Job summary
- Main area
- Matron
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Secondment: 3 months
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 363-LUT7463067
- Employer
- East London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Townsend Court
- Town
- Houghton Regis
- Salary
- £55,690 - £62,682 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/10/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Matron - Townsend Court.
NHS AfC: Band 8a
ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job overview
East London NHS Foundation Trust currently provides mental health and learning disability services in Luton and Bedfordshire. The Bedfordshire Mental Health service has an exciting opportunity for the post of a Band 8a Ward Manager to lead and manage Townsend Court, Working Age Service within Bedfordshire.
Townsend Court is a 18 bedded acute female inpatient service providing 24-hour treatment and care in a safe and therapeutic place, actively engaging and involving people who are experiencing an acute mental health episode that cannot be managed in a less restrictive setting, owing to the degree of risk, clinical need or patient choice.
Many of those admitted will require detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Amendment Act 2007. Where necessary, intense supervision and support will be provided.
Patients receive individualised care and treatment based on the Care Programme Approach (CPA) which highlights crisis management and a place of safety, specialised risk assessments and risk management, intensive assessment, treatment and therapy, stabilisation of acute symptoms and relapse prevention.
Main duties of the job
We are looking for a committed and passionate Band 8a Ward Manager for Townsend Court, Houghton Regis for a period of 6 months Secondment. Interested candidates will need to demonstrate previous experience in a leadership or managerial position within a multidisciplinary team.
The successful candidate will need to be passionate about providing compassionate care and must be efficient and well organised. They will need to be good role models, have excellent communication skills, and be able to work with this vulnerable patient group and support carers in time of distress. They will need to demonstrate knowledge and skills of caring for both the physical and mental health needs of this patient group, and to be able to ensure that staff are providing care to the expected standard. The individual needs to bring a proven record of leading quality care and service improvement, also development of creativity and inclusive care environments.
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
- Ensure and develop service user centred multi-disciplinary approach to care.
- Develop the systems, staff skills, and abilities to provide assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of care in keeping with evidence based practice.
- Lead in direct care to complex service users or groups of service users and role model to junior staff.
- Developing a learning environment and opportunities for staff to obtain specialist guidance relevant to complex care or clinical specialty.
- Ensuring that a high standard of practice is maintained in relation to the detention of mentally ill clients under the Mental Health Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. Ensuring that least restrictive practices are promoted within individual care.
- Ensure that the team develops and implements specialist programmes of care which could include individual and group interventions.
- Ensure that care reflects individual and cultural needs.
- Ensuring that all practices are within the guidelines set out by the NMC and other professional groups and are in accordance with Trust policies.
A full job description is below
Person specification
Education/ Qualification/ Training
Essential criteria
- Registered Nurse (Mental Health) OR Registered Nurse (Learning Difficulty) OR Registered Nurse (Adult)
- Masters qualification or equivalent experience
- Evidence of Leadership / Management Training
Desirable criteria
- Specialist Area Training
- Relevant teaching or assessing qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of working as a clinical lead in a mental health environment at band 7 level or above
- Evidence of quality improvement
- Minimising clinical risk and reducing restrictive practices
- Experience of providing individualized and culturally sensitive care
- Developing a reflective learning culture
- Experience of managing budgets
- Knowledge and experience of managing complex safeguarding practices
Desirable criteria
- Experience of leading and working with a multi-disciplinary teams
Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Ensuring team/service high quality care including documentation
- Proven track record of implementation of strategy, change management and practice development
- Excellent clinical skills with complex service users and their care
- Current Developments in nursing
- Promotion of high quality supervision and reflective practice
Desirable criteria
- Emotional Intelligence and Personal Resilience NMC Code of Conduct
Other
Essential criteria
- Motivate team to providing the highest standards of care in a changing service
- Flexible working patterns in line with service needs
- Awareness of equal opportunities in the workplace
- Able to work within the accountability framework
- Personal Integrity
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
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.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Andy Rajkumar
- Job title
- Borough Lead Nurse
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07940476287
List jobs with East London NHS Foundation Trust in Nursing and Midwifery or all sectors