Overview
Main area Mental Health Grade NHS AfC: Band 7. Contract: Permanent. Hours: 37.5 hours per week (Flexible working arrangements will be considered). Job ref 395-KM306-25. Employer: NELFT NHS Foundation Trust. Location: The Courtyard/ George's Turle House, Maidstone. Salary: £47,810 - £54,710 per annum pro rata. Closing date: 22/10/2025 23:59.
Intensive Care Pathway Team Lead - Eating Disorders
NHS AfC: Band 7
Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.
The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.
Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video
Job overview
The Intensive Care Pathway (ICP) is a pathway within the All Age Eating Disorder Service (AAEDS) that delivers intensive short-term treatment to both adults and children with diagnosed eating disorders for those people who may be at risk of hospital admission.
NELFT’s Kent & Medway All Age Eating Disorders Service specialises in the assessment, diagnosis and NICE concordant treatment of young people and adults with Eating Disorders (Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder & Otherwise Specified Feeding & Eating Disorders). Additional pathways are being added to the Service with transformation monies including an Enhanced Care pathway and First Episode Rapid Early Intervention in Eating Disorders (FREED) and Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a multidisciplinary all age specialist Community Eating Disorder team. The successful applicant will support this innovative multidisciplinary team in delivering the latest evidence based dietetic support to clients, carers and families of adults and children and young people who access the services. The team is committed to delivering the highest quality service to enable service users live the life they want. This opportunity gives the successful candidate the chance to influence the success of this innovative Eating Disorder service.
Main duties of the job
The team leader for the intensive care pathway will be expected to operationally manage with the team manager, a team of clinical support workers, psychologists and nurses, ensuring the smooth operation of the pathway from referral to discharge and caseload management. There will be some clinical work alongside your colleagues in the ICP team. As a senior member of staff, you will co-ordinate the workload on a regular basis and offer support and supervision to the team. You will chair team meetings and ensure smooth running of the pathway. You will ensure the lone working policy is followed for those working in the community and their whereabouts is known. We are looking for candidates who demonstrate knowledge, understanding and experience of working with the legal frameworks which relate to the care and treatment of children and young people in crisis.
The post holder will be required to assess and treat all age patients who present with an eating disorder within the ICP pathway. As the service is exclusively an outpatient service, the post holder will not hold an inpatient caseload, but will work with adolescent and adult units to maintain joint working and smooth transition in and out of inpatient beds. The post holder will attend and participate in MDT team meetings as well as CPA meetings of cases on their caseload. They will have a commitment to collaborative working and actively supporting and liaising with other health and social professionals and agencies.
Working for our organisation
Our Values 2025 - 2030
Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have co-produced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT. They are: We are kind. We are respectful. We work together with our communities. These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.
Starting with NELFT
NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers, and attend a number of drop-in sessions focusing on engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.
Probationary Period
This post will be subject to a probationary period.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
A full job description and main responsibilities can be found attached to the document within this job advert.
Certificates of Sponsorship
Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.
Use of AI
Please see attached document regarding acceptable use of AI during the recruitment process.
Person specification
Qualification
* Relevant graduate qualification with recognised professional body
* A minimum of a second-class Bachelor’s degree from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in a relevant academic subject (e.g. Psychology, Education, Childhood development, Social Work etc)
* A minimum of a second-class Bachelor’s degree from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in a relevant academic subject (e.g. Psychology, Education, Childhood development, Social Work etc)
Experience
* Substantial Band 6 experience within a Mental Health setting or equivalent
* Experience in NHS or equivalent service
Experience of providing Clinical Supervision
* Extensive experience of providing clinical and managerial supervision
* Managerial or leadership training
Skills
* Demonstrate the ability to communicate clearly and effectively within a team
* Demonstrate the importance of good record keeping and working in line with local policies, procedures, and guidelines.
Knowledge
* Knowledge of risk management, ability to monitor and assess risk and act accordingly to ensure safety.
* To guide the team to ensure safety benchmarks are met regarding delivery of interventions in line with NICE guidance and the use of ROMS
We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:
* A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
* A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our efforts to support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity.
* Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
* Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.
As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.
We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans, reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.
Equal opportunities employer
We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.
We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email recruitment@nelft.nhs.uk.
Correspondence with us
You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.
As part of our recruitment process, we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
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