Deputy Chief Nurse

At South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, we believe in providing excellent care which is delivered with pride and compassion. Everything we do is to improve the lives of the people and communities we serve and to promote mental health and wellbeing for all.

The post holder will deputise for all aspects of the Chief Nurse portfolio as required and will lead on identified trust-wide projects as agreed with the Chief Nurse and other Trust Executives.

The post holder will hold their own portfolio as agreed with the Chief Nurse and other Trust Executives.

Main duties of the job

This role will appeal to someone who wants to develop nursing care standards and has the experience and confidence to lead passionate and driven nurses. Putting the patient at the centre of decisions and practice will be essential as well as the drive to coproduce. There is ample opportunity to be involved in QI, as the Trust has invested in QI as a sustainable model of improvement.

Alongside the other Deputy Chief Nurses, the post holder will work closely with the Chief Nurse, deputising, including at external events and regulatory and statutory meetings.

Applicants must have the ability to build positive and effective professional relationships, work with a range of senior experienced leaders and be a credible nurse in practice. The Deputy Chief Nurse will actively promote a culture aligned to the Trust values, therefore always acting as a role model for all our staff.

The role of Deputy Chief Nurse is an excellent opportunity for a nurse who has ambitions to become a Chief Nurse. We will provide a robust development package that will support your aspiration to become a Chief Nurse. This post is for someone who is able to manage a demanding and busy portfolio, who has the confidence to work autonomously and above all else is a credible and authentic registered mental health nurse able to lead by example.

About us

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust 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.

The Trust employs around 5000 staff and serves a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services. Currently, we 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.

Job description
Job responsibilities

1. To deputise all aspects of the Chief Nurse's portfolio as required.
2. To provide strategic nursing input across the trust, ensuring appropriate senior professional advice is provided to ensure effective, recovery-focused mental health services are delivered consistently.
3. To provide professional leadership and direction to all senior nurse leaders and other professionals delivering inpatient and community care in relation to evidence-based mental health practice, and to represent the views of nurses in trust-wide governance forums.
4. To practice in a way that supports recovery by helping the service user to achieve the best quality of life possible whilst living with ongoing symptoms. To help people by encouraging them to think about their strengths and abilities and the changes they can make in their lives to take control, reach their goals and achieve improved mental wellbeing. To take a leadership role in ensuring the services practice in a recovery-oriented manner.
5. To contribute to trust-wide nursing developments and the development and implementation of the nursing strategy, monitoring and evaluating progress. Report progress to the Chief Nurse through the nursing governance structures and other governance arrangements on a regular basis.
6. To provide clinical and professional supervision to senior nurses ensuring that standards of nursing advice are consistent, and that nursing developments are in accordance with the trust strategy and business objectives. To provide advice and support on revalidation as required.
7. To participate in regular appraisal and performance review of nurses who are directly involved in the provision of education and development. To ensure that all staff within their area of line management responsibility are properly appraised and receive regular clinical and managerial supervision.
8. To conduct disciplinary and service investigations as requested by the Service Directors and Chief Nurse, and to advise senior managers in disciplinary hearings.
9. To work with the Workforce and Organisation Development Directorate to ensure that staff are properly registered with their professional body.
10. To work in close collaboration with Heads of Profession, and external agencies, contributing to the planning and delivery of high-quality mental health services locally.
11. To contribute to the development of the most effective care pathways for service users through collaboration with other professionals and key stakeholders, which are in line with the Trust vision and agreed models of care delivery.
12. To develop nurse-led initiatives regarding care improvement programs, which incorporate the post holder's higher level of practice, advancing nursing practice and opportunities for patients' treatment, intervention and mental health and physical care needs providing/accessing specialist nursing advice and input.
13. To provide advice and support to all disciplines on service users' nursing needs.
14. To work with the Heads of Nursing and Quality to ensure that all services have an evidence-based model of nursing care delivery, that nursing staff understand their roles and inputs in relation to this, and that a system of agreed quality metrics is used to demonstrate efficacy of care delivery.
15. To fulfil the role of the senior professional nurse adviser to investigatory panels for the Trust as required.
16. To ensure that standards and systems for maintaining high quality infection control and environmental cleanliness are in place and are being regularly audited.
17. To work closely with the senior professionals in Estates and Facilities to provide assurance that capital projects (e.g., ligature reduction works) and soft facilities (cleaning, catering) are delivering to the required standards.
18. To be an authorised signatory, responsible for agreeing defined budgets and managing within the budget available to the nursing directorate and specifically the Governance teams.
19. To be part of disciplinary panels up to and including appeals against dismissal.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Masters degree in Health related subject
• Registered Mental Health Nurse
• Completion of recognised leadership programme or willing to undertake one.
• Evidence of recent and ongoing Continuous Professional Development

