Senior Mental Health Placements Manager

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in the UK seeks a Senior Mental Health Placements Manager to oversee mental health services. Responsibilities include coordinating placements and ensuring quality care. Ideal candidates will have strong leadership skills, relevant clinical registration, and experience in mental health services. A commitment to diversity and equality is essential, with a supportive work environment for all backgrounds.

Benefits

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Professional development opportunities

Supportive work environment

Qualifications

• Evidence of post-qualification training/education.
• Ongoing evidence of continuing professional development.
• Extensive knowledge of commissioning and complex placements.

Responsibilities

• Ensure safe and timely placements for mental health-supported accommodation.
• Oversee coordination and quality assurance of mental health placement services.
• Manage and lead a multidisciplinary team.

Skills

Leadership

Negotiation

Analytical skills

Communication

Empathy

Education

Current professional registration in a relevant clinical subject/practice

Educated to MSc Level

Tools

Microsoft 365

PowerBI

Job description

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links, and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth, and Richmond.

We are committed to providing high-quality and specialist care to our service users and are recognized for our care and treatment. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good.'

Job Overview

As part of our contract with South East London Integrated Care Board, South London and Maudsley hold the budget on behalf of partners for complex placements for the boroughs of Lambeth, Lewisham, and Southwark.

The Senior Mental Health Placements Manager is responsible for the strategic oversight, coordination, and quality assurance of all mental health placement services across the Trust or designated geographical area.

Main Duties of the Job

This role ensures the safe, timely, and person-centered placement of individuals requiring specialist mental health-supported accommodation, residential placements, or complex care packages.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential Criteria

• Current professional registration in a relevant clinical subject/practice, e.g., RMN, OT, Social Work, psychology, or equivalent relevant experience in health, social care, or the voluntary sector.
• Evidence of post-qualification training/education.
• Ongoing evidence of continuing professional development.
• A commitment to completing full quality improvement development as outlined in the trust strategy.

Desirable Criteria

• Educated to MSc Level.

Experience

Essential Criteria

• Experience working in inpatient rehab or community mental health services.
• Experience of working extensively with commissioners at place and ICB level, placement providers, local authority, provider collaboratives, and other health and social care infrastructure regarding mental health complex placements.
• Experience of managing and running panels, making panel applications, and presenting cases.
• Experience working across shared care arrangements.
• Broad/high-level understanding of mental disorders and treatment models.
• Extensive experience of working with a diverse population.
• Experience with budget control and management.
• Experience of working within and/or leading a multidisciplinary team.
• Experience applying prioritization/stratification processes to caseloads/client database to ensure effective use of finite clinical capacity.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of working with transforming care agenda/continuing health care.

Knowledge

Essential Criteria

• Extensive knowledge of the complex care pathway for both 100% health and shared care placements.
• Extensive knowledge of commissioning, complex placements working.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation - Mental Health Act, Care Act, Housing Act, Quality & Safety Governance, Clinical audit, and relevant national policies.
• Applied understanding of issues relating to confidentiality.
• Experience of implementing changes in working practices.
• Ability to monitor and control resources.
• Highly-developed leadership, negotiating, and influencing skills with the ability to enthuse, motivate, and involve individuals and teams.
• Knowledge of performance management and monitoring of services within a large organization.
• Able to express complex issues both orally and in writing for a range of audiences.
• Excellent skills in communication across a range of audiences, including service users, patients, and carers, and staff at all levels of the organization, fostering powerful, inclusive, and productive working relationships.
• Demonstrable understanding of anti-racism principles and commitment to actively applying them to promote inclusive and equitable services.
• Ability to develop strategic plans and to lead and effect cultural change in service provision within a large public sector organization.
• Ability to support and facilitate the development of organizational and Directorate equality action planning.
• Ability to plan and organize a broad range of complex activities, formulating and adjusting plans to reflect changing circumstances, using project management methodologies.
• IT literate and competent in using the full Microsoft 365 suite, including PowerBI.
• Highly developed analytical skills and judgment, able to interpret a large set of complex facts and draw conclusions and make recommendations from them.
• Skills in managing, supervising, and developing staff.
• Ability to act sensitively, using discretion and empathy on issues which are highly emotive or contentious.
• Ability to respond in difficult and at times highly charged situations.
• Ability to manage a series of projects with frequent interruptions.
• Ability to promote, persuade, and influence in situations where others are skeptical or reluctant to engage.
• Ability to understand and give clear advice in complex and sometimes stressful, sensitive, or distressing situations.
• Ability to assist patients when necessary and deal with distressing information on occasion.
• Ability to live the values of the Trust in everyday work, providing leadership.
• Travel across a range of sites and to meetings with services, partners, agencies, and stakeholders.

The Trust is committed to providing services that embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer and welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics.