Ward Manager

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust; Lancashire; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a dynamic Ward Manager to lead Byron Ward, our Female Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). The role offers clinical, operational and professional leadership within an acute mental health setting.

You will supervise and support a multidisciplinary team, ensuring high quality, safe care, staff development and ongoing service improvement while maintaining a compassionate, patient-centred environment.

Qualifications

• Registered Mental Health Nurse qualification and registration.
• Post-registered learning and development relevant to the role.
• Evidence of supervision and leadership within a multidisciplinary team.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical, operational and professional leadership on Byron Ward PICU.
• Lead a multidisciplinary team to ensure safe, patient-centred care.
• Oversee staff development and service improvement within a fast-paced acute setting.

Skills

Health and Safety

Team leadership

Research-informed practice

Professional development

Education

Registered Mental Health Nurse

Post reg. learning and development relevant to the role

Job description

Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism, community, and physical health services for the populations we serve.

As an integrated Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) delivers a comprehensive range of services, including:

• Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults, including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, and forensic services with low and medium secure care.
• Specialist mental health inpatient care for individuals with learning disabilities, alongside specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
• Extensive community physical health and well-being services for children and adults, covering prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and long‑term condition management.

The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,500 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health, general nurses, children’s nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers, as well as those specialising in learning disabilities and community physical health services.

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Ward Manager to lead Byron Ward, our Female Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). This is a rewarding opportunity for a highly motivated leader to provide clinical, operational, and professional leadership within a fast‑paced, acute mental health setting.

Byron Ward delivers high‑quality, patient‑centred care to women requiring intensive support in a safe, therapeutic environment. As Ward Manager, you will play a key role in ensuring excellence in care delivery, staff development, and service improvement.

Main duties of the job

The inpatient units are designed to meet the holistic needs of service users/patients and carers, in a working environment conducive to staff development and wellbeing. The post holder supports the delivery of the inpatient hospital model providing leadership to professional and direct care staff, ensuring the availability of appropriate administrative support services in their wards to release clinical time to care.

The post holder will provide a visible, accessible and authoritative presence on wards, to whom patients and their families can turn for assistance, advice and support.

Working for our organisation

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under‑represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi‑time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Explore our full wellbeing offer here: Keeping our workforce well

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For more details on this vacancy please review the attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Registered Mental Health Nurse.
• Post reg. learning and development relevant to the role.

Knowledge

• Understanding of Health and Safety policies and procedures
• Knowledge and practice of Mental Health Act 1983
• Knowledge and practice of the Mental Capacity Act 2005
• Demonstrate understanding of how research has influenced practice
• Can provide evidence of recent professional/personal development

Experience

• Supervision and management of staff
• Able to work as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Experience of assessing, planning, implementing and reviewing care needs

You are advised to consider applying for LSCFT vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within four weeks of the closing date then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.

Please note that further communication from LSCFT will normally be to the email address given on the application form. You should also ensure that email addresses and telephone numbers are provided for your referees, to enable LSCFT to contact them.

Please ensure that you read the person specification as your application will be measured against this document.

If you use AI to assist with your application, you must declare this. Undeclared use may result in withdrawal. Please ensure your application reflects your own skills and experiences. While AI tools can assist, they may produce generic or inaccurate content. We encourage you to provide personal examples that demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria.

For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).

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.