Clinical Service Lead for Crisis Pathway

Location

London, England

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Salary

£64,156 - £71,148 Per annum inclusive of Inner London HCAs

Profession

Mental health professionals

Grade

Band 8

Deadline

16 Feb 2026

Contract Type

12 months (Fixed term: 12 months)

Posted Date

02 Feb 2026

Job overview

We are excited to offer an excellent opportunity for an experienced and motivated leader to join our Crisis Pathway as a Clinical Service Lead (CSL). This post will support with Lotus Unit – psychiatric decision unit, Health-Based Place of Safety & our short stay admissions (<28 day) ward.

This is a newly created post reflecting the scale & complexity within the Crisis Pathway and the Trust’s commitment to strengthening clinical leadership, governance and operational oversight within urgent and emergency mental health care.

The CSL will play a pivotal role in ensuring the service is safe, responsive, person-centred, and well-integrated with acute hospital and crisis pathway partners.

You will have responsibility for:

Lotus Assessment Suite / Psychiatric Decision Unit function
Health-Based Place of Safety (HBPoS) provision for people detained under Section 136
Maple Ward – our new innovative short stay admissions acute psychiatric ward (<28 days)
Multi-agency interface working with Police, LAS, Acute Trust Emergency Departments, Liaison Psychiatry and crisis services

Main duties of the job

As Clinical Service Lead, you will:

Provide day-to-day operational and clinical leadership for Maple ward & Lotus, ensuring safe and effective service delivery across the assessment suite and HBPoS.
Ensure care is delivered in line with Trust policies, the Mental Health Act, CQC standards, national guidance and multi-agency expectations.
Oversee workforce management including rostering, supervision, appraisal, sickness absence processes and staff wellbeing, ensuring staff are supported to work in a high acuity environment.
Lead on performance monitoring and service improvement, using KPIs, clinical audit and service data to identify issues and deliver sustained improvement.
Strengthen governance systems including incident reporting, risk management, safeguarding, seclusion oversight, constant observation compliance, and learning from incidents.
Work closely with the Clinical Manager and Head of Nursing & Quality to provide assurance on quality, safety and patient experience.
Foster effective partnerships with acute trust colleagues, police, LAS, liaison psychiatry, HTTs, wards and voluntary sector partners to improve pathways, flow and escalation processes.
Drive a culture of continuous improvement, learning and psychologically safe leadership.
Represent Lotus, HBPoS & Maple Ward at internal and external meetings, providing assurance on quality and performance to senior leaders and system partners.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Service quality and safety

To promote continual improvement in care quality, including (but not limited to) implementing updated clinical models, and promoting integration across teams, services and agencies.
To demonstrate visible leadership and take responsibility for ensuring a therapeutic, recovery focussed, environment.
To ensure the safety and effectiveness of the service through the implementation of effective risk management, governance and assurance systems.
To ensure that reflective practice takes place within all teams, and that team managers facilitate all team members attending.
To take responsibility for key practice development projects across the service line as assigned by the line manager or by the Head of Nursing & Quality.
To ensure that robust systems and processes are in place to facilitate clinical audit and the implementation of best practice guidelines (including NICE).

Clinical responsibilities

To promote high standards of care, working with team managers, consultant psychiatrists and advanced clinical practitioners, ensuring that all clinicians can clearly articulate patients care pathways and what this means in practice.
To provide clinical leadership to team managers and any trainee ACPs and (though them) care co coordinators and/or staff nurses, to enable them to develop and implement care plans, ensuring active involvement of service users and their carers regarding their clinical pathway.
To ensure a holistic approach to assessment care and treatment, including physical health needs.
To support the team manager in embedding Clinical Governance and other quality and safety standards within the team.
To support the team manager to ensure a clean environment for care and that infection prevention & control guidelines are followed at all times.
To have an ongoing awareness of high clinical risk situations within the relevant teams and advise clinicians on actions to be taken to respond to risk.
To review all incident reports and ensure is process followed in line with Patient Safety Incident Response Framework
To ensure that all incidents are managed by respective teams and ward managers and that learning from incidents is disseminated within the service line.
To have high visibility within the clinical settings attending MDT/ review meetings and acting as a clinical role model supporting teams with coaching on the elements of Fundamental Standards of Care.

