About this role
Job summary
South Tyneside Health Collaboration is seeking an experienced Head of Mental Health Clinical Services (Nursing) to provide visible, senior clinical leadership across our Enhanced Primary Care Mental Health, Neurodivergent and Learning Disabilities system.
This is a senior, systemlevel role for a highly credible nurse leader who can operate confidently across organisational boundaries, influencing practice, strengthening governance and providing assurance in complex, highrisk and ambiguous situations. The postholder will play a critical role in ensuring services across PCNs and partner organisations work as a coherent, safe and clinically aligned system, with clear accountability, consistent standards and effective escalation.
You will work as part of an integrated leadership team, remaining operationally engaged, supporting teams directly, resolving clinical complexity and shaping future models of care to ensure they are clinically safe, deliverable and personcentred.
We are looking for a Registered Nurse with significant senior clinical leadership experience in primary care, community and/or mental health services, and a strong track record in governance, safeguarding and system working.
This is a unique opportunity to influence care at neighbourhood and system level and make a tangible difference to outcomes for local populations.
Main duties of the job
The Head of Mental Health Clinical Services (Nursing) provides visible, operational clinical leadership across the Enhanced Primary Care Mental Health, Neurodivergent and Learning Disabilities system.
The role is responsible for ensuring that services across multiple organisations and PCNs operate as a coherent, safe, and clinically aligned neighbourhood health system.
This includes:
Driving consistent clinical standards, escalation thresholds, and decision-making frameworksProviding hands-on clinical leadership in complex, high-risk and system-critical situationsLeading multi-agency collaboration to ensure clarity of responsibility, continuity of care and safe outcomes.
Embedding robust governance, supervision, and risk management across organisational boundaries
The postholder works at system level but remains operationally engaged, ensuring that clinical leadership is active, credible, and responsive, not purely advisory.
They will also play a key role in shaping and influencing service development, ensuring that new models of care are clinically safe, deliverable, and aligned across partners.
About us
South Tyneside Health Collaboration (STHC) are a GP Federation and valued system partner, set up to bring together South Tyneside General Practices to work collaboratively in delivering services at scale across the borough of South Tyneside.
Job description Job responsibilities
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Operational Clinical Leadership Across the System
Provide visible, accessible senior clinical leadership across providers, PCNs and partner organisations.Actively lead and influence clinical decision-making in complex, high-risk, or unclear situationsEnsure alignment of clinical practice, thresholds, and expectations across services.Support teams to operate with confidence, clarity and defensible decision-making.
2. Cross-Organisational Clinical Collaboration
Lead effective multi-agency working across multiple providers including clinical, social care and VCSE teams.
Provide clinical leadership in situations involving:
Shared care complexityDisputed responsibilityFragmented pathwaysAct as a senior clinical point of resolution where there is ambiguity, risk, or system tension.Strengthen interfaces between organisations, reducing gaps, duplication and risk.
3. Clinical Oversight, Risk and Escalation (More operational)
Provide active oversight of high-risk cases and system risk themes, not limited to retrospective review.
Intervene where required to stabilise risk, clarify ownership and support safe decision-making.
Ensure that escalation processes are:
UnderstoodConsistentActively used across organisationsIdentify and address variation in practice across PCNs/providers.
4. Safeguarding and System Escalation Leadership
Provide senior clinical leadership in safeguarding across organisational boundaries.Support resolution of inter-agency disagreements and escalation challenges.Contribute to and lead system-level learning from safeguarding and risk themes.Participate directly in complex case discussions where clinical authority is required.
5. Clinical Governance Across a Multi-Provider System
Ensure consistent governance frameworks across all providers contributing to the service.Align supervision, clinical accountability, and scope of practice across roles (including ARRS)Provide credible clinical assurance into PCNs, providers and ICB structures.Translate governance into practical, operational expectations for teams.
6. Service Development and System Design
Provide senior clinical leadership into service design across organisations, not just advisory input.
Ensure new models are:
Clinically safeOperationally deliverableAligned across providersIdentify system gaps, duplication, and emerging need across the lifespan.Shape solutions that work across organisational boundaries, not within silos
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Educated to degree level or equivalent experience Qualifications and Professional Registration Evidence of ongoing professional development and senior clinical leadership training Post Graduate qualification in leadership, advanced practicer or a relevant clinical field or equivalent, senior level experience. Registered Nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council Significant senior clinical leadership within primary care, community opt mental health services Experience of clinical governance, safeguarding and risk management Demonstrated ability to manage complexity, ambiguity and multi-agency working at senior level
Desirable
Formal leadership or management qualification Advanced clinical practice qualification or equivalent experience
Knowledge and Understanding Essential
Primary care and community health systems Mental health, neurodivergence and/or learning disability pathways Clinical governance, safeguarding and risk frameworks Knowledge of multi-agency working shared care models and system-level risk Understanding of CQC standards, clinical quality requirements, and regulatory expectations Awareness of NHS commissioning, funding mechanisms, and system pressures Strong understanding of professional accountability, scope of practice and clinical decision-making in complex environments
Experience Essential
Significant experience in a senior clinical leadership role within primary care, community, mental health, or integrated services Demonstrable experience of providing operational clinical leadership in complex, high-risk or ambiguous situations Experience of working across organisational boundaries (e.g. primary care, NHS Trusts, Local Authority, VCSE sector) Strong track record in clinical governance, safeguarding and risk management at a system or service level Experience of influencing and aligning practice across multiple teams, services, or organisations
Desirable
Experience within neurodivergent and/or learning disability pathways Experience working within Primary Care Networks (PCNs) or Integrated Care Systems Experience providing clinical supervision and governance oversight for advanced or enhanced clinical roles (e.g. ARRS workforce)
Disclosure and Barring Service Check 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.
Employer details Employer name South Tyneside Health Collaboration
Address South Tyneside Health Collaboration
Bedewell Unit
Monkton Hall
South Shields
North East and Yorkshire
NE32 5NN
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.thesthc.co.uk (Opens in a new tab)