Moving and Handling Lead Practitioner

Greater Manchester Mental Health; Manchester; On-site; GBP 49,000 - 57,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days annual leave + bank holidays

Excellent pension

Cycle to work scheme

Salary sacrifice car scheme

Wellbeing programme

Blue Light Card Discounts

Job summary

Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust is seeking a Moving and Handling Lead Practitioner to provide Trust-wide leadership for moving and handling practice, education, risk management and governance. The post holder will develop and evaluate evidence-based training, policies and audit programmes to support patient and staff safety.

The role covers inpatient, community and specialist services, including mental health settings, with a focus on trauma-informed approaches and safe systems

Qualifications

• Significant experience of applying manual handling theory and techniques in a mental health care environment.
• Planning, delivering and evaluating clinical training programmes.

Responsibilities

• Lead moving and handling practice across the Trust, ensuring patient and staff safety.
• Develop and evaluate training, policies, competencies, audit programmes and improvement plans.
• Provide expert moving and handling advice to clinical and non-clinical teams and leaders.
• Support safe systems of work across inpatient, community and specialist services.

Skills

Professional registration

Training programme development

Moving and handling knowledge

Risk assessment

Job description

Main area Moving and Handling Grade Band 7 Contract Permanent Hours Part time - 22.5 hours per week (Happy to discuss flexible working) Job ref 437-8221218

Site Prestwich Hospital Town Manchester Salary £49,387 - £56,515 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 29/09/2026 23:59

Job overview

The Moving and Handling Lead Practitioner will provide Trust-wide specialist leadership for moving and handling practice, education, risk management, equipment governance and assurance. The post holder will lead the development, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based moving and handling training, policies, competencies, audit programmes and improvement plans to support patient safety, staff safety and compliance with statutory requirements.

The post holder will act as the Trust subject matter expert for moving and handling, providing complex specialist advice to clinical and non-clinical teams, managers, committees and senior leaders. The role will support safe systems of work across inpatient, community and specialist services, including mental health settings where individualised, trauma-informed and behaviourally aware approaches to moving and handling may be required.

The role will contribute to organisational assurance by analysing incidents, training compliance, audit outcomes and feedback to identify themes, risks and improvement priorities. The post holder will support a positive safety culture by influencing practice, challenging unsafe systems where appropriate and enabling teams to deliver safe, person-centred care.

Main duties of the job

The Moving and Handling Lead Practitioner is the Trust-wide expert responsible for leadership, training, governance, risk management, equipment assurance and service improvement, ensuring safe moving and handling practice for patients, service users and staff across all services.

Working for our organisation

Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations.

We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford,Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.

Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.

Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.

Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

See attached detailed job description and person specification:

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years
• Excellent pension
• Cycle to work scheme
• Salary sacrifice car scheme
• Wellbeing programme
• Blue Light Card Discounts

Person specification

• Professional registration
• Planning, delivering and evaluating clinical training programmes

Experience

• Significant experience of applying manual handling theory and techniques in a mental health care environment
• Planning, delivering and evaluating clinical training programmes

Important Information about working for GMMH

All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, for further information on the checks required please visit the NHS Employers website www.nhsemployers.org

The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.

The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under‑represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications

A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application.The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.

We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.

Sponsorship

We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website –.

If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.

The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it here .

Do you have experience outside the NHS?

We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.

We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment. Please contact our Recruitment Team for more information.

Please note, this vacancy may be closed at any time if sufficient applications have been received

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Name Jo Reynard Job title Head of Infection Prevention and Physical Health Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 07733597603

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