Job overview

This post is for a Unit Manager for Berkeley House - a 365 day, 24-hour inpatient unit for individuals with learning disabilities, designed for people to access for a short period of time while specialist assessments are carried out and treatment plans put in place to allow the person to return to community living.

Berkeley House is a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency service which includes nursing, psychology, psychiatry, occupational therapy,  speech and language therapy and health care Assistants (HCAs). There are seven individual flats where service users have access to space that is not impacted by others.

The post holder will take overall responsibility in leading the operational and clinical management of the Service, providing day-to-day line management of all staff. They will be responsible for planning, implementation and evaluation of nursing care, as well as demonstrating enhanced competence in complex decision making, assessment and the management of clinical needs.

The ideal candidate will have experience of working within an LD or MH setting who can demonstrate positive learning from their experience and who can transform and nurture care and work cultures. They will need to be a qualified, experienced Learning Disability or Mental Health Nurse with drive and ambition. 

The core hours of this role are 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will work closely with the nursing team and in partnership with service users, carers and other agencies to ensure effectiveness of outcomes.

They will have a responsibility for mentoring and supervising qualified and unqualified staff as well as line management and rota management to ensure the staffing levels within the unit are safe and meeting patient needs.

They will be a leader for the team, providing clear and effective guidance, focusing on a positive and collaborative working environment.

The successful candidate should demonstrate sound, professional knowledge of Learning Disabilities, with a proven ability to work with service users and carers who may be distressed. You will need strong interpersonal and organisational skills to provide a responsive and proactive approach for this developing service.

Working for our organisation

We have in excess of 5000 staff working over 50 sites, providing a diverse range of services. We strive to support an organisational culture that is welcoming, builds and celebrates inclusivity and diversity and provides a sense of belonging and trust. 

The annual NHS Staff Survey  gives our people the opportunity to tell us about their experience working at the Trust.  For the 2023 survey just over 2800 colleagues gave us their views (58.5%).   It was great to see from the results that colleagues are saying that:

• 89.7% believe they are making a positive difference to patients/service users; 
• 73.3% would recommend the organisation as a place to work; 
• 82.4% agree that care of patients and service users is the organisations priority;
• 76.7% would be happy with the standard of care for a friend or relative     

Our results put us as 5th nationally as a Community, Mental Health and Learning Disabilities NHS Employer of Choice and 1st equal amongst all NHS Provider Trusts in the South West. However, we know we have more to do and will continue to drive forward our commitment to making GHC a Great Place to Work.