Clinical Service Lead (Flow Prioritisation)

Go back South West London and St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust Clinical Service Lead (Flow Prioritisation) The closing date is 22 October 2025

The postholder will oversee and optimise the patient journey from admission to discharge, focusing on efficient bed management, timely care delivery, and clear pathways to prevent blocks and improve patient outcomes.

Responsibilities include coordinating information on bed capacity and demand, facilitating effective discharge planning, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, and implementing strategies to ensure smooth operations within mental health inpatient services. Key skills involve clinical decision-making, data analysis, and a deep understanding of relevant legislation like the Mental Health Act.

Main duties of the job

• Ensures a seamless process from admission to discharge by organizing and tracking tasks for clinical teams and the patient flow team.
• Maintains real-time data on inpatient bed capacity and demand, adjusting plans to maximize capacity and address resource issues.
• Works with teams to enable effective and timely patient discharges by addressing barriers, including those related to housing and legislation.
• Gathers and collates information on patient flow and bed availability, often using daily checklists, spreadsheets, and databases.
• Liaises with various teams, including ward managers and other service leads, to facilitate daily tasks and resolve service delivery issues.
• Supports the development and implementation of strategies to achieve performance targets, such as reducing length of stay and improving overall patient care.

Key Skills and Knowledge

• Possesses advanced clinical decision-making skills to support complex patient flow issues.
• The ability to analyse information on bed capacity and demand to make informed decisions.
• Expert understanding of laws like the Mental Health Act andCare Act 2014 to remove discharge barriers.
• The capacity to identify and respond to service delivery issues and develop contingency plans.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with diverse multidisciplinary teams and external stakeholders.

About us We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.

We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

Springfield University Hospital, Tooting

Our largest, 19-ward site is in Springfield Village, created following our £150m investment into two new world class mental health facilities. A 32-acre public park, shops and cafes are now opening. Springfield is close to shops, cafes and Tooting Bec on the Northern Line plus Earlsfield and Tooting rail stations and bus routes.

Job responsibilities Communication

• To communicate effectively with staff through regular briefings and provide opportunities for staff involvement in service development.
• To communicate policies and procedures within the service, with partners and externally to ensure effective understanding and implementation.
• To communicate complex service-related information to senior managers, partners and relevant stakeholders using a variety of methods including, reports, presentations etc.
• To maintain effective and helpful relationships with service users, their relatives, friends and carers.
• To maintain effective relationships with members of the Trust, and other statutory andvoluntary agencies.

Service Development and Review

• To be responsible for the regular review and updating of the services operational policy.
• To contribute to the on-going development and evaluation of the services in relation to need, local and national quality standards and target frameworks.
• To ensure that partners are involved in service development and that developments within the third sector are accounted for in developing the service.
• To work with service users, carers and other local stakeholders to tackle healthinequalities.
• To ensure all service developments and commissioned services function within the parameters outlined by clinical governance requirements.
• To participate in the development and implementation of Trust policy within the service and take an active role in all operational and business planning.
• To ensure safeguarding vulnerable adults and children policy and protocols are adhered to.
• To plan and co-ordinate service review activities and to deliver, with colleagues, a programme of regular audit and continuous service improvement.
• To lead the community engagement programme and delivery of tailored and coproduced services for key priority population groups.

Management of Resources and Performance

• To use integrated management information systems to ensure resources are managed effectively.
• To ensure all members of the team are recording clinical and patient managementinformation using IAPTus and RiO, as required.
• To undertake regular skill mix review to ensure the workforce structure is designed to meet service demands.
• To apply structured management for safe and effective use of all resources within budget and within legislative frameworks.
• To lead on the data analysis (via RIO) and collation monthly and quarterly CCG and Trust performance reports, as required.

Financial and Performance Management

• To be responsible for ensuring that the service meets the Key Performance Indicators(KPIs) agreed with CCG commissioners as well as nationally agreed targets (access and recovery).
• To deliver the services within the allocated budget and ensure that monthly financial reviews are undertaken.
• To work closely with the services allocated Financial Business Partner to ensure the services financial position remains within budget.
• In agreement with the Head of Service Delivery, the postholder may be responsible for an allocated budget for the service.
• To oversee the development of and distribution of key service performance reports to internal and external stakeholders, such as the Trust Board and the CCG.

Service Delivery

• To ensure the service is delivering effective health care and wellbeing interventions in accordance with NICE Guidelines, Royal College of Psychiatry stadards and Policy Implementation guidelines.
• To ensure service standards are applied and kept under review and to inform the Matron / Clinical Manager and Head of Service Delivery of any significant problems or concerns in this regard.
• To promote and develop positive and integrated working relationships with the servicesthird sector partners.
• To ensure all staff members are aware of and trained to apply Safeguarding procedures.
• To ensure the team effective interfaces with other teams and services, referring agencies, service users and carers

Leadership

• To develop and promote collaborative and integrated working across all elements of the service.
• To ensure roles, responsibilities and accountability for team managers, partners and staff are clearly defined.
• To devolve resource management to team managers where appropriate.
• To ensure effective systems for supervision and developmental review / appraisal are in operation and that central report returns are made.
• To identify essential and developmental training needs, recording and reporting on training take up and ensuring mandatory standards are met.
• To ensure all Human Resources policies are adhered to responding to grievance, dispute or disciplinary issues in a timely way.
• To apply the Trust recruitment procedures to ensure fair and timely employment of staff to meet service needs.
• To ensure all staff are applying customer care skills to ensure service users and carers feel welcomed, listened to and informed.
• To identify and acknowledge individual and team strengths and ensure access to opportunities for further development
• To facilitate career development and promote future leaders both for clinical practice and for management roles.

Governance

• To work with the Head of Nursing & Quality and the Head of Service Delivery to set up and administer a monthly Performance Review & Quality Cluster meeting.
• To maintain and further develop approaches for involving service users, partners and wider stakeholders in the delivery of Services
• To ensure that the Trust's Governance processes are applied and that all staff work within the governance framework.
• To ensure clinical standards of care for service users are kept under review reporting any significant problems to the Head of Service Delivery
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