Mental Health Practitioner

Job responsibilities

Main Duties & ResponsibilitiesTo represent the Mental Health Liaison Service whilst working with the Intermediate Tier Crisis Team within Stockport borough to provide specialist mental health nursing advice and a joint assessment service.Triage all referrals that are made to the service and allocate clinical priority.To carry out a thorough assessment of the service users current mental health needs, including risk assessment, psychological needs and cognitive functioning.To demonstrate the ability to make decisions in relation to the clinical management of individual patients and make critical clinical judgements in relation to mental health and care provision within the community setting.To be able to assess and manage clients presenting with co-morbidities of physical and mental health needs including the impact of medication and infection.Contribute to making decisions regarding client care in consultation with Intermediate Tier multi-disciplinary teams.To undertake short term nursing interventions and/or co-ordinate transition of care to other specialist support.To make onward referral to the most appropriate service to meet the individual patients needs.To identify the need for protection in line with Safeguarding Adults Policy and comply with local procedures.To liaise and negotiate with other professions, statutory and independent agencies to ensure the best possible service is provided to service users and carers.To involve family and carers in the assessment and care planning with service users consent.To provide education and appropriate self-help resources to patients specific to individual needs.To maintain accurate and up to date clinical documentation on all service user contacts, ensuring confidentiality at all times.To have a thorough understanding of functional and organic illness in older people and management strategies to support these.To possess a sound knowledge of issues surrounding the management of violence and aggression and to be able to diffuse potentially difficult and volatile situations.To provide advice and information to non-mental health trained social care staff regarding the management of patients with mental health problems.To observe and practice within the legal requirements of the Mental Health Act 1983 and Mental Capacity Act 2005.To maintain professional awareness by keeping abreast of changing trends in clinical / professional practice.To be aware of professional accountability, with due regard your professional Code of Conduct.To ensure that records are efficiently maintainedEducation and Training:To contribute to the on-going training and development of non- mental health trained staff with regard to mental health issues.To have effective presentation skills in order to positively promote the Older Peoples Mental Health Liaison Team.To provide mentorship, education and training to learners from a range of professional backgrounds.To attend mandatory and other training as identified as relevant to the post and necessary to ensure safe effective practiceService DevelopmentTo participate in monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of service delivery and contribute to developments relevant to mental health services.ManagementTo provide engage in peer supervision, advice and support to team members across the divisional team.To deal appropriately with clinical incidents, complaints etc. from patients, relatives and members of the public, via line manager, in accordance with Trust policy.This job description is not exhaustive, but is intended to give an overall picture of the role. Other duties within the general scope of the post may be required from time to time. The duties of the post and job description can be reviewed through the agreed process.General Duties of all post holders:To undertake any other reasonable duty, which is appropriate to the band, when requested by Senior Staff.To be familiar with and comply with all Trust and departmental policies, procedures, protocols and guidelines.To be aware of and work towards the Trusts strategic goals.Standards of Business ConduThe post holder must ensure that their behaviour and interests inside and outside work do not conflict with their Trust position, duties and/or responsibilities.The post holder must comply with and support the development of the performance standards within the service/department to ensure the service is responsive to and meets the needs of its customers.The post holder will be required to develop and maintain good working relationships with all patients, service users, staff, contractors and where appropriate, members of the public.The Trust aims to maintain the good will and confidence of its own staff, patients, service users, NHS contractors and the general public. To assist in achieving this objective it is essential that at all times, the post holder carries out their duties in a courteous, sympathetic and professional manager.All post holders who are members of a professional body must comply with standards of professional practice / conduct. It is the post holders responsibilities to ensure they are both familiar with and adhere to these requirements and maintain their professional membership to the relevant body.Equality and Diversity & Equal Opportunities:The post holder must carry out all duties and responsibilities of the post in accordance with the Trusts Equal Opportunities and Equality and Diversity policies, avoiding unlawful discriminatory behaviour and actions when dealing with colleagues, service users, members of the public and all other stakeholders.The post holder must promote awareness of and respect for equality and diversity in accordance with Trust policies and procedures.The post holder is responsible for treating all staff, patients, service users, NHS contractors and the general public with dignity and respect at all times.Safeguarding:Appointments to regulated and controlled activities require an enhanced DBS disclosure.All staff have a responsibility to promote the welfare of any child, young person or vulnerable adult they come into come into contact with and in cases where there are safeguarding concerns, to act upon them and protect the individual from harm.All staff should refer any safeguarding issues to their manager and escalate accordingly in line with the Trust Child and Adult Safeguarding Policies.All staff should familiarise themselves with the NICE Guidelines when to suspect child maltreatment 2009.Professional and Personal Development:The post holder must ensure that they are aware of their responsibilities by attending the Trust Mandatory Training and Induction Programme.The post holder will be involved in a formal IPDR/KSF review with his or her manager at least every 12 months. Once performance / training objectives have been set, the staff members progress will be reviewed on a regular basis, so that new objectives can be agreed and set, in order to maintain progress in the service delivery.The post holder will be expected to take responsibility for their own professional development and will be supported by the Trust to achieve development opportunities as appropriate.Confidentiality & Information GovernanceConfidentiality is of prime importance. In the normal course of duties, the post holder will have access to confidential documents and information relating to patients, service users, staff and contractors, as well as information of a commercially sensitive nature. Such information should not be communicated to anyone outside or inside the NHS unless done in the normal course of carrying out the duties of the post. Disciplinary action will be considered where a breach of confidence has been established.All information obtained or held during the post-holders period of employment that relates to the business of the Trust and its service users and employees will remain the property of the Trust. Information may be subject to disclosure under legislation at the Trusts discretion and in line with national rules on exemption.The post holder must maintain high standards of quality in corporate and clinical record keeping ensuring information is always recorded accurately, appropriately and kept up to date.The post holder must ensure compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.Health & Safety at Work:The post holder is required to take reasonable care of the health and safety of themselves and other persons who may be affected by their acts or omissions at work and to co-operate with the Trust in adhering to statutory and departmental safety regulations.The post holder is responsible for ensuring that they do not intentionally or recklessly misuse or interfere with anything provided in the interests of health safety or welfare e.g. misuse of equipment.The post holder is required to contribute to the control of risk and must report immediately, using the Trust Incident reporting system, any incident, accident or near miss involving patients, service users, carers, staff, contractors or members of the public.This list is not exhaustive.

