Senior Nurse in Forensic Mental Health Care in Manchester

The Adult Forensic Mental Health Services comprises of Male Medium and Low Secure Services and Women’s Blended Service. We also have a Male step-down service which is situated within the grounds of the Prestwich Hospital site. As part of our clinical pathway, we also have a Secure Community Forensic Team who provide specialist guidance and support to teams and individuals continuing their recovery journey to community settings.

The Senior Nurse role will be a member of a multi-disciplinary team. They will provide leadership and safer staffing to all ward areas, ensuring the provision of quality nursing care to all service users within AFS. The role is designed to ensure safe staffing and effective communication throughout AFS inpatient and community service out of hours, weekends and bank holidays.

The Senior nurse will also be aligned to a designated ward area, supporting on specific service development for that area and providing senior clinical leadership, supporting wards with seclusion management, incident management and key performance indicators.

Main duties of the job:

• Maintain effective communication systems with all clinical staff across AFS.
• Monitor and manage reporting systems (InPhase, safer staffing reports, AWOL info).
• Lead daily safer staffing discussions and escalate risks promptly.
• Provide clinical leadership on all shifts, including out of hours, ensuring a safe environment.
• Be visible across all clinical areas daily (Lowry & Riverside), supporting staff and overseeing incidents.
• Lead on incident management, including debriefs and clinical formulation following incidents.
• Participate in emergency responses, including ILS interventions and PMVA techniques.
• Contribute to supervision, appraisals (PDRs), and staff development.
• Monitor sickness/absence and take appropriate action under Trust guidelines.
• Work towards/maintain Non-Medical Prescriber status.
• Ensure seclusion suites are managed correctly and least restrictive practice is applied.
• Participate in on-call rota.
• Promote a positive, open culture and challenge poor practice or discriminatory behaviour.
• Promote equality, diversity, and dignity for service users and staff.
• Recognise and address discriminatory behaviour.
• Ensure staff understand their responsibilities, including safeguarding.

Working for our organisation:

Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations. We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.

Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options. Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity. Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

• Maintain effective communication systems with all clinical staff across AFS.
• Monitor and manage reporting systems (InPhase, safer staffing reports, AWOL info).
• Lead daily safer staffing discussions and escalate risks promptly.
• Provide clinical leadership on all shifts, including out of hours, ensuring a safe environment.
• Be visible across all clinical areas daily (Lowry & Riverside), supporting staff and overseeing incidents.
• Lead on incident management, including debriefs and clinical formulation following incidents.
• Participate in emergency responses, including ILS interventions and PMVA techniques.
• Contribute to supervision, appraisals (PDRs), and staff development—particularly during night shifts.
• Monitor sickness/absence and take appropriate action under Trust guidelines.
• Ensure future Night Support Workers receive correct induction and training.
• Lead and deliver training (scenario-based sessions, PMVA).
• Identify training needs for the service.
• Maintain up-to-date professional knowledge in forensic mental health nursing.
• Work towards/maintain Non-Medical Prescriber status.
• Support liaison between Security and clinical teams.
• Lead on managing emergency situations and ensuring site access for emergency services.
• Ensure seclusion suites are managed correctly and least restrictive practice is applied.
• Identify and manage risks in the clinical environment and report appropriately.
• Uphold Trust health & safety, infection control, safeguarding, and confidentiality standards.
• Coordinate effective use of resources.
• Participate in on-call rota for service leadership.
• Contribute to policy development, audits, and service improvement.
• Exercise senior decision-making in patient care and staff management.
• Promote a positive, open culture and challenge poor practice or discriminatory behaviour.
• Promote equality, diversity, and dignity for service users and staff.
• Recognise and address discriminatory behaviour.
• Ensure staff understand their responsibilities, including safeguarding and data protection.
• Ensure accurate clinical and corporate record-keeping.
• Protect confidentiality and manage information appropriately.
• Support sustainability efforts (minimising waste, reporting environmental issues).
• Complete any additional duties required by the Senior Leadership Team.

Person specification:

Essential criteria:

• RMN registration.
• Evidence of post-graduate training and continued professional development.
• Experience of working in a mental health setting.
• Experience of leading change and developing others.
• Evidence of working within a challenging environment.

Desirable criteria:

• Evidence of relevant professional development, both clinically and managerially.
• Previous experience within a clinical/managerial role.
• Non-Medical Prescriber to agreement to work toward this.
• Experience of working in Forensic Mental Health.

The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer. The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities.

If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.