Discharge Coordinator | Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an individual to work within mental health urgent care in the Discharge Coordinator role within Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment teams across the Mid Mersey footprint (Halton, Warrington, St Helens & Knowsley).

The post holder will act as a key liaison between inpatient units, the crisis resolution and home treatment team (CRHT) and the bed management team. They will coordinate patient discharges across mental health inpatient units and work closely with inpatient clinicians and multi-disciplinary teams to deliver a high-quality, patient-focused service. The role covers the Mid Mersey area and requires mobility between sites to monitor capacity and flow through CRHTs and inpatients.

The post holder will participate in daily bed capacity meetings to provide predicted discharge activity and data related to the progress of patients in the discharge planning process. They will liaise with colleagues as required (e.g., CRHT, ward staff, community services) to ensure a seamless approach to discharge planning.

They will inform internal and external staff when inpatient capacity is anticipated to be insufficient to meet predicted demand and will request additional support to expedite hospital discharges. They will arrange and attend discharge planning meetings on allocated wards and participate in daily multi-disciplinary morning meetings to ensure appropriate length of stay and discharge dates are applied, monitored and adhered to.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Responsibilities

• Provide clinical advice and expertise regarding the suitability of patients on the acute ward to be discharged and continue treatment in the community.
• Coordinate the discharge of a defined group of service users from inpatient units into the community, carrying out assessments, planning, implementing and evaluating care under ECC guidelines, with appropriate supervision.
• Attend and participate in daily bed capacity meetings, ensuring predicted discharge activity and progress data are captured and reported.
• Maintain seamless liaison with CRHT, ward-based staff and community services to support discharge planning.
• Inform internal and external staff when inpatient capacity is anticipated to be insufficient, and request additional support to expedite discharges.
• Arrange and attend discharge planning meetings on allocated wards and participate in daily multidisciplinary morning meetings to apply, monitor and adhere to length of stay and estimated discharge dates.
• Report to the relevant Matron on ward-level nursing process delays, including late referrals to therapy services, social services, community hospitals and completion of health needs assessments.
• Assist Matrons to address discharge training and development needs of ward staff as identified by delays.
• Attend weekly Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC) meetings to identify patients meeting DTOC criteria and provide relevant reports.
• Engage with multidisciplinary staff to ensure patient care pathways reflect current and longer-term needs.
• Provide clinical challenge to non-clinical multidisciplinary staff when necessary to support decisions that a patient is no longer benefitting from an acute hospital stay, seeking further support from CRHT Managers/Clinical Leads as needed.

About Mersey Care

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales, and the Midlands. We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health, plus specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities. At the heart of all we do is our commitment to “perfect care” – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can, working with service users, families, and carers to design and develop future services. We’re delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to improve quality and safely reduce costs.

Location: Mid Mersey footprint (Halton, Warrington, St Helens & Knowsley).

Note: Flexible working requests will be considered for this role.

This advert closes on Monday 25 Aug 2025