Mental Health Practitioner - Early Days in Custody (EDiC)

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 16 April 2025

Job summary

Ensure that new prisoners are supported during their first 14 days in the prison to access relevant healthcare offers and manage their general health and wellbeing whilst in prison.

Identify the wider needs of patients, through the completion of a comprehensive assessment andworking in partnership with them to co-produce a written care plan that addresses their health and social care needs. The role will include covering some work for the mental health in-reach team

Main duties of the job

To be responsible take part in reception screening for new prisoners on the day of first entry into prison. This will identify immediate health, risks, and safety needs.
To obtain collateral, manage risk and maintain contact for first 14 days in custody.
To be able to develop initial mental health crisis plans for patients who are presenting as particularly at risk of a mental health crisis.
For people that decline this assessment the team will ensure a care plan is in place for any known risks and vulnerabilities and will proactively work with the person to undertake a secondary screen at a later stage.

About us

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

We're Kind
We're Fair
We Listen
We Care

Date posted

03 April 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£44,806 to £53,134 a year pa inc

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

277-7122202-WANDS

Job locations

HMP Wandsworth

Heathfield Road

London

SW18 3HU

Job description

Job responsibilities

Ensure integrated and collaborative working with other specialist services, including continuity of care and through the gate arrangements and liaison.Short-term care coordination to ensure referrals are made, GP appointments are attended, assessments actioned, and issues identified at the reception screening or health assessment are addressed.To be able to provide brief interventions for substance misuse and mental wellbeing (i.e., sleep hygiene advice, breathing techniques for anxiety management etc.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ:

All applicants must be willing to undertake National Security Vetting in order to work in a Prison Setting. This will be completed as part of the pre-employment checks through Oxleas and the prison vetting team.

You will need to provide:

Proof of right to work documentation
Proof of ID, needs to include 1 photographic ID
Proof of address documentation
Non-UK passport holders will need to have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home office Share code.

Address History:

5 years address history will be needed.

Applicants that are not UK Passport holders who provide less than 5 years UK address history will need to provide a Police Certificate which must be in English from where they resided previously.

Applicants who are UK Passport holders who have lived abroad for a period of more than six months during the last three years will need to provide a certificate of good conduct or an overseas police check in English from the countries resided in or visited.

In order to assist you in obtaining a Police Certificate, guidance can be soughtfrom:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants

If the country you have resided in is not listed here, you can obtain the necessary information by contacting the relevant Embassy or High Commission for that Country. Their contact details can be found on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en).

Job description

Job responsibilities

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ:

You will need to provide:

Proof of right to work documentation
Proof of ID, needs to include 1 photographic ID
Proof of address documentation
Non-UK passport holders will need to have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home office Share code.

Address History:

5 years address history will be needed.

Applicants that are not UK Passport holders who provide less than 5 years UK address history will need to provide a Police Certificate which must be in English from where they resided previously.

In order to assist you in obtaining a Police Certificate, guidance can be soughtfrom:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

RMN
at least 2 years post registration as RMN
extensive clinical experience

Desirable

Supervisory experience of junior staff
Ability to establish rapport with difficult to engage service users.
Effective written verbal and non-verbal communication skills.

complex needs

Essential

ability to work with complex needs
ability to work autonomously and set own priorities
excellent communication skills

Desirable

Awareness and acceptance of cultural diversity.

communication

Essential

Ability to meet the demands of a client group with complex needs which requires a high level of concentration and an ability to adapt quickly to a variety of emotional situations. Frequent concentration required when writing reports in a busy environment with frequent interruptions.
Detailed knowledge of mental health legislation and current practice.
Ability to establish rapport with difficult to engage service users

Desirable

Well developed people skills, respectful and empathic towards others
Will occasionally be expected to address giving or receiving bad news such as when talking to distressed or emotional clients, carers and other staff,

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

RMN
at least 2 years post registration as RMN
extensive clinical experience

Desirable

Supervisory experience of junior staff
Ability to establish rapport with difficult to engage service users.
Effective written verbal and non-verbal communication skills.

complex needs

Essential

ability to work with complex needs
ability to work autonomously and set own priorities
excellent communication skills

Desirable

Awareness and acceptance of cultural diversity.

communication

Essential

Ability to meet the demands of a client group with complex needs which requires a high level of concentration and an ability to adapt quickly to a variety of emotional situations. Frequent concentration required when writing reports in a busy environment with frequent interruptions.
Detailed knowledge of mental health legislation and current practice.
Ability to establish rapport with difficult to engage service users

Desirable

Well developed people skills, respectful and empathic towards others
Will occasionally be expected to address giving or receiving bad news such as when talking to distressed or emotional clients, carers and other staff,

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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 (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).