identifies essential and developmental training needs, records and reports on training uptake and ensures mandatory standards are met.
* Ensures Human Resources policies are adhered to, responding to grievance, dispute or disciplinary issues timely.
* Applies the Trust recruitment procedures for fair and timely employment of staff to meet service needs.
* Ensures staff apply customer care skills, making service users and carers feel welcomed, listened to and informed.
* Identifies and acknowledges individual and team strengths, ensuring access to opportunities for further development.
* Facilitates career development and promotes future leaders for clinical and management roles.
Governance
* Works with the Head of Nursing & Quality and the Head of Service Delivery to set up and administer monthly Performance Review & Quality Cluster meetings.
* Maintains and further develops approaches involving service users, partners and wider stakeholders in service delivery.
* Ensures Trust governance processes are applied and all staff work within the governance framework.
* Ensures clinical standards of care for service users are reviewed, reporting significant problems to the Head of Service Delivery.
* Encourages staff to share good practice, develop ideas to improve services and promote research.
* Maintains oversight on environmental standards, addressing safety, dignity, poor quality and hygiene issues.
* Promotes regular service audit and performance evaluation.
* Ensures robust risk assessment and management according to policies, undertaking risk analyses and developing management plans to minimise risk.
Training and Development
* Undertakes mandatory and statutory training as required by Trust policy.
* Participates in regular supervision and annual development reviews, devising and participating in education and training programmes.
* Contributes and commits to undertaking an annual Development Review/appraisal.
* Undertakes personal development as identified in the Personal Development Plan (PDP).
Key Skills and Attributes
* Possesses advanced clinical decision‑making skills to support complex patient flow issues.
* Ability to analyse information on bed capacity and demand to make informed decisions.
* Expert understanding of laws such as the Mental Health Act and Care Act 2014 to remove discharge barriers.
* Capacity to identify and respond to service delivery issues and develop contingency plans.
* Strong communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with diverse multidisciplinary teams and external stakeholders.
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’. 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 as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027. 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 of benefits 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 world‑class mental health facilities. A 32‑acre public park, shops and cafés are now opening. Springfield is close to shops, cafés and Tooting Bec on the Northern Line plus Earlsfield and Tooting rail stations and bus routes.
#J-18808-Ljbffr