Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Service Manager CNWL MHCAS
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Job Overview
Are you looking for an exciting new challenge? Are you a compassionate, visible, dynamic, and highly motivated healthcare leader?
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) is seeking an experienced, innovative, and enthusiastic nursing leader to provide operational leadership and strategic direction for the Mental Health Crisis Assessment Service (MHCAS).
To undertake this challenging role, you will need to have extensive experience in leading and managing nursing teams within an acute / community settings. You will have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and demonstrate an ability to work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams.
The postholder is required to lead in the management of the Mental Health Crisis Assessment Service (MHCAS) which is presently based at St. Charles Hospital.
MHCAS provides a vital alternative to Emergency Departments by offering direct walk-in access and a dedicated assessment pathway, ensuring individuals experiencing a mental health crisis can be assessed in a safe, therapeutic, and secure environment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. MHCAS also seeks to divert patient from Emergency Department.
The postholder will lead with the continuous improvement and development of the service, ensuring effective and efficient use of allocated resources to provide a service organised around the urgent and acute needs of patients across a 24/7 operating model.
The post is currently under review with potential plan to expand the role to include oversight of additional urgent care services across the Trust
If you are an ambitious and forward-thinking leader with a commitment to delivering high-quality mental health services, we would love to hear from you.
Main duties of the job
As the service manager for the MHCAS you will be responsible for the management and supervision of staff, including 24/7 rota and workforce planning, with associated responsibilities for the management of the MHCAS budget and the recruitment and retention of staff.
- Manage and actively work to resolve Emergency Department Patient waits.
- As the service manager for the MHCAS you will play a key role in the Trusts objective to reduce the number of patients that breach the 12 hours wait time in Emergency Departments.
- Budget management.
- Leading by example
- Making sure patients receive good quality care
- Ensuring that staffing levels are appropriate to patient needs
- Empowering nurses to take on wider ranges of clinical tasks
- Improving hospital cleanliness
- Preventing hospital-acquired infections
- Ensuring that patients’ physical health needs are met
- Making sure patients are treated in line with Trust Values
- Resolving problems for patients and their relatives by building closer relationships with them
- Prioritising safety and wellbeing of patients and staff
- Ensuring that staff are provided with continuous training and development
- To ensure that all services within their area are fully CQC compliant
- Act as the principal host for visits, site tours and shadowing arrangements for delegates and colleagues from other NHS Trusts, external agencies and partner organisations, ensuring visits are well organised and reflect positively on the Trust and service
- Represent and promote the MHCAS at a national and international level, including through conference presentations, publications, professional networks and engagement with visiting national and international delegations, to disseminate learning and share best practice in mental health crisis care.
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Working for our organisation
CNWL has an established reputation for providing the highest standards of care together with an extensive range of clinical services.
We are extremely proud of our employees across our services, with high quality patient care at the heart of everything we do.
We're passionate about delivering first-class patient-centred, safe and effective care, whether it is in a hospital setting, in a community clinic or in the patient's own home.
Providing top quality care depends on our ability to employ the best people.
You will become part of a talented, compassionate and enthusiastic workforce committed to a vision of 'making a positive difference in people's lives'.
We're always looking to recruit people who will go the extra mile to support our patients, colleagues, teams and the Trust.
You will be working for an organisation which values and respects all of its staff and the community it serves.
The Trust provides excellent benefits for its staff. This includes commitments to professional development but also many policies to support employees in balancing their personal and professional lives.
Please note: This vacancy does not meet the criteria for Skilled Worker sponsorship, unless you meet the criteria by temporary exemption from current changes to immigration rules put in force on 22/07/2025. “Separate provisions are applied to workers who have been sponsored and held continuously Skilled Worker visa since prior to 04/04/2024."
As such, if you don’t meet the Transitional Provision (above) we are unable to consider your application unless you can provide documentary evidence of your right to work in the United Kingdom. If you believe you are eligible for sponsorship or already hold a valid right to work in the UK, please ensure you provide full details of your immigration status in the Pre-Screening Immigration section of your application form.
Please note role eligibility also depends on whether the role meets the salary threshold for the relevant occupational code (SOC CODE).
For further info please visit: Skilled Worker visa: Overview - GOV.UK
Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities
Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role but below is summary of main responsibilities:
Clinical Practice Management
To act as a leader with continuing clinical responsibility within the designated areas, ensuring that services provide high quality evidence-based nursing assessment, care planning, interventions and evaluations for patients.
Teaching, Education & Health Promotion
To use the Practitioner’s specialist skills, knowledge and resources to provide learning opportunities for staff within designated areas.
Continuing Professional Development
To maintain and develop professional knowledge, skills and expertise to ensure that practice reflects best practice, remains evidence based, is current and responsive to meet changing patient and NHS service needs.
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Abide by the legal rules, statutory regulations and professional responsibilities relating to practice as outlined in the NMC “Code of Professional Practice” and the “Guidelines for mental health and learning disabilities nursing” (UKCC 1998).
Finance and Workforce
To manage the all budgets within the post holder’s span of control and make best use of available workforce resources based on agreed staffing models.
Record Keeping and Administration
To maintain standards of record keeping and associated administration in accordance with CNWL Trust Policy as well as local joint arrangements and professional guidelines.
Evidence-Based Nursing, Practice Development & Clinical Audit
To contribute to practice development activity and evidence-based mental health nursing.
Service Overview and Planning
To contribute to the development and planning of services specific to the post’s designated areas.
Professional Nursing Advice
To provide professional nursing advice within the post-holder’s area of responsibility.
Person specification
Education and Qualification
Essential criteria
Appropriate management and professional qualification or equivalent experience.
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of management in mental health services.
- Experience of leading and delivering urgent and acute provision of clinical services.
- Able to influence and engage at all levels within the Trust and across the health system.
- Experience of managing service budgets
- Understanding and experience of risk management and assurance processes
- Experience of preparing for and managing emergency planning situations.
Desirable criteria
- Previous experience leading central bed allocation services and/or delivery of 24/7 gatekeeping and ward management processes
Skills, Knowledge And Abilities
Essential criteria
- Ability to make daily judgements and decisions around urgent care service delivery and competing demands.
- Ability to provide support and constructive challenge to frontline staff and teams working under pressure with patients in high levels of distress and/or at high risk.
- Ability to deal with a high volume workload and manage this appropriately.
- Highly effective communication, presentational and relationship skills.
- Ability to develop and maintain relationships with internal colleagues and external stakeholders.
- Ability to make sound operational management decisions.
- Demonstrates appropriate leadership behaviour in a variety of settings
- Ability to motivate others, negotiate and persuade, and to engage staff and stakeholders in vision and strategy
- Time management and delegation skills.
- Ability to write comprehensive and professional reports
- Excellent planning and organising skills and ability to deal with conflicting demands.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Understanding of priorities in the NHS and the complex transformation agenda
- Strong knowledge around clinical governance
- Strong understanding about risk processes and assurance.
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