Deputy Unit Manager (Lotus)

South West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health trust in London seeks a Senior Nurse for its Psychiatric Decision Unit. As a deputy unit manager, you will be pivotal in providing high-quality mental health care, leading assessments, and ensuring timely discharges. Candidates should possess strong leadership and clinical decision-making skills. This role offers the opportunity to work in a supportive environment that values diversity and professional development.

Benefits

Commitment to diversity and inclusion

Comprehensive training and development opportunities

Support for Armed Forces Community

Qualifications

• Focused, highly motivated, proactive, and enthusiastic.
• Ability to use initiative and demonstrate sound clinical decision-making.
• Willingness to enhance skills in crisis management, quality improvement, and risk management.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex assessments based on clinical judgment.
• Manage the health-based place of safety and ensure timely discharges.
• Develop crisis and discharge plans in collaboration with patients.

Skills

Communication skills

Problem-solving skills

Leadership skills

Education

Nursing qualification

Job description

Overview

The post holder will be a senior nurse within the Trusts Psychiatric Decision Unit known as Lotus Assessment Suite. As a deputy unit manager, you will work within an award‑winning, nurse‑led service to provide interim mental health care for service users. The role involves undertaking prolonged bio‑psychosocial assessments to be able to meet the holistic needs of all service users and empower them to have the optimum level of responsibility for their individual care and treatment by following recovery principles and approaches. Service specific training and support will be provided to successful candidates as well as access to trust wide training opportunities.

The post holder will be able to provide a broad range of specialist psychosocial treatments for individual patients and a specialist consultation‑liaison service to referring clinicians and clinical teams, assisting them in decision making in difficult and complex cases.

The post will enhance your skills in autonomous clinical decision making, assessment of mental health and physical health needs, risk management, crisis management, development of managerial skills as well as joint working with multiple agencies/services. As a deputy unit manager you will lead on assessments, support discharges and support junior staff with decision‑making. You will support and promote the fundamentals of mental health and physical health care for our patients, by carrying out needs assessments and working collaboratively with patients to develop crisis and discharge plans.

Responsibilities

• Lead/facilitate robust gatekeeping 2 assessments making clear decisions, based on an analysis of complex presenting problems and judgement about available options, including those related to the admission and discharge of patients.
• Manage the trust health based place of safety (i.e. s.136 suite), ensuring trust policies are adhered to where appropriate i.e. seclusion policy.
• Utilise a wide variety of clinical skills appropriate to the needs of individual patients and the clinical setting in which they are required to be seen.
• Ensure discharge from Lotus is clinically sound and timely.
• Have an ability to engage challenging and/or acutely distressed patients in potentially hostile and/or antagonistic situations.
• Provide a broad range of specialist psychosocial treatments for individual patients and a specialist consultation‑liaison service to referring clinicians and clinical teams, assisting them in decision making in difficult and complex cases.
• Work with colleagues to develop and promote the service's philosophy, framework of care delivery and strategic objectives.
• Deliver care that is evidence based, reflecting current best practice and research.
• Participate in structured clinical supervision in accordance with Trust policies and procedures.
• Demonstrate sound understanding of the legal and ethical issues in caring for the mentally ill, in particular demonstrating sound understanding of the Mental Health Act /Mental Capacity Act and its use in a non‑mental health inpatient setting.
• Promote recovery and social inclusion throughout the patient journey.
• Help the client identify strengths to achieve goals and aspirations.
• Contribute to comprehensive risk assessments in accordance with the Trust Policies and Guidelines.
• Raise safeguarding alerts if you suspect that a service user and/or carer has been exposed to harm or abuse.
• Demonstrate the ability to receive and give complex clinical details clearly using SBAR, with patients, carers and colleagues.
• Communicate clear decisions and rationale when agreement cannot be reached e.g. in situations where the Mental Health Act or Mental Capacity Act or Common Law may be needed to be used.
• Liaise with other individuals and services in the interest of collaborative crisis and discharge planning for patients – i.e. social services, community teams, carers/families, drug and alcohol teams.
• Support the Ward Manager in implementing Directorate and Trust initiatives on the ward and for playing a key role in monitoring and evaluating the quality of care delivered locally.

Qualifications and Desired Attributes

• You should be focused, highly motivated and have good communication, listening and problem‑solving skills.
• You should be proactive, able to use your initiative, enthusiastic and energetic.
• Be willing to enhance or have experience in autonomous clinical decision making, biopsychosocial assessment of mental health and physical health needs, crisis management, and joint working with multiple agencies/services.
• Be willing to develop or have experience in quality improvement.
• Be willing to develop or have experience in risk management skills.
• Be willing to develop or have experience of leadership skills.

Benefits and Diversity

At South West London St Georges Mental Health Trust we are committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Committed Employer, and welcome applications from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We are Members of Stonewall Diversity Champions and Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion. As part of the Trust's commitment to Equalities and Diversity, the Trust supports the establishment of Staff Networks groups to promote diversity in the workplace:

• BME (Evolve) Staff Network
• Christian Staff Network
• DiverseAbility
• Deaf Staff Network
• Mental Health Staff Forum
• Women's Staff Network
• LGBTQIA+

We provide reasonable adjustments to the interview process for any candidates with a disability.

Additional Information

NHS AfC: Band 6

We are committed to supporting the Armed Forces Community and have signed the Armed Forces Covenant. We are a smoke‑free Trust.

Recruitment and Application Process

Please note:
+ That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received
+ That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e‑recruitment system
+ That should you not have heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has not successful
+ That priority consideration for applications may be given to at‑risk NHS employees
+ That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
+ That your employment is offered subject to successful completion of a Probationary Period depending on your Band (except medical roles)
+ That we are a smoke‑free Trust

}