Senior Mental Health Placements Manager

NHS; City Of London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A well-known NHS Trust is seeking a Senior Mental Health Placements Manager to oversee mental health placement services in London. The role requires strong leadership and project management skills, as well as experience in working with commissioners and diverse populations. Ideal candidates should have relevant clinical qualifications and a commitment to quality improvement. This position offers an opportunity to impact the quality of mental health services significantly.

Benefits

Professional development opportunities

Access to training

Qualifications

• Registered clinical professional (e.g., RMN, OT, Social Work).
• Experience in inpatient rehab or community mental health services.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Oversee high-quality and cost-effective placement services.
• Manage mental health placement capacity and supervision.
• Ensure legal and clinical compliance for placements.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Communication

Budget management

Education

Current professional registration in clinical practice

Post qualification training

MSc Level (desirable)

Job description

Job summary

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 (defined broadly as Lewisham, Lambeth & Southwark). This includes proactive management of panel processes to ensure reviewing capacity is deployed in a timely manner across boroughs, using an agreed prioritisation matrix, to ensure clients are in the most appropriate placement for their needs - aiming to reduce unnecessary restrictive practices such as high package placements or enhanced observations.

Main duties of the job

This role ensures the safe, timely, and person-centred placement of individuals requiring specialist mental health-supported accommodation, residential placements, or complex care packages. The post holder will liaise closely with clinical teams, social care, commissioning bodies, and external providers to ensure seamless transitions, value for money, and effective outcomes for service users

About us

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training.

SLaM employs around 5000 staff and serve a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services. Currently, provide inpatient care for approximately 5,300 people each year and treat more than 45,000 patients in the community in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; as well as substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.

By coming to work at SLaM, you will gain experience of being part of an organisation with a rich history and international reputation in mental health care. You will have access to professional development and learning opportunities, and have the chance to work alongside people who are world leaders in their field. SLaM delivered more than 14,000 training experiences in 2014.

Job responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Coordination

• Oversee all placement activity, ensuring high-quality, cost-effective, and needs-led services including ensuring proactive panel processes are in place to ensure clients are in the most appropriate setting
• Act as the key point of contact for mental health placement queries, escalations, and commissioning challenges.
• Lead and manage the Mental Health Placement capacity (reviewing capacity) across boroughs, including supervision, development, and performance management.
• Ensure placement reviewing capacity is deployed as per agreed prioritization matrix, in a timely way, making impact for clients as well as on quality and financial envelope

Placement Oversight and Case Management

• Demonstrate strong project management skills to oversee placement planning, timelines, and inter-agency coordination.
• Coordinate the end-to-end placement process, from referral to review, for adults with complex mental health needs.
• Ensure all paperwork submitted to the panel is thoroughly checked for accuracy and completeness before circulation.
• Verify commissioning responsibility for each case, ensuring the individual is a Health client for the right borough in line with Responsible Commissioner Guidance.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the Mental Health Act, Care Act, and related commissioning frameworks.
• Ensure all panel meetings are accurately minuted, with clear action points recorded and followed up by the allocated care coordinator.
• Liaise regularly with care coordinators to ensure that any key changes to placements are captured, recorded, and escalated to the panel as required.
• Review due diligence data for providers and work proactively to ensure that any outstanding client reviews or cases are scheduled and incorporated into upcoming panel agendas.
• Contribute to placement review panels, safeguarding processes, and MDT meetings.
• Ensure placements comply with legal, clinical, and commissioning frameworks (e.g. Mental Health Act, Care Act, CHC).

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Current professional registration in relevant clinical subject/practice e.g. RMN, OT, Social Work, psychology or equivalent relevant experience in health, social care or 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

• Educated to MSc Level

Experience

Essential

• 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

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