Job overview

Lark Ward is a 10-bed Male Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) with an attached 136 Suite, providing care for individuals requiring a high level of mental health support. 

As the ward team manager you will:

• Provide strong and effective leadership to ensure high-quality care for patients.
• Support and develop the multidisciplinary team, fostering a positive and collaborative work environment.
• Ensure compliance with the Mental Health Act and other relevant policies and procedures.
• Conduct risk assessments and implement strategies to manage complex cases.
• Drive Quality Improvement (QI) projects, ensuring Lark Ward continues to evolve and enhance patient outcomes.
• Act as a role model, demonstrating empathy, professionalism, and approachability to both patients and staff.
• Have proven leadership skills with experience in a mental health setting.
• Strong communication and decision-making abilities.
• Knowledge of the Mental Health Act, risk assessment, and safeguarding practices.

At Lark Ward, we pride ourselves on fostering a supportive and innovative environment. You will have the opportunity to contribute to meaningful quality improvement projects and work within a dedicated team that is passionate about making a difference.

Main duties of the job

Lark Ward is seeking a dedicated and compassionate Ward Manager to take on an active leadership role and model excellence in patient care. The ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong knowledge of the Mental Health Act and its application in practice.
• Excellent record-keeping skills, including care documentation and audit compliance.
• Effective communication within the multi-disciplinary team and with external professionals, such as social care.
• Leadership in patient advocacy, ensuring patient needs are met while providing staff with the necessary support.
• Commitment to staying updated with NICE guidelines and local procedures, ensuring the team is informed of any changes.
• Lead responsibilities in a specific ward area, such as infection control or safeguarding.
• Gatekeeping responsibilities, facilitating the safe, timely, and effective transfer of patients in and out of the PICU ward.
• Provision of supervision to allocated staff members.
• Participation in Quality Improvement projects to enhance patient care and service delivery.
• Training in, or willingness to be trained in, Prevention and Management of Violence and Aggression (PMVA).

If you are passionate about providing high-quality mental health care and leading a team towards excellence, we would love to hear from you!

Working for our organisation

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Benefits included with this role are:-

• NHS pension
• a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
• career progression
• starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
• staff physio service
• NHS discounts and many more.

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing their experiences and learning from each other.

NSFT is committed to lifelong learning and continuous professional development (CPD) for its entire staff. There are a variety of definitions of CPD across the professions but it is usually taken to mean learning activities which update existing skills. CPD is determined through appraisal with a personal development plan agreed between an individual and their manager, with the commitment of the necessary time and resources.