Assistant Director Adult Acute Services in Grimsby

We are seeking a dynamic and compassionate Assistant Director to support the leadership and delivery of high-quality adult acute mental health services. The role will work closely with senior teams to ensure safe, effective and recovery-focused care, leading on service improvement, staff development and operational oversight. It will suit someone with strong clinical and managerial experience in mental health, excellent communication and organisational skills and a commitment to partnership working with service users, families and multi-disciplinary professionals. The role will help drive innovation, maintain high standards and ensure services remain responsive, person-centred and aligned with organisational and regulatory requirements.

Main duties of the job

• The role will be responsible for ensuring high-quality, compassionate and person-centred care, while fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement across our adult acute teams.
• The role will oversee service performance, workforce management, budget control and compliance with regulatory standards, while driving service improvement and supporting a positive recovery-focused culture.

Essential skills include:

• Strong leadership and communication abilities.
• Proven experience in managing clinical or operational teams in mental health services.
• Sound knowledge of mental health legislation and CQC standards.
• The ability to work collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams.
• Highly organised, resilient and committed to empowering staff, improving patient experience and achieving excellence in mental health service delivery.

About us

Hello! We are Navigo. We look after North East Lincolnshire's mental health and well-being, an award-winning social enterprise that provides mental health services to the NHS and beyond. The whole basis of our work is to deliver services that we would be happy for our own family to use. We offer a range of mental health services, including acute and community facilities as well as specialist support such as outstanding older adults inpatient services, rehabilitation and recovery community mental health and an outstanding specialist eating disorder facility. Ranked as one of the top UK companies to work for, we feature in the Best Companies top 100 large company list. As a social enterprise, we do things a little bit differently and have also developed income-generating commercially viable businesses that provide training, education and employment opportunities including Grimsby Garden Centre. Working at Navigo is not like working anywhere else. Lots of places say that, but we really mean it. We like to work with forward-thinking people who want to make a difference. Come and Join us!

Please note: Whilst we value all applications, if we believe an application to be AI generated, we will use a checking tool and may reject any application that has been automatically generated. Should you require any assistance in completing this application due to a disability or other needs please contact navigo.recruitment@nhs.net

Job responsibilities

• Lead the design and delivery of an integrated adult acute pathway (inpatient CRHT liaison psychiatry), aligned to the NHS England vision for timely, therapeutic, least restrictive inpatient care and comprehensive crisis alternatives.
• Ensure liaison psychiatry services meet CORE24 principles (all age, 24/7, ED & wards coverage; responsive timescales) and embed collaborative working with acute hospital partners.
• Embed Culture of Care Standards (trauma informed, autism informed, culturally competent care) across all wards; champion reduction in restrictive practices with measurable improvements.
• Implement PSIRF across acute services, ensuring compassionate involvement of patients/families, proportionate learning responses, and robust improvement cycles.
• Assure compliance with the Mental Health Act Code of Practice and CQC expectations for learning from restrictive practices.
• Manage bed capacity, occupancy, out of area placements, delayed transfers and length of stay; lead discharge improvement work as per NHS England inpatient flow guidance.
• Ensure CRHT gatekeeping of admissions, timely crisis assessment, and intensive home treatment as a safe alternative to admission.
• Oversee liaison psychiatry's rapid response in ED/wards and joint escalation with acute trusts to prevent breaches and unnecessary admissions.
• Deliver safe staffing models, skills mix, training compliance and supervision; implement proactive sickness absence support using NHS Employers toolkit and national analytics trends.
• Ensure routine use of Friends & Family Test (FFT) and local experience measures across inpatient, crisis, and liaison services, with you said we did improvements.
• Maintain robust governance: risk registers, incident oversight, audit and improvement programmes; use national datasets (e.g., MHSDS restrictive practice dashboard) for benchmarking.
• Deliver agreed budgets, cost improvement plans that protect quality, and business cases (e.g., liaison expansion to CORE24).

Person Specification

• Registered health or social care professional (NMC, HCPC, BPS, SWE) with current registration and/or Masters level study in leadership with demonstrable experience in healthcare senior leadership.
• Evidence of postgraduate leadership or management training (or willingness to undertake).
• Accredited training in quality improvement methodologies (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, Model for Improvement).

Knowledge

• In-depth understanding of adult acute inpatient care standards, CRHT fidelity, liaison psychiatry (CORE24), and national policy.
• Knowledge of restrictive practice reduction strategies and trauma-informed care.
• Understanding of patient safety frameworks (PSIRF) and incident learning processes.
• Familiarity with workforce planning and wellbeing strategies.
• Understanding of research and innovation in mental health care.

Experience

• Significant senior leadership experience in adult acute mental health services.
• Proven track record of managing inpatient wards and crisis/home treatment services.
• Experience of implementing quality improvement initiatives and delivering measurable outcomes.
• Experience of working across integrated care systems and multi-agency partnerships.
• Previous involvement in service accreditation (e.g., AIMS, PLAN).

Additional Requirements

• Strategic planning and service redesign skills.
• Ability to interpret and use data for performance management and improvement.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Advanced negotiation and influencing skills across organisational boundaries.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.