This job is closed to applications

Location
Salary
£96,340 - £109,849 per annum inc HCAS
Profession
Manager and corporate
Grade
Band 8
Deadline
10 Jul 2025
Contract Type
Permanent
Posted Date
26 Jun 2025

Job overview

We are keen to recruit an experienced senior operational manager into the post of  Director of Urgent Care. The postholder will play a key role in our Urgent Care Management Team in leading change to deliver exceptional healthcare for service users, as well as supporting front line colleagues whilst working with a range of stakeholders.

The post holder will also have a key leadership role embracing wider systems integration inclusive of CNWL borough services as well as with local external partnerships supporting integrated care pathways.

This role requires a graduate level of practice and is a professional who has an exceptional level of experience in delivering change within complex organizations. Responsible for aspects of acute mental health policy and service delivery as agreed within the developing NHS Long Term Plan and service delivery environment.

We are interested in receiving applications from individuals with a passion for delivering high quality, safe and effective older adults mental health care. You will be enthusiastic, motivated, and dynamic and will have vast experience of working on change/ or improvement programmes within mental health services.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will work closely with local multi-disciplinary leadership leads, other key stakeholders within the Division and the Trust in addition to high level external stakeholders who include Commissioners, Local Authority, Third Sector, Primary Care Networks, Acute Hospitals, Service Users and Carers, Healthwatch, CQC and other key partners. The post-holder will need to be highly influential in all of these areas.

The post holder will be passionate about driving local and Trust quality agenda, supporting and enhancing local and diverse workforce with a financial and performance framework.

The post holder requires high level analytical and judgement skills and will receive highly complex, and sensitive information relating to the care of patients, staff issues and political imperatives relating to the area of patient care.

The post holder will participate in any senior manager on call rota as designated appropriate by the Trust.

In addition, the post holder will play a key role in the urgent care pathway.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main duties:

The main duties for this role are split into two parts a) immediate operational requirements for daily clinical bed management (24/7) and b) critical strategic developments for the reshaped Urgent Care Service (including centralised bed management and implementation and operational management of new borough-facing First Response Services)

Operational management of the central functions in the urgent care pathway, and operational oversight for wider pathway activities/functions

This responsibility includes:

  • Acute patient flow pathway: lead and chair the weekly acute patient flow pathway with all borough directors and service managers, ensuring proactive management of the pathway as a whole, problem solving specific operational pressures, acting as a point of escalation/discussion for cross-borough issues and driving forward improvements needed in the pathway
  • Urgent Single Point of Access (SPA): operational management of the CNWL SPA, including line management of the SPA service manager. This means ensuring the effective delivery of the SPA function including direct over the phone crisis support and signposting; prompt triage to internal or external care provision & HBPoS capacity tracking and liaison with police.
  • Central Flow Hub (CFH): operational management of the Central Flow Hub which is responsible for the coordinating system wide bed requests and allocating beds appropriately within the bed base. The hub also supports with catchment screening and further information requests (streamlining and reducing borough burden) and management of the waiting lists and accurate data recording for patient flow. If absolutely necessary, the hub also supports with ‘Out of Area’ beds. The postholder run the hub as a function that will provide support and challenge to DTAs/bed requests as the only source with real-time knowledge of bed state and associated issues across the Trust.
  • Liaison with Boroughs to resolve bed consumption and work within the agreed Bed Usage Index (BUI) – the postholder will support boroughs where required to manage their bed allocation as agreed within the BUI. This includes oversight of additional initiatives (such as the new Community Access Service or adherence to use of the admission proforma) to enable effect pathway flow. The postholder should provide support and challenge to progress against recovery plans in boroughs where they are over their allocated usages (e.g. issues such as inappropriate LoS and/or with DToCs/discharge); ensuring fidelity to home treatment team standard operational policy and ensure use of HTT as alternative to admission/support to community based crisis offer
  • Manage and actively work to resolve Emergency Department Patient waits with a focus on avoidance of 12hr trolley breaches and investment in relationship management with the respective EDs where appropriate
  • Management of ECR (out of area placements) and to ensure patients are back within 72 hours. The postholder also has responsibility for the effective delivery against our targets to eliminate inappropriate adult out of area placements by 2020/21
  • Liaison with boroughs and oversight of s.136 pathway including high level support to capacity management of Health Based Places of Safety via the SPA and s.136 pathway delivery in line with the Compact
  • Direct escalation in line with the agreed escalation protocols to the Division, Senior Nurse on Call and the Chief Operating Officer as required.
  • Contract management of The Cove Crisis Havens (run by VCSE) and any further contracts for crisis alternatives as they develop
  • Budget management for the development and operational delivery of the above points Critical strategic developments for the urgent and acute care pathway

Alongside the immediate operational management of the above priorities, the Head of Urgent Care will be central to shaping and driving delivery of the Long Term Plan requirements, regional requirements (such as implementation of the Compact) and STP/local CNWL improvements. This includes (but not limited to):

  • Elimination of inappropriate Out of Area Placements (OAPs)
  • Delivery of 24/7 face to face assessment and home treatment team offer
  • Ensuring a therapeutic offer on admission, including an average length of stay of 32 days (or fewer)
  • Increase in the number of alternatives to A&E and admission for people in crisis, including enhancing partnership working with VCSE

The strategic developments set out will require the postholder to be an active participant and representative for CNWL mental health urgent care at trustwide, North West London STP, NHS England regional and national governance meeting. The postholder will also be responsible for the continued identification of possible ways to support improved urgent and acute care management and the implementation of national requirements from the NHS Long Term Plan