Band 6 Senior Mental Health Nurse – Enhanced Care

NHS; Greater London; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare foundation in the UK seeks a Band 6 Senior Mental Health Nurse to manage the Enhanced Care team, ensuring high-quality patient care and delivery of therapeutic interventions. Candidates should have a BSc in a health-related field and prior mental health experience, including leading teams and coordinating shifts. The role demands clinical supervision and collaboration with multi-professional teams to maintain care standards. The position offers a chance to advocate for patients while promoting dignity and recovery-oriented practices.

Qualifications

• BSc or equivalent in a health-related field.
• Post-registration experience in mental health settings.

Responsibilities

• Manage the enhanced care team for personalized patient care.
• Lead and support nursing staff to provide quality care.
• Ensure compliance with care standards and best practices.

Skills

Specialist expertise from CPD

Patient assessment ability

Leadership in teaching and mentoring

Understanding of audit-based practices

Education

BSc/1st degree (health related)

Job description

Band 6 Senior Mental Health Nurse – Enhanced Care

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

Closing date: 28 December 2025

Interview date: 13 January 2026

Main duties of the job

The post holder will co‑ordinate the Enhanced Care team on a daily basis ensuring that enhanced care nursing assistants are appropriately allocated to patients requiring continuous observations. The post holder will work collaboratively with ward teams and the Mental Health Liaison Team to ensure patients receive effective mental health care, in accordance with the principles of least restriction.

The post holder will be responsible for the planning, provision and review of enhanced care and will direct the enhanced care team to deliver therapeutic engagement and interventions to patients with mental health conditions or those experiencing psychological distress. The post holder will provide clinical supervision to other staff, students and may undertake research, lead clinical audits in own specialist area, ensuring the safety and well‑being of service users and always working in a manner that promotes dignity and human rights through the adoption of person‑centred care principles.

About us

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust comprises five of the UK's best known hospitals – Guy's, St Thomas', Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield – as well as community services in Lambeth and Southwark, all with a long history of high quality care, clinical excellence, research and innovation.

We are among the UK's busiest, most successful foundation trusts. We provide specialist care for patients including heart, lung, cancer and renal services as well as a full range of local hospital and community services for people in Lambeth and Southwark.

With the King's Health Partners, we are one of England's eight academic health sciences centres, bringing together world‑class clinical services, teaching and research. We host one of the National Institute for Health Research's biomedical research centres, established with King's College London in 2007, and dedicated clinical research facilities.

Job responsibilities

Clinical and Patient Care – independently manage the enhanced care team to deliver individualised and personalised direct patient care working as part of the multi‑professional team.

Work autonomously within the role parameters, leading and supporting junior staff and the wider care team to implement the delivery of quality nursing care, contributing to the physical, psychological, social, recreational and spiritual care in a recovery‑focused way through therapeutic engagement and activities, and taking steps to address any issues that arise.

Lead on and undertake activities to ensure the fundamentals of care are met – nutrition, hydration, hygiene, comfort, emotional and social support.

Provide accurate information about care in an accessible format to patients and their relatives/carers.

Demonstrate appropriate practice and specialist advice in the assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of patient care. This includes risk assessment, risk management planning, care planning and review of enhanced care.

Be responsible for assessing and recognising escalation of risk and assist in the management of emergencies for patients receiving enhanced care. Interpret information and take appropriate action and lead others to do the same.

Ensure that appropriate activities are delivered to patients under enhanced care in line with appropriate risk assessment.

Recognise and value service users as individuals, acknowledge the importance of maintaining the service users' respect and dignity at all times and ensure that the care provided respects equality and diversity.

Act as an advocate for patients within the department, to ensure a patient‑orientated, recovery approach to the delivery of care and meet standards within the NHS Plan and other relevant guidelines.

Ensure patients receive high quality clinical care and a good patient experience, taking into account their customs, religious beliefs and doctrines.

Ensure accurate monitoring and recording of enhanced care, identifying precipitating and protective factors for risk, individualised to the patient.

Advise on least restrictive practices and support the team to undertake safe and therapeutic physical interventions.

Please see attached job description.

Qualifications

• BSc/1st degree (health related) or equivalent qualification/training and experience
• Specialist clinical, managerial training and CPD

Experience

• Post registration experience within mental health acute admissions, PICU or forensics.
• Experience of teaching/assessing/supervising others in a clinical setting.
• Experience of coordinating a shift
• Experience of working with patients with a dual diagnosis (mental health and drug/alcohol use).
• Experience of recruitment and selection of staff

Skills

• Demonstrates specialist expertise underpinned by theory acquired through CPD.
• Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate specialist care delivered to patients/clients and give relevant advice/information to patients and relatives.
• Evidence of involvement and leadership in teaching and mentoring learners.
• Understanding of audit and research‑based nursing practice.
• Evidence of leadership within current workplace (e.g. involvement/leading QI project).

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.

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust