Head of Nursing and Quality (CAMHS)

Job summary

This is an amazing opportunity for a senior nurse to develop and employ their skills in a senior leadership position. It is an exciting time to join an organisation that is totally committed to anti racism and the development of its leadership across all levels.

This opportunity will enable candidates to apply their clinical and strategic expertise to enhance patient care and experience through a quality improvement approach. It will also empower them to lead specific improvement programmes and contribute to reducing health inequalities by promoting equitable access to high-quality care.

This role will work with different systems across south west London(ICB and SLP) to enhance care for our communities, as well as neighbouring and national catchment areas of our national and specialist CAMHS and ED services. They will lead on the education and professional development of the nursing workforce and support the recruitment and retention of staff.

Main duties of the job

Ensure, with the Clinical Director, that robust quality governance arrangements are in place within the Service Line(s), and to ensure the clear monitoring of these is implemented and Lead, with the Clinical Director, quality improvement and innovation in the Service Line.

Ensure consistent delivery of the quality standards agreed by the Trust and to ensure the agreed monitoring/audit mechanisms that allow performance against those standards to be measured objectively are implemented effectively, including taking an active leadership role in the Trusts CQUIN and Quality Account initiatives.

They will be responsible for ensuring Quality Improvement is embedded throughout all aspects of service improvement and programmes of work and provides high quality reports to Board, and that reducing health inequalities and racism are embedded in all aspects of improving clinical care and patient experience.

They will work closely with service users and carers to ensure that practice supports recovery by helping the service user to achieve the best quality of life possible whilst living with ongoing symptoms. To ensure they are consistently acting and learning from feedback from the people who use our services.

About us

Unless expressly stated in the job advert this role is not subject to sponsorship, please be advised that all offers of employment are subject to evidence of right to work in the UK.

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety ofbenefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.

Job responsibilities

Clinical Leadership

• Ensure, with the Clinical Director, that robust quality governance arrangements are in place within the Service Line(s), and to ensure the clear monitoring of these is implemented.
• Lead, with the Clinical Director, quality improvement and innovation in the Service Line(s).
• Provide strong visible professional leadership and support to the Service Line(s) to define the quality of clinical/patient care within a recovery focused approach.
• Will have the skills and experience to analysis data in order to improve quality standards, through quality improvement methods and the reporting of progress through to committees.
• To have project management knowledge and experience and can lead complex projects programmes.
• Practice in a way that supports recovery by helping the service users 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.
• Use professional judgment and personal resilience to deal with a wide variety of situations relating to nursing and other aspects of patient care, some of which will be challenging, difficult and potentially stressful.
• Interpret, implement, and exercise professional judgment, with regard to national and local policy in relation to nursing and other clinical areas.
• Contribute to the formulation and delivery of Strategic plans for all professional groups, particularly nursing.
• With the full support of professional leads for OT, social work and psychology, to ensure clear professional leadership is in place and effective within the Service Line(s).
• Ensure consistent delivery of the quality standards agreed by the Trust and to ensure the agreed monitoring/audit mechanisms that allow performance against those standards to be measured objectively are implemented effectively, including taking an active leadership role in the Trusts CQUIN and Quality Account initiatives.
• Ensure that all services have clear practice standards which are monitored and used to constantly improve patient, careers and staffs experiences.
• Within the delegated sphere of responsibility to provide support to ensure that the patient environment is fit for purpose, and meets the requirements of regulatory bodies, and meets or exceeds the expectations of patients.
• Agree and take a lead on defined areas of clinical specialty, acting as the principle point of contact for internal/external stakeholders and proactively taking an interest in the development of the assigned specialty.
• Participate in the Trusts on call rota.
• Ensure robust arrangements are in place for safeguarding both adults and children.
• Prepare and/or present papers, briefings, reports, presentations as required by the Chief Nurse.
• Provide support and cover arrangements to the Clinical Director and Head of Service Delivery.

SERVICE USER CARE

• Develop and support implementation systems to ensure the safe delivery of patient care.
• To ensure the Fundamental Standards of Care are fully implemented across the service line, staff have the skills and capabilities to deliver them and the monitoring system for these are in place.
• To engage and support the clinical and professional aspects of the delivery of Adult Patient Journey.
• Ensure care is safe, recovery and patient focused, evidence based and within designated financial and staffing resources.
• Ensure highest standards of cleanliness and infection control by working collectively with other relevant departments e.g. operational services, estates department.
• Respond to all incidents including unexpected and untoward issues/incidents relating to patient safety and care taking action as necessary and ensure that lessons learnt are fully implemented and communicated.
• Ensure that systems are in place to hear from service user and carer and that their feedback is used consistently to improve services.
• To ensure all new initiatives are co produced
• Ensure the risk of infection to yourself, colleagues, patients, relatives and visitors is minimised by being familiar with, and adhering to, Trust policies and guidance on infection prevention and control.
• Taking personal responsibility so far as is reasonably practicable, in helping ensure that effective prevention and control of health care acquired infections is embedded into everyday practice and applied consistently by you and your colleagues.

CLINICAL AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

• Ensure nurses and nursing policy and practice adhere to the NMC Code of Conduct and NMC/Trust guidance on professional issues.
• With the professional leads for OT, Social work and psychology ensure all professional standards are adhered to.
• Ensure that best, evidence-based, nursing practice informs the leadership of the Service Lines through the triumvirate working with Clinical Directors and Head of Service Delivery and integrated with the operational performance agenda through participation in the Service Line Management.
• Ensure the Service line(s) is compliant with national requirements and best quality governance practice including CQC, NHS Improvement etc.
• Ensure that best, evidenced-based, practice is developed and delivered at organisational and departmental levels. Challenge ways of working and persuade, motivate and influence other senior managers to realign their practice where necessary, with a particular focus on quality improvement and innovation
• Provide mentorship, expert clinical knowledge in nursing awards, fellowship application and research applications with the support of the nursing development team.
• Undertake an active role in supporting the development of nurse research activity by liaising with relevant personnel and providing clinical advice in trial design and protocol, utilising the nursing development team for support.
• Support the recruitment and supervision of clinical research nurses and clinicians - signposting to expertise as required.
• Devise professional development plans, supervises, mentors and develops prospective and actual MSc and PhD students.
• Ensure that the most up-to-date research and practice initiatives are made available for front line clinical staff to consider and are appropriately supported to be implemented in a way that meets clinical standards and recommendations of national initiatives.

All public facing roles require a proportionate level of English language proficiency for written and verbal communication and the Trust is required to verify results of certain English language competency tests relied upon. When the fluency duty is met by the provision of a sign language interpreter, the interpreter should be registered with the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People (NRCPD).

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in job applications

If you have used AI to support the preparation of your application, please briefly indicate how it was used within your supporting statement or application form.

Please remember, your application is your opportunity to tell us about your skills, experience and motivation for the role. We encourage applicants to complete their application and supporting statement in their own words wherever possible. We recognise that AI tools can be helpful in supporting accessibility, and for improving spelling, grammar and structure.

Applications that rely heavily on AI-generated content can become generic and fail to accurately reflect an applicant's individual experience. Applications that clearly demonstrate your own voice, reflections and experiences are often the most effective and help us better understand your suitability for the role.

Please be aware that information provided in your application and supporting statement may be explored further during the selection process. It is important that all applications accurately represent your own knowledge, skills and experience.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse in Mental Health or Learning disabilities.
• Masters level or equivalent experience
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Desirable

• Postgraduate management qualification

Experience

Essential

• Experience at senior management/nursing level with responsibility for clinical operations in complex health care setting
• Project management experience and expertise in data analysis
• Experience and evidence of leading change through a Quality Improvement Initiative.
• Experience and evidence of delivering high standards of performance to achieve national and local targets within a complex healthcare setting
• Experience of dealing with difficult situations including the resolution of conflict and influencing others to accept demanding outcomes
• Experience of delivering efficiency and productivity targets at operational level
• Experience of managing complex finance and budgetary management
• Experience of implementing robust quality governance and professional arrangements
• Will have specialist clinical knowledge of the National Institute for Health (NIHR), Public and Patient Involvement, Integrated Research Administration Service (IRAS) and the Comprehensive and Topic Specific Research Networks, and Research Ethics Committees (RECs).

Desirable

• Experience within mental health.
• Public/voluntary sector experience.
• Experience or extensive knowledge of CAMHS or Eating Disorders