Senior Mental Health Placements Manager

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 64,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS trust is seeking a Senior Mental Health Placements Manager to oversee the strategic coordination of mental health placement services. The ideal candidate will ensure high-quality service delivery, collaborate with clinical teams, and manage budget and resources effectively. This role demands strong leadership and project management skills along with in-depth knowledge of mental health legislation. The position offers a competitive salary ranging from £64,156 to £71,148 annually.

Qualifications

• Current professional registration in relevant clinical subject/practice.
• Experience managing panels and working with diverse populations.
• Evidence of continuing professional development.

Responsibilities

• Oversee all placement activity ensuring quality and cost-effectiveness.
• Liaise with clinical teams and external providers for smooth transitions.
• Ensure compliance with legal and commissioning frameworks.

Skills

Strong project management skills

Excellent communication skills

Leadership and influencing skills

Analytical skills and judgement

Knowledge of Mental Health Act

Education

Educated to MSc Level

Tools

Microsoft 365 suite

PowerBI

Job description

Go back South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Senior Mental Health Placements Manager

The closing date is 14 October 2025

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. There are very few organisations in the world that have such wide-ranging capabilities working with mental illness. 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).

Quality Assurance and Governance

- Develop and maintain robust placement pathways, protocols, and risk assessment tools.

- Monitor provider performance, undertake placement audits, and meet quality standards.

- Work collaboratively with contracts and commissioning teams to raise concerns and co-design service improvements.

Finance and Commissioning Interface

- Provide reports on spend, trends, and outcomes to senior leadership and commissioning groups.

- Lead negotiations with providers and support care coordinators to ensure cost of placement reflects the care plan

Stakeholder Engagement and Partnership Working

- Build strong working relationships with clinical teams, local authorities, housing providers, and third-sector organisations.

- Represent the Trust in regional planning groups and integrated care forums.

- Facilitate collaborative discharge planning, step-down arrangements, and prevention of delayed transfers of care.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• 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
• Educated to MSc Level

Experience

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

Knowledge

• 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 organisation
• Able to express complex issues both orally and in writing for a range of audiences. This includes writing reports, presentations and conducting meetings
• Excellent skills in communication across a range of audiences, including service users, patients and carers and staff at all levels of the organisation, fostering powerful, inclusive and productive working relationships
• Demonstrable understanding of anti-racism principles and commitment to actively applies 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 organisation
• Ability to support and facilitate the development of organisational and Directorate equality action planning
• Ability to plan and organise a broad range of complex activities, formulating and adjusting plans to reflect changing circumstances, using project management methodologies
• IT literate and competent in using full Microsoft 365 suite, including PowerBI
• Highly developed analytical skills and judgement, able to 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 sceptical 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

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is 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.

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

£64,156 to £71,148 a yearper annum inc of HCA