Community Mental Health Nurse

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical

1. To be accountable for the care and support of a defined caseload of adults of working age.
2. To assess health and social care needs (including accommodation, finances, and support in accessing education, training or employment) and negotiate care plans with service users and their carers, remaining objective when working with diagnostic uncertainty and undertake assessments of need (in compliance with the Care Act 2014).
3. To undertake risk assessments and develop robust risk management plans, according to Trust policy.
4. To safely administer and store medication as needed in the community and ensure that relevant Pharmacy guidelines and policies are adhered to.
5. To monitor treatment, support concordance and ensure prompt action is taken to alleviate unwanted effects of prescribed medication.
6. To ensure delivery of care plans in partnership with multi-disciplinary colleagues and a range of health and social care agencies, within the CPA framework.
7. To engage with service users and carers assertively and offer care/interventions within the least restrictive setting, in normal community environments.
8. To help clients gain fair and equal access to services, through choice and social inclusion and being sensitive to age, culture, ethnicity and gender, sexuality and disability.
9. To offer a range of evidence based psycho-social interventions and pro-active risk management approaches to help the service user and their family to reduce and manage symptoms, high risk behaviour and other disabling effects of psychosis and enable, as far as possible, full and sustained recovery.
10. To ensure CNWL Child Protection Guidelines and Safeguarding Children and Adult procedures are fully understood by self and others. To ensure the safety needs of children and adults are met at all times and take appropriate action when a child or adult is felt to be at risk or in need.
11. To provide access to, and ongoing, psycho-education and health promotion regarding illness, disability and health to service users and families.
12. To provide interventions and to work with other disciplines/agencies/teams in the care of service users experiencing co-morbid problems with substance use/misuse.
13. To engage the service user and their family in relapse prevention and crisis planning, provide, and coordinate interventions that maximise the service users ability to resolve crises, remain at home and avoid the need for hospitalisation.
14. To deliver a flexible and responsive service through working practices that are dictated by service user/carer need and contribute to the provision of service continuity including outside normal working hours when necessary.
15. To receive referrals from GPs and undertake comprehensive psycho-social mental health assessments to establish care needs.
16. 16. To identify where best those needs can be met and facilitate signposting, onward referral or rapid access to relevant professionals and services and/or to provide support/advice to the referring GP on effective management.
17. To act as a contact point and provide a link/liaison role to GP practices with regard to patients with more complex mental health problems and/or co-morbidities
18. To ensure early detection and fast tracking of clients with severe mental health problems.
19. To provide a range of appropriate short and longer term, evidence based, psycho-social interventions for clients with more complex and severe, enduring mental illnesses (SMI) with the aim of preventing deterioration, relapse and longer term intervention from mental health services and to help the service user and their family to reduce and manage symptoms, high risk behaviour and other disabling effects of psychosis with the aim of achieving, as far as possible, a full and sustained recovery.
20. To prioritise time and workload, in a flexible manner to meet community caseload responsibilities, participate in meetings and effectively develop personal skills knowledge and experience through supervision and training.
21. To ensure delivery of care plans in partnership with multi-disciplinary colleagues and a range of health and social care agencies.
22. To ensure that the principles of personalisation and individualised choice are inherent in the assessment and care planning process, including maximising service users access to direct payments and personal budgets.
23. To identify appropriate resources, including residential and nursing placements and follow the Local Authority policy and procedures in order to access such services.
24. To support the wider team as necessary in providing regular comprehensive review of placements and services commissioned by the Local Authority for service users, in line with Local Authority policy and procedures
25. To provide access to, and ongoing, psycho-education and health promotion regarding illness, disability and health to service users and families
26. To ensure Safeguarding Children and Adult procedures are fully understood by self and others. To ensure the safety needs of children and adults are met at all times and take appropriate action when a child or adult is felt to be at risk or in need.
27. To provide interventions and to work with other disciplines/agencies/teams in the care of service users experiencing co-morbid problems with substance use/misuse.
28. To engage the service user and their family in relapse prevention and crisis planning, provide, and coordinate interventions that maximise the service users ability to resolve crises, remain at home and avoid the need for hospitalisation
29. To understand the social factors which are relevant to mental health problems and to be aware of and respectful of the cultures, customs, values and spiritual/religious practices and beliefs of all clients, regardless of age, culture, ethnicity and gender, sexuality and disability.
30. To support the safe step down of patients not currently requiring mental health services, with a focus on enabling GP practices to provide effective, continuing care and to ensure access to support in terms wider social and social inclusion/self-management needs.
31. To prioritise time and workload, in a flexible manner to meet community caseload responsibilities, participate in meetings and effectively develop personal skills knowledge and experience through supervision and training.
32. If admission to hospital becomes necessary, to provide regular, formal, joint Inpatient review to ensure the service user is transferred/discharged to the lowest stigma/least restrictive environment as soon as clinically possible.
33. To maintain standards of professional conduct at all times and observe the legal requirements of the MHA (1983), its Code of Practice, The Children Act (1989) The Mental Capacity Act (2005), Care Act (2014) and other relevant legislation and guidance.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential

• Current Professional Qualification in mental health nursing Registration must be live with professional body NMC Evidence of post registration training and CPD.

Desirable

• Training in Psychosocial Interventions or Thorn
• Family Therapy/Work training
• Other relevant training, e.g. substance misuse

Experience

Essential

• Substantial post-registration experience
• Experience of working in multidisciplinary mental health team with clients with acute/severe and enduring mental health problems

Desirable

• Audit and research; Teaching; Working with people who use substances
• Supervision of students and junior staff.
• Work with people experiencing mental health crisis
• Work with clients with acute/severe and enduring mental health problems who are homeless/rootless

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including report writing and presentations / IT skills
• Ability to assess, plan, implement and evaluate a comprehensive care package for the identified client group, using a wide range of resources.
• Able to develop a comprehensive programme of intervention and support for the identified client group and their families
• Skills in risk assessment and management
• Can demonstrate understanding of psychosis and its impact on service users and carers.
• Knowledge of current legislation and guidance applicable to this client group
• Can demonstrate understanding of the needs of diverse groups, e.g. residents of inner city; black and minority ethnic groups, and skills in engaging with them
• Skills in psychosocial interventions
• Able to build constructive relationships with clients and carers using warmth and empathy, using good communication skills

Desirable

• Skills in leadership: ability to motivate others, use initiative and manage change
• Basic counselling and group work skills
• Dual diagnosis/substance misuse

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

190 Vauxhall Bridge Road

Vauxhall Bridge Road

London

SW1V1DX

Employer's website

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work (Opens in a new tab)