Education / Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Mental Health Nurse (RMN)
• Completion of Preparation for Mentorship / Practice
• Post registration short course and experience to Post graduate diploma level

Desirable

• Registered General Nurse (RGN)
• Non-medical prescribing qualification
• Formal teaching qualification

Experience

Essential

• Significant post registration experience at Band 5 or above.
• Experience of working within older people's mental health inpatient, community or liaison settings.
• Experience of implementing programmes to manage BPSD
• Experience of working with individuals who present to mental health services in crisis and have symptoms of mental health illness
• Experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams.
• Experience of using safeguarding adult procedures

Desirable

• Experience of working with clients presenting with physical health comorbidity.
• Experience of triaging referrals
• Previous liaison assessment experience.
• Working knowledge of mental health challenges faced by individuals under the age of 65.

Knowledge

Essential

• Experience of identifying mental health conditions prevalent in the older population.
• Understanding and application of mental health assessment tools utilised in the care of older people.
• Understanding of current Mental Health Legislation, Vulnerable Adult and Safe Guarding Procedures.
• Knowledge of the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act.
• Awareness of NICE Guidance in the treatment of mental health problems and knowledge of treatments and interventions appropriate for individuals with mental health needs
• Understanding of confidentiality and data protection issues.
• Knowledge of mental health assessment and risk assessment / management processes
• Comprehensive understanding of deliberate self-harm and appropriate management strategies
• Comprehensive knowledge regarding the impact of physical health disorders on mental health
• Medications management

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Comprehensive mental health and risk assessment skills.
• Ability to supervise and direct the work of junior staff
• Ability to construct effective packages of care and risk management plans
• Ability to execute a range of mental health assessment tools
• Ability to deliver a range of evidence based interventions.
• Ability to work autonomously in a community setting
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• To have the ability to devise and present training packages
• Comprehensive I.T Skills
• Ability to form productive working relationships with service users, carers and multi-disciplinary staff.
• Ability to be assertive and maintain a professional demeanour under pressure
• Good organisational and prioritisation skills.

Desirable

• Skills in the area of audit or research

Work Related Circumstances

Essential

• Must be flexible and able to work within a 7 day service, including bank holidays and out of hours on a rota basis.

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).

UK Registration

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