Head of Acute Services H&F in City of London

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Main area LS H&F Management Grade Band 8c Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (37.5 hours per week) Job ref 222-H&F-161

Site H and F Mental Health Unit Town London Salary £88,250 - £100,355 per annum pro rata inclusive of 20% HCAS Salary period Yearly Closing 22/11/2026 23:59 Interview date 02/12/2026

West London NHS Trust provides a full range of mental health, community and physical healthcare services for children, adults and older people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow.

We also provide some specialist services that are commissioned regionally, such as our medium secure services; and nationally, such as the Cassel Hospital for people with complex and severe personality disorder and our high secure services at Broadmoor Hospital.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an exceptional and highly experienced candidate to operationally manage our acute mental health services at Claybrook Centre in H&F.

This is a full-time position with operational responsibility for the 3 acute mental health inpatient wards, one male Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), the Health Based Place of Safety and the H&F Crisis Assessment Home Treatment Team located on site.

This role comes at an exciting time when we have the development of new services and are working on piloting a number of improvement initiatives across the borough. Your role will be pivotal in the development and implementation of these transformation initiatives. Additionally, you will provide leadership and support embedding these new initiatives in practice.

The successful candidate will have a positive and enthusiastic attitude with a focus on team working and collaboration. You will have extensive clinical expertise and a proven track record of effective people management. You will also need to demonstrate a sound understanding of crisis, community and acute services and the wider landscape across systems.

The Borough Senior Management Team is a well-functioning and cohesive team with a positive and caring approach. The successful candidate should expect to be well supported with a robust development plan.

Main duties of the job

1. To provide strong operational management and leadership to the Matrons, and inpatient ward managers and multi-disciplinary teams in the inpatient unit. In addition to the inpatient wards the post holder will provide operational management and leadership to the Crisis Teams and the emergency Hubs in each borough. (H& F or Hounslow). To be a key and active member of the AMH’s SMT.

2. To support & deputise for the Associate Director.

3. To support the AD to deliver financial balance within the portfolio and the wider Service Line.

4. To support the Associate Director in leading locally the service developments within the Local Services Transformation plan which includes the crisis alternatives.

5. To support the associate Director to ensure delivery of key metrics within the portfolio, and other agreed outcomes to support business as usual.

6. Be accountable for overall standards of nursing practice which aims to improve the experience and outcomes for service users.

7. Ensure that clinical governance mechanisms are in place, driven at a local level, ensuring lessons are learnt and experience informs ‘best practice’.

8. To communicate effectively with all staff, recognising the need for good information during periods of change. At all times supporting the Trust and where relevant Local Authority’s reputation and that of all senior colleagues, maintaining a positive attitude with strong commitment to results.

Working for our organisation

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m.

The Trust is rated as ‘Good’ overallby the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as ‘Outstanding’.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Professional Qualification
• Evidence of up-to-date personal development
• NMC Registration
• Masters or equivalent

Experience

• Substantial experience managing mental health nursing and Mental health care at 8b or above
• Substantial experience in adult/older people or CAMHS services
• Experience of the development of good relationships across a range of multi-disciplinary key stakeholders
• Ability to lead and embed substantial change.
• Experience of working with staff side colleagues to promote good working relations
• Experience of dealing with risk management both organisational and clinical
• Ability to work in complex situations and successfully problem solve both proactively, as well as reactively
• Experience of preparing papers and presenting to Board
• Experience of leading change management projects

Knowledge

• Knowledge of the mental health system, policy at national strategic level
• Knowledge of key legislation that relates to the delivery of mental health services.
• Knowledge of commissioning – the split between CCG and other commissioning roles.
• Good understanding of key deliverables in the contract.
• Knowledge of Business Intelligence and how to be used to support front line services
• Good knowledge of governance processes and what ‘good’ looks like
• Good range of IT skills

Skills

• Communication skills both verbal as well as other skills. Good knowledge on how to communicate a volume of information to a large group of staff
• Ability to communicate & negotiate in complex & crisis situations
• Be able to analyse information from different sources and distill effectively into a concise narrative for verbal and written uses
• Be able to work systematically in a proactive way as well as to respond quickly when crisis management needed
• Good people and business management skills
• Ability to work without supervision within an accountability framework. To be effective autonomously but awareness of appropriate discussion and escalation

Other Requirements

• A well-developed team player. High degree of motivation and commitment to the organisation
• Flexible and focused.
• Ability to see the bigger picture as well as the local picture at any one time
• Honesty and integrity

As an employee of West London NHS Trust, you have a responsibility to maintain a sound understanding of, and a commitment to uphold the National Health Service values and principles set out in the NHS Constitution.

We reserve the right to close adverts prior to the closing date stated should we receive a high volume of applications.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to West London NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, you will be required to undergo a pre-employment checks which can take between 4-8 weeks . After which your information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system (ESR ).

Please ensure you include email addresses for your referees which MUST be at supervisory or managerial capacity covering the last 3 years of employment to date to avoid delay in the recruitment process.

West London NHS Trust is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We encourage the thoughtful use of technology as a demonstration of strong time management and a commitment to innovation. However, we encourage applicants to personalise their recruitment application to showcase their unique skills and experiences.

While AI-generated content can be a helpful tool, relying solely on generic responses instead of highlighting your own strengths and achievements may impact the success of your application. The success of an application will always be assessed against the essential and desirable criteria for the role, so it is important to ensure that your application and any supporting information clearly demonstrate how you meet these requirements.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.

Name Ajay Dhoopnarain Job title Associate Director for the Acute Service Line Email address ajay.dhoopnarain2@nhs.net Telephone number 0796 7009283

At West London NHS Trust, we want you to support you to build a career you can be proud of and this starts before your first day with us. Our people live our values every day as they deliver, manage and work to improve our services to patients, carers, families and other professionals.

We’re committed to making our recruitment process clear and efficient. It’s in everyone’s interest that we get the very best people on board as soon as we can.