Mental Health Nurse - Fixed term

Job responsibilities

Job Description

To work within a multi-professional primary care team to provide a service for adults with varying levels of mental health needs that may co-exist with physical health problems within the registered patient population.

To work independently providing assessment, treatment and referral of patients predominantly with low mood, anxiety and depression

To liaise with and refer onto primary and secondary mental health services, voluntary and public sector agencies and community support groups.

To carry out annual health reviews for adults on the practice mental health register

To provide specialist advice and support to practice colleagues in relation to patients with mental health issues.

Clinical Responsibilities

Use highly developed communication skills in working with people to understand their personal and often very sensitive difficulties

Assess, plan, implement and evaluate individual treatment plans for patients including assessing patients for suitability for psychological interventions and medical treatment

Exercise autonomous professional responsibility for the assessment and treatment of patients in line with the service and agreed protocols.

Initiate medication in-line with practice protocols and PGDs

Review medication for therapeutic effectiveness appropriate to patient needs and in accordance with evidence based practice and national and practice protocols and repeat prescription in line with clinical assessments and protocols

Work with other health and social care professionals to assess, treat and monitor management of patients in line with national and local policies and practice needs. Attend multi-disciplinary meetings relating to referrals or patients in treatment, where appropriate.

Educate and involve family members and others in treatment as necessary.

Lead in the production of clinical protocols and pathways to ensure high levels of conformance to QOF objectives

Promote and deliver the care to patients required to manage the demand of the quality and outcomes framework as appropriate.

Work with patients to support engagement with appropriate services and treatment, which may include onward referral to secondary mental health services or sign-posting to other psychological therapy services within Primary Care e.g. IAPT. Provide specialist advice and consultation to other clinicians and staff at the practice on matters related to the practice and delivery of psychological and mental health care and service provision.

Keep coherent records of all clinical activity in line with service protocols

Carry out clinical audits of service performance, including service user surveys and evaluations, and help to collate and disseminate the results for feedback.

Communicate effectively with patients; recognising the need for varying methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding cultural background and preferred ways of communicating.

Professional Responsibilities

Work as an effective and responsible primary care practice team member, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working.

Produce accurate, contemporaneous and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies and procedures and in line with local practice.

Prioritise, organise and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality.

Deliver care according to NSF, NICE guidelines and evidence-based care.

Actively participate in the development, evaluation and improvement to ensure benefits realisation.

Assess effectiveness of care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation.

Participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the practice.

Use practice computer systems accordingly in line with practice policy.

Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required.

Collaborate on improving the quality of health care in partnership with other clinical teams, responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate.

Feedback patients responses regarding the effectiveness of care given.

Support and participate in providing training and shared learning across the practice and wider organisation, including providing specialist advice and information relating to mental health.

Participate in the management of patient complaints when requested to do so and participate in identification of any necessary learning brought about through clinical incidents and near-miss events.

Work within local and national policy and guidance relating to vulnerable and abused children and adults, being aware of statutory child/ vulnerable adult health procedure.

Work within policies regarding family violence, safeguarding children, vulnerable adults, substance abuse and addictive behaviour, and refer as appropriate.

Delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessing competence.

Understand and implement internal and external referral mechanisms.

Prioritise own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team.

Take responsibility for own development, learning and performance including participating in clinical supervision and acting as a positive role model.

Act as a clinical leader in the delivery of general practice mental health nursing services to patients, ensuring that the needs of the patient are the priority.

Develop contacts with and maintain a database of local knowledge on services (statutory and third sector), community support groups and social networks that can benefit patients with low mood, anxiety and depression.

Develop and maintain a suite of accessible information to give to patients with low mood, anxiety and depression.

Operational

Contribute and participate in the development of local guidelines, protocols and standards.

Participate in planning and success of key performance indicator targets.

Actively promote the workplace as a learning environment, encouraging everyone to learn from each other and from external good practice.

Participate in planning and implementing changes within the area of care and responsibility.

Participate in the planning and engagement of practice-based commissioning of similar initiatives.

Ensure awareness of sources of support and guidance (eg PALS) and provide information in an acceptable format to all patients, recognising any differences or difficulties and refer where appropriate.

Risk Management

Manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients.

Monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines.

Support members of the nursing team to undertake mandatory and statutory training requirements as appropriate.

Apply infection-control measures within the practice according to local and national guidelines.

Apply policies that reduce environmental health risks, are culturally sensitive and increase access to health care for all.

Participate in the local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice.

Utilising Information and technology as an aid to management in planning, implementation and monitoring, presenting and communicating information.

Review and process data using accurate Read codes to ensure easy and accurate retrieval for monitoring and audit processes.

Manage information searches using the internet and local library databases, for example, the retrieval of relevant information for patients on their condition.

Understand the responsibility of self and others regarding the Freedom of Information Act.

Collate, analyse and present clinical data and information to the team using appropriate charts and/ or graphs to enhance care.

Learning and Development

Act as a mentor to students, assessing competence against set standards as requested and if appropriately qualified.

Disseminate learning and information gained to other team members in order to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments.

Assess own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate.

Provide an educational role to patients, carers, families and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning.

Qualifications

Essential

• RMN qualification
• Current registration with the NMC and commitment to CPD.
• Front line experience of using advanced assessment skills especially in determining the nature and severity of mental illness/health (functional and organic) and differentiation between physical and mental health symptoms and conditions.
• Extensive working knowledge of the make up of the wider health and social care community including statutory and non-statutory services and direct experience of multi inter-agency working and collaboration.
• Experience of working in the community
• Detailed working knowledge of how secondary specialist mental health services are organised and operate, where and how they fit into the health and social care community.
• Significant skills and experience in educating and training the mainstream workforce, particularly non-specialist mental health workers.
• Demonstrates substantial experience of assessing risk and developing risk management strategies
• Strong track record of an ability to act with high levels of diplomacy whilst maintaining the strength of relationship to challenge inaccurate assumptions and perceptions.
• Highly developed verbal communication skills, able to engage effectively with people at all levels even when a more assertive approach is needed.
• Conversant with policies and national drivers influencing the service development in question, plus a broader and detailed understanding of the respective legislation affecting the people using the service.
• Specialist knowledge of the needs, treatment approaches and rights of people with mental health problems and the needs of their carers and family.
• Able to articulate a detailed understanding of the relevant legal frameworks/legislation including CPA process, Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act and Safeguarding
• Significant and demonstrable levels of initiative utilised within practice and work delivery.
• Demonstrates an understanding of recovery principles and the role of secondary mental health services in the delivery of care
• Experience of undertaking carers assessments
• Demonstrates substantial experience of, and relevant professional practice qualification in mentoring/assessing students and learners
• Highly developed active listening skills, which allow for reframing and testing of understanding
• Highly developed written communication skills, with experience of compiling and sorting notes and reports, establishing statistical data and analysing information
• Substantially developed IT skills with an understanding of Microsoft Office, and demonstrate a willingness to embrace new technology and processes
• Well organised, comfortable working under pressure and within time constraints.
• Confident working independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Willingness to collaborate and share care.

Desirable

• Relevant post-registration qualifications, such as Thorn, Non Medical Prescribing,
• CBT, AMHP, Brief Interventions etc
• Experience gained in a wide variety of settings
• Knowledge of primary care and experience in brief consultations
• Knowledge of clinical governance in primary care
• Local knowledge of range of community-based support services available for people with mental health problems
• Interest in primary care and in new models of delivery

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).