Senior Manager

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust; Norwich; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced IRS Manager to lead the Initial Response Service, a front-door urgent mental health pathway providing triage, assessment and rapid access to care across Norfolk and Suffolk. You will deliver strategic and operational leadership, align with national standards, and drive improvements in access, safety and patient experience.

The role requires robust governance, financial oversight, and partnership working with health and social

Qualifications

• Degree level education with postgraduate management or clinical experience.
• Experience leading health or social care services.
• Ability to drive quality, safety and governance improvements.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational delivery and strategic development of the IRS.
• Oversee demand and capacity planning and performance against standards.
• Build partnerships across health and social care to deliver integrated urgent care.

Skills

Leadership

Quality & safety culture

Stakeholder engagement

Conflict resolution

Education

Masters degree in health/management

Postgraduate management or clinical experience

Job description

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.

Please note due to the nature of our roles and patient demographic, you will be required to undertake physical intervention training and remain trained, as required by your role.

Job overview

Our Initial Response Service (IRS) is a centralised, triage-led function designed to provide a single point of access for urgent mental health referrals, bringing together the elements of 111 Mental Health Option, Crisis and Home Treatment pathways. It is responsible for receiving, screening and clinically triaging referrals, ensuring service users are directed to the most appropriate service in a timely and safe manner. The model supports rapid decision making, prioritisation of risk, and coordination of responses, including escalation to face-to-face crisis assessment where indicated. The service aims to reduce duplication across services, and deliver consistent performance against response standard.

As the Initial Response Service (IRS) Manager, you will lead both the operational delivery and strategic development of a high-impact, front-door mental health service, ensuring safe, responsive and effective care for those in urgent need. You will be accountable for delivering consistent performance against national standards while maintaining a relentless focus on quality, safety and patient experience across all aspects of the service.

**** Job Description subject to valuation and may change - a professional registration is likely to be required for this position ***

Main duties of the job

A core element of the role is providing visible leadership onquality and safety, embedding a culture of continuous improvement, learning and openness. You will ensure robust clinical governance, oversee risk management, and drive improvements in safety outcomes, using data, audit and service user feedback to reduce variation and enhance care delivery.

Operationally, you will lead demand and capacity planning, workforce optimisation and pathway redesign, ensuring the service is agile and able to respond to system pressures. You will use performance and activity data to drive improvements in access, flow and outcomes, ensuring the IRS delivers a consistently high standard of care.

You will work as a senior system leader, building strong partnerships across health and social care, and influencing the development of integrated urgent care pathways. Acting as an ambassador for the Trust, you will contribute to system-wide transformation and ensure the IRS plays a central role in delivering the wider mental health agenda.

Alongside this, you will inspire and develop a high-performing workforce, creating a culture where staff feel supported, empowered and accountable. You will ensure robust governance, financial oversight and performance management are in place, delivering a service that is not only efficient and sustainable, but also consistently safe, high-quality and person-centred.

Working for our organisation

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Why work for us? We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk? The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Initial Response Service (IRS) Manager is responsible for the strategic leadership, development and operational delivery of a high-profile, front-door urgent mental health service. The role ensures the service is innovative, responsive and sustainable, aligning with Trust priorities, national policy and wider system transformation.

Key responsibilities includedriving operational performance and delivery, ensuring the IRS meets national and local standards, improves access and flow, and delivers high-quality, person-centred care. This involves leading demand and capacity planning, workforce optimisation, and continuous service improvement to enhance outcomes and efficiency.

A central focus of the role is quality, safety and governance, embedding robust clinical governance arrangements, overseeing risk management, and using data, audit and feedback to drive continuous improvement and reduce variation in care. The post holder ensures systems are in place to monitor safety, manage incidents and deliver high standards of care.

The role also includes financial and workforce leadership, ensuring efficient use of resources, delivery of financial plans and development of a high-performing workforce with the right skills and capacity to meet service demand.

Finally, the post holder will operate as a senior system leader, building strong partnerships across health and social care, and influencing system-wide service development, and representing the Trust at local, regional and national levels to support integrated, sustainable service delivery

**** Job Description subject to valuation and may change - a professional registration is likely to be required for this position ***

* Previous applicants need not apply *

Person specification

Qualifications

• Degree level education supplemented by postgraduate study and management or clinical experience to master’s degree level or equivalent.
• Other professional qualifications relevant to the role

Experience

• Leading health or social care services
• Working in partnership with Health and Social Care providers.
• Experience of contributing to policy development and implementation
• Experience of using safety systems in healthcare
• Engaging with appropriate stakeholders to shape delivery of healthcare services. Maximising service income potential

Skills

• Ability to help develop a culture that improves quality and safety in service areas
• Ability to develop oneself and others in the area of leadership and service management.
• Experience of dealing with conflict and working with colleagues to agree remedial action as required

Knowledge

• Excellent working knowledge of wider health and social care systems and structures, policies, procedures and legislation relevant to services.
• Knowledge of the philosophy, principles and national drivers (10 year forward plan) underpinning services for people with mental health problems.
• Strong Team Builder & Promoter of Teamwork

Other

• Role models the Trusts values and behaviours. Seek out and act on performance feedback and continually build capability as a leader.
• Demonstrate visible, compassionate, and inclusive leadership.
• Ability to travel Independently.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.

As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job vacancy (outlined in the Person Specification).. We encourage you to indicate your eligibility through TRAC jobs when applying.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post may be 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.

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.

Name Shona Little Job title Associate Director of Operations Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 07393801900 Additional information

For further queries, you can also contact Peter Henson, Director of Operations at [e-mail].