Desirable

• Second Registration
• Specialist training and/or doctorate in Health-related subject or equivalent
• In depth expert understanding of organisational development
• Project management
• Teaching qualification

Experience
Essential

• Recent significant experience at a senior level in the NHS with proven track record of using professional knowledge to bring about change.
• Proven track record and significant experience of working with users and carers.
• Significant experience of facilitating and managing change within and across healthcare boundaries.
• Experience of working across professional boundaries, able to enthuse and inspire others using advanced communication and presentation skills.
• Experience in a variety of healthcare settings including Forensic.
• Significant experience of setting, monitoring, and evaluating standards of care.
• Significant experience of providing compassionate care for complex populations and those vulnerable to exclusion.
• Experience of, or awareness of specific factors relating to working in a culturally diverse inner-city area.
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience of quality governance.
• Experienced in teaching and developing, as well as training, Nursing staff.

Desirable

• Experience of working in Community services

Knowledge/Skills
Essential

• Proven track record and significant experience of working with users and carers.
• In depth understanding of NHS strategy and policy agendas.
• Demonstrable and significant skills in effective leadership.
• The highest level of communication skills will be required to engage NHS leaders and local communities in service development and change. This includes negotiation, influencing and conflict management skills required to communicate controversial service improvement or organisational change issues.
• Highly developed analytical and problem-solving skills for the assessment of service delivery plans and formulation of improvement strategies where opinion may differ on the best course of action.
• Able to expertly facilitate multidisciplinary debriefing critical analysis meetings and manage these diverse teams.
• Able to take the lead in volatile situations.
• Able to provide expert mental health nursing advice to the whole trust.
• Able to manage time, so that deadlines are met.
• Able to manage change constructively and effectively.
• Able to negotiate constructively with all professions at all levels.
• Able to develop and implement multidisciplinary training packages using emotional intelligence, transactional analysis, and reflective practice framework.
• Systems and Learning Theoretical knowledge and understanding.
• Current policy context and the implications for mental health nursing.

Desirable

• In depth understanding of service improvement/workforce development tools and techniques.
• Knowledge of current professional developments in nursing and nurse education.

Behaviours and Values
Essential

• Ability to behave in accordance with the Trust's five Commitments: Be caring, kind and polite; Be prompt and value your time; Take time to listen to you; Be honest and direct with you; Do what I say I am going to do.

Other
Essential

• Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems.
• As an employee of the trust, you are expected to support the Trust's clinical governance framework for monitoring and improving standards of care. You must do this by: Taking part in activities for improving quality; Identifying and managing risks; Maintaining your continuous professional development.
• As an employee of the Trust, you have a responsibility to ensure that: You are familiar with and adhere to the Trust's procedures and guidelines for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults; You attend safeguarding awareness training and undertake any additional training in relation to safeguarding relevant to your role; To carry out responsibilities in such a way as to minimise risk of harm to children or young people and promote their welfare in accordance with the Children Act 2004 and Working Together to Safeguard Children, HM Government 2010.

Employer details
Employer name
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Address
Maudsley Hospital, South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, SE5 8AZ

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