The post holder will provide senior operational leadership and management for the Mental Health Support Team (MHST), ensuring the delivery of high-quality, safe, effective, accessible and responsive mental health support to children and young people within education settings.

The Operational Manager will have responsibility for the day-to-day operational delivery and ongoing development of the MHST, providing visible and compassionate leadership to the workforce and ensuring that services are delivered in accordance with national guidance, local priorities and Trust policies.

Provide senior operational leadership and management of the MHST.
Ensure effective day-to-day delivery of the service across participating schools, colleges and other education settings.
Ensure appropriate systems are in place to manage referrals, allocation, caseloads, waiting times, demand and capacity.
Ensure that service delivery remains responsive to the needs of children, young people, families and education settings.
Monitor service performance against agreed local, Trust and national standards and take appropriate corrective action where performance falls below expectations.
Ensure effective and efficient use of workforce and financial resources.
Lead the development, implementation and review of operational processes and procedures.
Identify operational pressures, service gaps and risks and ensure appropriate mitigation and escalation.
Work collaboratively with clinical and professional leads to maintain safe and effective service delivery.
Support the development and expansion of MHST provision in accordance with commissioning requirements and local priorities.
Lead and support transformation, innovation and continuous improvement across the service.
Represent the MHST at appropriate operational, governance and partnership meetings.

North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.

Our Five-Year Strategy:
We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.

With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all

We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.

We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, quality improvement and technology.

Why NLFT?

We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.

We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.

NHS Discounts, generous annual leave and NHS pension scheme

Excellent internal staff network

In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that fall under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.

Provide compassionate, inclusive, visible and effective leadership to MHST staff.
Provide line management and management oversight to identified members of the team.
Promote a positive culture that supports staff wellbeing, psychological safety, inclusion and professional development.
Ensure staff receive appropriate supervision, annual appraisal and opportunities for continuing professional development.
Manage workforce performance, attendance, conduct and capability in accordance with Trust policies and procedures.
Lead and support recruitment, induction and retention of staff.
Undertake effective workforce and succession planning.
Monitor staffing establishment, vacancies, turnover and other workforce pressures.
Work with colleagues to ensure appropriate skill mix and effective deployment of available resources.
Ensure staff have appropriate competencies, training and support to fulfil their roles safely and effectively.
Develop leadership capacity within the team and support staff to take responsibility for identified areas of service development.
Facilitate effective communication and engagement across the workforce, particularly during periods of organisational or service change.