Deputy Chief Nurse

At South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, we believe in providing excellent care which is delivered with pride and compassion. Everything we do is to improve the lives of the people and communities we serve and to promote mental health and wellbeing for all.
· The post holder will deputise for all aspects of the Chief Nurse portfolio as required and will lead on identified trust-wide projects as agreed with the Chief Nurse and other Trust Executives.
· The post holder will hold their own portfolio as agreed with the Chief Nurse and other Trust Executives., This role will appeal to someone who wants to develop nursing care standards and has the experience and confidence to lead passionate and driven nurses. Putting the patient at the centre of decisions and practice will be essential as well as the drive to coproduce. There is ample opportunity to be involved in QI, as the Trust has invested in QI as a sustainable model of improvement.
Alongside of the other Deputy Chief Nurses the post holder will work closely with the Chief Nurse deputising, including at eternal events and regulatory and statutory meetings., · To deputise all aspects of the Chief Nurse's portfolio as required.
· To provide strategic nursing input across the trust, ensuring appropriate senior professional advice is provided to ensure effective, recovery focused mental health services are delivered consistently.
· To provide professional leadership and direction to all senior nurse leaders and other
professionals delivering in-patient and community care in relation to evidence based mental health practice, and to represent the views of nurses in trust-wide governance forums.
· To practice in a way that supports recovery by helping the service user to achieve the best quality of life possible whilst living with ongoing symptoms. To help people by encouraging them to think about their strengths and abilities and the changes they can make in their lives to take control, reach their goals and achieve improved mental wellbeing. To take a leadership role in ensuring the services practice in a recovery orientated manner
· To contribute to trust wide nursing developments and the development and implementation of the nursing strategy, monitoring and evaluating progress. Report progress to the Chief Nurse through the nursing governance structures and other governance arrangements on a regular basis.
· To provide clinical and professional supervision to senior nurses ensuring that standards of nursing advice are consistent, and that nursing developments are in accordance with the trust strategy and business objectives. To provide advice and support on revalidation as required.
· To participate in regular appraisal and performance review of nurses who are directly involved in the provision of education and development. To ensure that all staff within their area of line management responsibility are properly appraised and receive regular clinical and managerial supervision.
· To conduct disciplinary and service investigations as requested by the Service Directors and Chief Nurse, and to advise senior managers in disciplinary hearings.
· To work with the Workforce and Organisation Development Directorate to ensure that staff are properly registered with their professional body.
· To work in close collaboration with Heads of Profession, and external agencies, contributing to the planning and delivery of high quality mental health services locally.
· To contribute to the development of the most effective care pathways for service users through collaboration with other professionals and key stakeholders, which are in line with the Trust vision and agreed models of care delivery.
· To develop nurse-led initiatives regarding care improvement programs, which incorporate the post holder's higher level of practice, advancing nursing practice and opportunities for patients' treatment, intervention and mental health and physical care needs providing/accessing specialist nursing advice and input.
· To provide advice and support, to all disciplines, on service users' nursing needs.
· To work with the Heads of Nursing and Quality to ensure that all services have an evidence-based model of nursing care delivery, that nursing staff understand their roles and inputs in relation to this, and that a system of agreed quality metrics is used to demonstrate efficacy of care delivery.
· To fulfil the role of the senior professional nurse adviser to investigatory panels for the Trust as required.
· To ensure that standards and systems for maintaining high quality infection control and environmental cleanliness are in place and are being regularly audited.
· To work closely with the senior professionals in Estates and Facilities to provide assurance that capital projects (e.g. ligature reduction works) and soft facilities (cleaning, catering) are delivering to the required standards.
· To be an authorised signatory, responsible for agreeing defined budgets and managing within the budget available to the nursing directorate and specifically the Governance teams.
· To be part of disciplinary panels up to and including appeals against dismissal.
The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:
+ Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
+ Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
+ We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity
Please note:
+ That all applications for this post will need to be made online
+ That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
+ That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
+ That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
+ That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not successful
+ That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
+ That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
+ That we are a smoke-free Trust
SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion , Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe'

Applicants must have the ability to build positive and effective professional relationships, work with a range of senior experienced leaders and be a credible nurse in practice. The Deputy Chief Nurse will actively promote a culture aligned to the Trust values therefore always acting as a role model for all our staff.

NHS AfC: Band 9
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.
We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good'.
We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone's potential as change makers.
The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.
Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I'm going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you'll be part of something special.
As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working., South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. There are very few organisations in the world that have such wide-ranging capabilities working with mental illness. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training.
The Trust employ around 5000 staff and serve a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services. Currently, provide inpatient care for approximately 5,300 people each year and treat more than 45,000 patients in the community in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark; as well as substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.

The role of Deputy Chief Nurse is an excellent opportunity for a nurse who has ambitions to become a Chief Nurse. We will provide a robust development package that will support your aspiration to become a Chief nurse. This post is for someone who is able to manage a demanding and busy portfolio, who has the confidence to work autonomously and above all else is a credible and authentic registered mental health nurse able to lead by example.