Matron

Job Overview This is a one-year job share secondment opportunity to provide senior nursing leadership across the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Amazon Ward at St Charles Mental Health Centre. The post holder will be responsible for supporting the clinical and operational oversight of both services, working in partnership with the existing Matron, Ward Managers, Consultant Psychiatrists and multidisciplinary teams to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, therapeutic and person-centred care.

The role requires a strong clinical presence to support nursing teams, promote continuous improvement and maintain high standards of quality, governance and operational performance. The successful candidate will contribute to the management of complex clinical risks associated with PICU and acute inpatient services, including restrictive interventions, seclusion, violence and aggression, safeguarding, medication safety, physical healthcare, leave management and patient transfers.

Working collaboratively with colleagues, the post holder will support safe staffing, effective patient flow and service development, ensuring compliance with professional, statutory and organisational standards while maintaining patient safety, dignity and quality of care. This secondment provides an excellent opportunity for an experienced leader to develop their strategic and operational leadership skills within a challenging and rewarding inpatient mental health setting.

Main duties of the job

This role requires an experienced and credible nursing leader who can provide visible, compassionate leadership while balancing the complex operational demands of PICU and acute inpatient mental health services.

Key Areas of Responsibility

• Clinical leadership and professional nursing standards
• Quality assurance, patient safety, and governance
• Operational management of PICU and Acute Inpatient Services
• Workforce planning, recruitment, and staff development
• Patient flow, bed management, and discharge optimisation
• Safeguarding, risk management, and regulatory compliance
• Quality improvement and service development
• Partnership working with multidisciplinary and external agencies
• Oversight of patient, carer, and family experience
• Delivery of Trust objectives and performance targets

Working for our organisation

St Charles in Kensington and Chelsea is the largest site with four adult inpatient wards called Amazon Ward, Danube Ward, Ganges Ward and Thames Ward that provide a safe and therapeutic environment for people with acute mental health problems.

St Charles also has two PICUs (psychiatric intensive care unit). It provides mental health care and treatment for people whose acute distress, absconding risk, and suicidal or challenging behaviour needs a secure environment beyond that which can normally be provided on an open psychiatric ward.

The site also has HBPoS (health-based place of safety) where people are detained and transported under Section 135/136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (amended 2007) can be managed safely while an appropriate assessment is undertaken.

The unit has two matrons supporting the units ward managers. Each unit is operating with multi-disciplinary teams including peer support workers, activity co-ordinators, ward admins and volunteers.

St Charles is a vibrant and busy unit full of motivated teams who are currently working through transformation. We value the wellbeing of our colleagues at work; therefore, we encourage work-life balance and continuously working towards improving working environment.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities Summary of Key Responsibilities The Matron will provide senior clinical, professional and operational leadership across the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Amazon Ward, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective, recovery-focused and person-centred care. The post holder will maintain a visible clinical presence, support Ward Managers and multidisciplinary teams, and promote high standards of nursing practice, governance and patient experience.

Key responsibilities include overseeing patient safety, safeguarding, clinical risk management, restrictive practice, incident management and compliance with the Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act and regulatory requirements. The Matron will provide senior oversight of admissions, transfers, patient flow and discharge planning, ensuring patients receive care in the least restrictive environment and progress through services safely and effectively.

The role includes responsibility for maintaining high standards of physical healthcare, medicines management, infection prevention, environmental safety and quality assurance. The post holder will lead quality improvement initiatives, service development and transformation programmes, using learning from incidents, audits, complaints and patient feedback to drive continuous improvement.

The Matron will provide professional leadership and support to Ward Managers, ensuring safe staffing, workforce development, recruitment, retention, supervision, performance management and staff wellbeing. They will work collaboratively with patients, carers, community services, local authorities, commissioners and partner agencies to promote integrated care pathways and positive patient outcomes.

The post holder will also provide senior decision-making, escalation management and operational leadership during periods of increased clinical acuity, serious incidents, staffing pressures and other service challenges, while maintaining oversight of governance, performance, financial stewardship and regulatory compliance.

The requirement for Matron-level cover reflects the significant responsibility for patient safety, quality, safeguarding, workforce performance, patient flow, governance and operational delivery across both the PICU and Amazon Ward.

Person specification

Education And Experience Essential criteria

• Registered with the NMC Level 1
• Relevant Management Qualification
• Enb998/SLICE or Mentorship qualification
• Degree/Masters in specialist field or appropriate experience.

Desirable criteria

• Recognised senior management training in leadership, policy or strategy

Previous Experience Essential criteria

• Extensive post-registration experience
• Previous experience of managing a multi-disciplinary staff team, including line management, supervision responsibility and operational management of services at band 7 or equivalent
• Experience of re-provisioning services and managing staff through change
• Experience of multi-professional collaboration at senior level, including partnership working with other agencies.
• Experience of providing clinical/managerial supervision and facilitating reflective practice.
• Experience of service development.
• Experience of managing staff and resources
• Experience managing budgets
• Experience writing reports and delivering presentations to a high standard and to senior staff
• Experience writing reports Experienced in involving service users and their carers in service planning and monitoring
• Experience in IT skills, familiar with word processing, excel and email systems

Desirable criteria

• Experience of representing services at different organisations
• Experience of managing Adult Mental Health services
• Detailed knowledge of policy agenda in Mental Health services

Skills, Knowledge, Abilities Essential criteria

• Able to demonstrate an up to date knowledge and understanding of current Mental Health Policy issues including the Mental Health Act.
• Able to demonstrate an up to date knowledge of nursing developments, especially in mental health.
• Ability to provide high quality nursing advice
• Ability to build and develop teams of people and to provide strong leadership to a diverse workforce.
• Ability to identify problems and use initiative and creativity in problem solving.
• Ability to communicate effectively in writing and orally, presenting ideas with clarity in a persuasive and influential style, for a variety of audiences.
• Ability to manage pressure and changing and conflicting priorities effectively.
• Ability to support and monitor systems for clinical practice.
• Able to influence and use negotiation skills and the ability to manage differences constructively.
• A demonstrable ability to work closely with a range of stakeholders and other providers in helping plan the future of service provision.
• Able to demonstrate a genuine commitment to principles of equal opportunity, fair access and service user empowerment, and the ability to translate principles into practice.
• Able to demonstrate an understanding of safe guarding practice for both vulnerable adults and children

ATTITUDES, APTITUDES PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Essential criteria

• A demonstrable ability to make sound and timely decisions and initiate action to solve problems
• To demonstrate the ability to weigh up situations and consider the benefits and problems before decisions are made.
• The ability to implement performance management systems within the service area that meet local and national objectives and motivate staff to achieve these objectives.
• Demonstrable ability to plan, manage and implement projects when required and assume delegated lead responsibilities.

Desirable criteria

• Demonstrable ability to plan and implement change in the service and ensure the involvement of the workforce in the programme of change.

Other Essential criteria

• The post holder must have the ability to understand and implement the equal opportunities policy at a level appropriate to the job.
• Ability to promote anti-discriminatory and anti racist practices