Service Manager Inpatients

Job overview

Are you an experienced mental health leader looking for an opportunity to make a real difference across inpatient services? We are looking for an inspirational and compassionate Service Manager to provide clinical and operational leadership across our Mental Health Inpatient Wards.

Reporting to the Head of Service Inpatients, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring our wards deliver safe, high-quality, responsive and person-centred care for people with severe and complex mental health needs. You will provide visible leadership to Ward Managers and multidisciplinary teams, supporting a culture of excellence, recovery, inclusion and continuous improvement.

Working as part of the Senior Leadership Team, you will contribute to clinical governance, service transformation and strategic planning, while ensuring services meet local and national standards, quality indicators and regulatory requirements.

This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of inpatient mental health care, strengthen partnership working across the wider system and enhance the experience and outcomes of service users and their families.

If you are an innovative leader who can inspire teams, navigate complexity and turn strategic ambitions into high-quality care, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

• Provide compassionate clinical and operational leadership for Mental Health Inpatient Wards including line management of Ward Managers
• Work with the Head of Service, Senior Leadership Team and multidisciplinary teams to deliver safe, high-quality, person-centred care
• Ensure inpatient services work effectively as part of Berkshire's wider Mental Health Services, developing pathways and strong partnership working with community and system partners
• Lead clinical governance, quality improvement, risk management and regulatory compliance, ensuring achievement of national and local standards
• Promote recovery-focused practice, patient choice, clinical excellence and positive service-user and family experience
• Support the strategic development, transformation and integration of inpatient services in line with local and national priorities
• Lead workforce development, supporting recruitment, retention, engagement and effective use of resources
• Champion patient and public involvement, ensuring service-user and family voices shape service development
• Maintain effective communication with internal and external stakeholders, providing expert advice on clinical management and practice
• Support 24/7 duty management and on-call arrangements for Prospect Park Hospital
• Keep the Head of Service informed of emerging clinical, workforce and operational issues, deputising as required
• Promote a culture of quality, safety, dignity, recovery and continuous improvement across the service

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The “must haves” for this role:

• Professional health registration (RMN)
• Recognised management qualification
• Recognised mentoring qualification
• Previous experience in a band 8A management post or higher
• Demonstrable track record for the development of strategy formulation & implementation
• Evidence of senior operational management experience within mental health services

For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

Your application is your opportunity to demonstrate to us how you meet the requirements of the role. We recognise that AI tools can support accessibility, equity and confidence for applicants. However, it’s important that examples and responses given in your supporting statement genuinely reflect your own experience and abilities, as these will be explored further during the selection process. AI must not be used to provide misleading or false information during any stage of the application journey.

In addition to explaining how you meet the person specification, you must complete your employment history for at least the last five years. Any experience, skills or responsibilities referenced in your supporting statement should be evidenced within your employment history. Applications that do not include sufficient employment history to support the experience claimed may not be shortlisted.

We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Stonewall Proud Employer, Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.

We have identified that this is a role where we have underrepresentation of ethnically diverse colleagues. As part of our commitment to inclusion and Unity Against Racism we offer guaranteed interviews to candidates who meet the essential criteria and identify as: Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British, Mixed and ‘Other’ Ethnic Groups.

We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to call: Michelle Mbayiwa on 01189 605241 or email: Michelle.Mbayiwa@berkshire.nhs.uk who’ll be delighted to help.

Please note, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

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.