Discharge Team Lead

Go back Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Discharge Team Lead

The closing date is 14 December 2025

A 6-month secondment role has become available for a Deputy Discharge hub Lead to support the coordinating and planning of patient transfers of care.

• To be responsible for the operational management, leadership and coordination of the daily activities and planning of the West Middlesex Discharge Hub.
• This role will involve working with community services in an integrated manner to improve understanding of models of care ensuring patients are accessing the most appropriate pathways.
• To proactively plan and organise effectively at times of unexpected surges in patient activity and act as the central point of contact to deliver a coordinated and effective response for management of patient flow for secondary care and the link out to the community teams.
• LOCATION: Based at West Middlesex though occasional travel to all sites within the system will be required.

Main duties of the job

The Deputy Discharge Hub Lead will support the management of the Discharge Hub at West Middlesex Hospital, coordinating and planning the transfer of patient's on pathways 1, 2 and 3 in line with home first principal for West Middlesex Hospital and Hounslow patients from other hospitals.

The team will work with the patient, family, wards and community staff to determine and decide the right level of support and follow up assessment that will be required to ensure a safe and timely transfer back to the community setting.

The post holder will provide expert advice to other members of the MDT and other agencies regarding the management of transfer of care of patients.

This role will involve working with community services in an integrated manner to improve understanding of models of care ensuring patients are accessing the most appropriate pathways.

The role is pivotal to achieving national and local targets through its influence on patient movement into and out of acute hospital beds.

This role will undertake the lead in various system wide projects and initiatives that are focused on safe discharge.

About us

Our Trust is one of England's top-performing and safest trusts. We operate two main acute hospital sites-Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital-along with award-winning clinics across North West London.

Our nearly 7,500 staff care for a diverse population of 1.5m, providing full clinical services including maternity, A&E and children's services, plus specialist HIV and sexual health care. The CQC rates us Good in safety, effectiveness, care and responsiveness, and Outstanding in leadership and resource use.

We continually invest in our facilities, including a £30m expansion of critical care at Chelsea and an £80m Ambulatory Diagnostic Centre at West Mid.

We are delivering sustainable healthcare through our Green Plan. In line with Greener NHS ambitions, we aim for net zero carbon emissions by 2045. Achieving this requires collective effort. We encourage staff to reduce their impact on carbon, waste and pollution wherever possible. Every action counts to create a healthier, more sustainable future.

We are committed to equal opportunities and believe diversity drives innovation and excellence. We welcome applications from the global majority, veterans and underrepresented communities, valuing the perspectives they bring.

If you haven't heard from us within 3 weeks of the closing date, your application was likely unsuccessful. Employment is subject to a six-month probation. Some roles may require weekend shifts at multiple sites.

Job responsibilities

To be responsible for the operational management, leadership and coordination of the daily activities and planning of the West Middlesex Discharge Hub.

Provide clinical and professional leadership to the integrated Discharge Hub to ensure the delivery of a high quality, responsive service which meets the transfer of care needs of the population.

To develop and maintain active communication relationships and links with all the stakeholders involved in discharge and ensure effective and timely liaison with a wide range of staff from front line clinicians up to senior managers and strategic partners.

To ensure integrated processes are created and embedded in the recording and understanding of system wide data relating to discharge, aimed at improving patient experience/ outcome within the transfer of care pathway.

To ensure key areas for escalation cascaded appropriately in a timely manner to the appropriate agencies/ services.

To provide senior clinical decision making/expertise and direction to multi- agency health, social care and third sector staff enabling a culture of learning which strives to achieve the most appropriate and safe outcome for all patients undergoing transfer of care in a timely and appropriate manner.

To proactively plan and organise effectively at times of unexpected surges in patient activity and act as the central point of contact to deliver a coordinated and effective response for management of patient flow for secondary care and the link out to the community teams.

To make independent assessment and recommendations regarding course of action in complex admission/ discharge planning situations.

To support the ward based multi-disciplinary team members as required and coordinate patient flow activities.

To ensure any changes to clinical pathways are communicated and implemented within the Discharge Team.

To support and contribute actively to the training and development of other members of staff as and when required to improve service provision.

Person Specification Education and Qualifications

• Degree in Nursing, Allied Health Professions or other Equivalent Health or social care
• Current full HCPC/NMC or appropriate professional body Registration
• Evidence of management development through CPD and/or formal management courses
• Evidence of CPD activity, including nationally recognised post graduate training in appropriately relevant areas to Degree level or equivalent Evidence of reflective practice, IST and CPD portfolio
• Relevant training courses/programmes attended in management
• Masters level qualification in health and social care

Experience

• NHS/Social care experience in first line management and team leading
• Extensive experience of managing discharge/transfer planning at a senior level
• Experience of successfully managing a team
• Clinical experience within a specialist field
• Broad based clinical/practical on-field experience covering a wide range of areas including A&E. hospital wards and community work

Skills and Knowledge

• Demonstrate exceptional leadership skills that can support and motivate a MD/Multi-agency workforce
• Requires outstanding assertive negotiation, reasoning and decision making skills
• Autonomous practitioner works within codes of practice, policies and guidelines
• To be IT competent, utilising a variety of electronic patient record software, word processing and IT resources
• Can educate and train a wide range of staff and patients/family in the best practice of transfer planning
• Demonstrate able to contribute to development of policy
• Counselling skills

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.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust