Right Care Practitioner - Lewisham Directorate
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Closing date: 05 May 2026
An opportunity has arisen for a Right Care Practitioner in the Lewisham Integrated Discharge Team. The Right Care Practitioner will work across community, rehab and inpatient services within the Lewisham Directorate. The primary purpose of this post is to support the Right Care Leads in reducing length of stay within inpatient and complex care services and creating capacity and flow across the whole mental health system.
The role requires excellent communication and organisation skills and the ability to work collaboratively with all relevant parties including external agencies. The post holder will support identification of internal and external barriers to flow, record information systematically, and alert accordingly.
Main duties of the job
* Collaborate with a broad range of professionals to gain intelligence regarding inpatient demand and anticipated discharges and extended periods of leave.
* Work closely with ward teams to support staff to be proactive about discharge planning from day one of admission.
* Be integral to decision-making about patient care and discharge in liaison with all other health professionals.
* Assist the multidisciplinary team in diffusing difficult situations when discharge plans become complex or there is conflict with carers and other health professionals, and escalates to the Right Care Lead as necessary.
* Work closely with multidisciplinary teams to standardise good discharge planning practice throughout the Directorate.
About us
We are committed to ensuring our staff get the most out of their benefits package and understand the importance of a healthy work life balance. There is an extensive range of excellent benefits for you and your family.
Benefits include:
* Generous pay, pensions, and leave: comprehensive package dependent on the role and length of service.
* Work life balance: flexible working and support for part‑time working and job sharing.
* Career development: opportunities to progress your career with leadership, mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes.
* Car lease: competitive deals to lease cars.
* Accommodation: eligible staff benefit from key‑worker housing on selected sites.
* NHS discounts: discounts up to 10% through the Health Service Discounts website.
For a full list of our benefits please visit: https://www.slam.nhs.uk/media/421262/Working%20at%20SLaM.pdf
We look forward to receiving your application.
Job responsibilities
* Communicate with all members of the multidisciplinary team when a concern is raised regarding a patient’s discharge, escalating to the Right Care Lead as necessary.
* Ensure good communication with patients and carers about plans for discharge.
* Be a visible presence on the inpatient wards to follow through with actions.
* Liaise on a daily basis with the inpatient wards to understand any plans for movement, i.e., section 17 leave or discharge.
* Work collaboratively with healthcare professionals, patients and carers to ensure appropriate standards of care and communication are met.
* Support advanced planning across 7 days.
* Support forecasting by ensuring estimated discharge dates are recorded and updated.
* Employ excellent clinical and communication skills with inpatient colleagues to achieve optimum utilisation of beds.
* Ensure accurate bed state information is maintained in conjunction with the wards and Acute Referral Centre (ARC) including admissions, discharges, patients on leave or AWOL and anticipated Mental Health Act Assessments and CTO recalls.
* Record patient flow data accurately, ensuring all information is captured and updated from daily ward reviews, bed management, DCCM and Right Care Meetings.
* Identify and elevate barriers to discharge to the Right Care Lead and other relevant parties using initiative and sound clinical judgement.
* Provide early warning of patient flow risks, consider potential solutions and take corrective action as appropriate and/or escalating as required.
* Carry out Home Treatment assessments, as required, to prevent delay in discharge.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Evidence of willingness to undertake further personal development.
* Evidence of continuing professional development.
Experience
* Demonstrable experience of contact with patients with acute mental health problems and complex needs.
* Experience of working with multidisciplinary teams.
* Experience of working in adult acute mental health settings.
* Experience of developing systems, processes and new ways of working to optimise patient flow.
* Experience of bed management or discharge coordination processes.
Knowledge
* Understanding of current mental health legislation and safeguarding processes.
* Good knowledge of the Mental Health Act.
* Understanding of confidentiality / data protection issues.
* Understanding of capacity management and bed management procedures.
Skills & Abilities
* Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
* Comprehensive and proficient IT skills.
* Ability to form productive relationships with patients, carers, multidisciplinary staff and relevant stakeholders.
* Good organisation and prioritisation skills.
* Ability to work across professional / organisational boundaries.
* Ability to work under pressure.
* Ability to think and work creatively to resolve problems.
* Working knowledge of delayed discharge criteria and barriers to discharge.
Other skills
* Recognition of own limitations, strengths and weaknesses and an ability to seek advice when necessary.
* Able to gain easily the trust, confidence and respect of service users, their relatives and staff of a variety of levels and disciplines.
* Innovative, creative and willing to try new approaches.
* Able to work with attention to detail.
* Evidence of undertaking audit work.
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.
Address
Lewisham
The Ladywell Unit, University Hospital Lewisham, Lewisham High Street
£47,951 to £56,863 a year Per Annum inclusive of HCAS
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Full-time
Job locations
Lewisham
The Ladywell Unit, University Hospital Lewisham, Lewisham High Street
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