Job summary
Candidates to please note Croydon is currently undergoing transformation into Neighbourhood Centres. This role is currently advertised for the Croydon Assessment and Liaison Team (A&L), however the two successful candidates will be reallocated to a Neighbourhood Centre team before the end of 2026.

Initially the candidates will be working as Senior Clinical Practitioner in Croydon A&L. On transformation into Neighbourhood Centres the successful candidates will transition into Team Leader roles.

Main duties of the job
Senior Clinical Practitioner:
To work as a full-time highly experienced autonomous practitioner carrying out specialist needs assessments, care planning, implementation, and evaluation for a significant number of adults referred to the Croydon Assessment and Liaison Team. The Senior Practitioner will assess and formulate a care plan, offer brief interventions (up to 12 weeks) with mental health service users, signpost to other services, and discharge to primary care where appropriate/possible. Additionally, the Senior Practitioner will supervise community practitioners.

Team Leader
Band 7 Clinical Team Leader provides senior clinical and operational leadership within the Neighbourhood Centre. The role ensures the delivery of safe, effective, person-centred mental health care in a community mental health environment.

The post-holder offers visible, accessible leadership, supporting the multidisciplinary team with expert clinical oversight, risk management, and high-quality assessment processes. They are responsible for ensuring smooth patient flow, timely decision-making, and robust escalation pathways.

A key part of the role involves service development, quality improvement, audit leadership, and governance, alongside supporting staff development, competency growth, and fostering a positive, inclusive team culture aligned with Trust values.

About us
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.

Job responsibilities
The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. For both overviews please view the Job Description attachment with the job advert.

Qualifications

• Essential
  • A recognised degree in Mental Health Nursing, Social work or Occupational Therapy (A)
  • Registered Nurse-Mental Health or other professional registration such as Occupational Therapy and Social Worker (A)
• Desirable
  • Management course.
  • Master level qualification

Experience

• Essential
  • oExperience of managing a caseload
  • oExperience working in a community mental health service
  • oExperience of providing clinical and managerial supervision and annual appraisals
  • oExperience of managing clinical practice in a mental health service
  • Experience of conducting Biopsychosocial assessments of Service Users with a range of mental health needs.
• Desirable
  • Experience of managing conflicts
  • Experience of investigating and responding to complaints
  • oPrevious experience in a team leader role
  • oExperience of conducting safeguarding enquires under the Care Act

Knowledge / Skills

• Essential
  • oWorking knowledge of all relevant legislation associated with acute mental health care,
  • oExperience of conducting clinical audits
  • oExperience of reviewing Datix and completing Fact Finders
  • Understanding of KPIs
  • Knowledge and expertise in the management of complex risk and crisis
• Desirable
  • o Knowledge of performance management procedures
  • oKnowledge of PSIRF framework

Additional information
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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.

Employer details
Employer name: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Address: Jeanette Wallace House, Croydon, CR0 1FE, United Kingdom