Communication

To ensure that clear lines of communication and positive working relationship across professional and organisational boundaries are established and well known across the service in order to ensure to ensure timely and well-coordinated transitions of care and that treatment is received in line with best practice.
To communicate effectively with staff through regular briefings and provide opportunities for staff involvement in service development.
To communicate policies and procedures within the service, with partners and externally to ensure effective understanding and implementation.
To communicate complex service-related information to senior managers, partners and relevant stakeholders using a variety of methods including, reports, presentations etc.
To maintain effective and helpful relationships with service users, their relatives, friends and carers.
To maintain effective relationships with members of the Trust, and other statutory and voluntary agencies.

Service Development and Review

To ensure that individual’s care pathways are monitored and that systems are in place for individuals to transition through the service appropriately, with service users being discharged within the appropriate timeframe without delays.
To ensure that governance and assurance systems are in place for care pathways / clinical teams and to provide expert professional advice with regard to clinical care, incidents and complaints
To ensure that services are delivered by practitioners with the appropriate knowledge, skills and competencies.
To ensure that lessons are learnt and actions taken to improve services are embedded, with a particular focus on quality improvements.
To take a leading role in quality improvement initiatives and train and develop staff to ensure their knowledge and skills are updated in this area.
To ensure safeguarding vulnerable adults and children policy and protocols are adhered to.
To plan and co-ordinate service review activities and to deliver, with team colleagues, a programme of regular audit and continuous service improvement.
To lead the community engagement programme and delivery of tailored and co-produced services for key priority population groups.
To participate in the development and implementation of Trust policy within the service and take an active role in all operational and business planning.
To contribute to the on-going development and evaluation of the services in relation to need, local and national quality standards and target frameworks.
To ensure that partners are involved in service development and that developments within the third sector are accounted for in developing the service.
To work with service users, carers and other local stakeholders to tackle health inequalities.
To ensure all service developments and commissioned services function within the parameters outlined by clinical governance requirements.

Management of Resources and Performance

To use integrated management information systems to ensure resources are managed effectively.
To ensure all members of the team are recording clinical and patient management information using IAPTus and RiO, as required.
To undertake regular skill mix review to ensure the workforce structure is designed to meet service demands.
To apply structured management for safe and effective use of all resources within budget and within legislative frameworks.
To lead on the data analysis (via RIO) and collation monthly and quarterly CCG and Trust performance reports, as required.

Financial and Performance Management

To be responsible for ensuring that the service meets the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) agreed with CCG commissioners as well as nationally agreed targets (access and recovery).
To deliver the services within the allocated budget and ensure that monthly financial reviews are undertaken.
To work closely with the service’s allocated Financial Business Partner to ensure the service’s financial position remains within budget.
In agreement with the Head of Service Delivery, the postholder may be responsible for an allocated budget for the service.
To oversee the development of and distribution of key service performance reports to internal and external stakeholders, such as the Trust Board and the CCG.

Leadership

To be a role model of clinical leadership and act in accordance with the relevant professional codes of practice and statutory guidance.
To take personal accountability for own actions and omissions at all times.
To practice in a way that actively minimises dependency and promotes recovery.
To develop and promote collaborative and integrated working across all elements of the service.

To ensure roles, responsibilities and accountability for team managers, partners and staff are clearly defined.
To devolve resource management to team managers where appropriate.
To ensure effective systems for supervision and PADR developmental review / appraisal are in operation in all teams.
To identify essential and developmental training needs, recording and reporting on training take up and ensuring mandatory standards are met.
To ensure all Human Resources policies are adhered to responding to grievance, dispute or disciplinary issues in a timely way.
To support team managers in applying Trust recruitment procedures to ensure fair and timely employment of staff to meet service needs.
To ensure all staff are applying customer care skills to ensure service users and carers feel welcomed, listened to and informed.
To identify and acknowledge individual and team strengths and ensure access to opportunities for further development
To facilitate career development and promote future leaders both for clinical practice and for management roles.
To represent the Clinical Manager/Matron and deputise for them when required.

Governance

To work with the Head of Nursing & Quality and the Head of Service Delivery, and the line manager, to set up and administer monthly Performance Review & Quality Cluster meetings.
To maintain and further develop approaches for involving service users, partners and wider stakeholders in the delivery of inpatient Services
To ensure that the Trust's Governance processes are applied and that all staff work within the governance framework.
To ensure clinical standards of care for service users are kept under review reporting any significant problems to the Head of Service Delivery
To encourage staff to share good practice, develop ideas to improve services and promote research.
To maintain a strong overview on environmental standards and address any issues relating to safety, dignity, poor quality and poor hygiene.
To promote regular service audit and performance evaluation.
To ensure robust risk assessment and management accordance with policies undertaking risk analyses as required and developing management plans to minimise risk.