Specialist Operational Manager MHST & U18 Wellbeing Team

Specialist Operational Manager MHST & U18 Wellbeing Team

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Main area

Specialist Operational Manager

Grade

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Contract

Permanent

Hours

Full time - 37.5 hours per week

Job ref

246-WSU7994987

Site

Mariner House

Town

Ipswich

Salary

£57,528 - £64,750 per annum/ pro rata

Salary period

Yearly

Closing

07/06/2026 23:59

Interview date

24/06/2026

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience

Job overview

Do you have the ambition, creativity and clinical skills to contribute to the development of new mental health services for children and young people? With the National conversation continuing to be focused on young people’s mental health and early intervention and prevention, this is the time to be at the forefront of the development of these services.

We are seeking a dynamic Operational Lead to provide senior leadership across our Early Intervention CAMHS Getting Help services, including the Mental Health Support Team (MHST). This is a pivotal role driving the delivery of high-quality, timely and equitable early intervention mental health support for children and young people, their families and carers. MHSTs are based within education settings and a key component of the delivery of this service and the wider Early Intervention CAMHS Getting Help services is providing Whole School/College and Community Approaches to supporting children and young peoples mental health and emotional wellbeing.

You will lead services through an exciting period of expansion and transformation, including the move towards 100% MHST coverage and neighbourhood-based delivery. You will work closely with clinical and system partners, ensure services are safe, responsive, evidence-informed and outcomes-focused, while promoting an inclusive and child- and family-centred culture.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will be responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership for MHST, Under 18 Wellbeing and Early Intervention CAMHS Getting Help services, supporting planning, mobilisation and delivery across the locality. Ensuring a high-quality service is provided to children and young people (and their families/carers) experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties, through early intervention and offering the right support at the right time. You will work in partnership with health, education, local authority, voluntary sector and wider children and young people services to deliver integrated early intervention.

You will be key to supporting the expansion and transformation of the services and drive continuous improvement in access, quality, safety, outcomes and productivity, ensuring delivery of MHST core functions including direct intervention, whole school/college/community approaches and consultation. You'll work with the Principal Clinical Psychologists, Associate Director of Clinical Psychology and Clinical Leads supporting the development, expansion and delivery of an excellent service.

The services are delivered across Suffolk (excluding Lowestoft and Waveney).

Working for our organisation

A job in the Suffolk for MHST, Under 18 Wellbeing and Early Intervention CAMHS Getting Help services will inevitably be challenging and demanding at times, but it will also be immensely rewarding and provide you with great opportunities to make a genuine difference to the lives of others. You will join a service that has developed a caring, creative and hard-working environment; supporting it to continue to develop and grow.

This is an exciting time of Transformation of mental health services in Suffolk, which MHSTs are at the forefront of. These changes are driven by the needs of local communities, with the aim of embedding mental health services within the community and truly bringing the expertise to where it is needed. NSFT in collaboration with the Suffolk alliance partners are striving to deliver services within the Thrive framework.

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We would welcome any informal conversations about these roles. Please do contact us for more information.

Interviews are anticipated to take place on 24th June 2026.

For further details regarding the role, please see attached job description and person specification plus the supplementary information.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Education to degree level or evidence of sound intellectual ability and ongoing personal development at senior management level
• Recognised post-graduate management qualification or equivalent experience.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of managing health and social care integrated services

Other

Essential criteria

• Ability to travel independently

Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant experience working within and Managing clinical services
• Significant general and operational management experience to include the management of a large multi-disciplinary group of staff – part of which to have been in the NHS

Desirable criteria

• Working in mental health

Skills

Essential criteria

• A proven record of success in managing significant operational or strategic change while maintaining safe, high-quality service delivery in a clinical or multi agency setting.

Please be aware that, due to the high number of applications for certain roles, this vacancy may close earlier than the advertised closing date. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.

YOUR APPLICATION

We can provide all our job application materials in alternative formats so that these are accessible to everyone. Should you require any documents within this job pack in an alternative format, please do not hesitate to contact us at ***email_hidden***.

PLEASE NOTE: If you use a hotmail, msn or yahoo e-mail account, you will need to check your "junk" mail regularly as these email providers will divert any communication from this Trust/NHS JOBS straight into your " junk" inbox.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.

As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job vacancy (outlined in the Person Specification).. We encourage you to indicate your eligibility through TRAC jobs when applying.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post may be 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.

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Further details / informal visits contact

Name

Beth Mosley

Job title

Associate Director of Psychology

Email address

[email protected]

Telephone number

07831127534

Additional information

Amy Alexander (Principal Psychologist) [email protected]

Emmeline Gwaspari (Principal Psychologist) [email protected]