Senior Community Mental Health Practitioner

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose

The post holder will deliver high quality comprehensive mental health services. The role involves managing a defined caseload with a focus on providing expert assessment and treatment for people with complex mental health difficulties and their carers. This will include recovery co-ordination (design and co-ordination of treatment packages that are personalised and evaluated in line with payment by results). To provide statutory Adult Social Care, Care Management functions (assessment, care planning and reviewing). The liaison with a wide range of statutory and non-statutory agencies is central to this role.

The post holder will contribute to the clinical leadership of the team, providing supervision for other members and participating in team and service development, and evaluation.

1. Registered Mental Health Nurse
2. Social Worker
3. Occupational Therapist

Duties and Responsibilities

Communication and Working Relationship Skills

• Contribute to the teams engagement with a wide range of stakeholders including staff, service users, their carers and other statutory and voluntary sector agencies.
• Impart highly complex and sensitive information to :

1. Patients and families/carers re assessment, care planning, treatment and review
2. Multi disciplinary teams to ensure the provision of consistent well coordinated care
3. Primary care teams regarding client care
4. External agencies also involved in the provision of care e.g.: voluntary and private sector, police, social services, housing, employment etc
5. Service user/carer groups

• Liaise with a wide range of other professionals and agencies.
• Contribute to the safe and effective day to day operations of the service including the handling of clinical enquires.
• Provide and receive information some of which may be contentious, sensitive and highly complex to and from individuals and their families/carers, where there may be barriers to understanding.
• Provide a high standards of written and verbal communication that is clear and in line with professional documentation standards
• Participate in and chair clinical meetings, this will include CPA and non-CPA reviews, professional meetings, and clinical risk meetings.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate in a way that is empathic and reassuring whilst employing negotiating techniques to gain co-operation from highly complex individuals.
• Communicate information in a way that makes it relevant and understandable for service users and carers, working in line with practice standards and operational policies.
• Facilitate fair access to social care services and promote social inclusion regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or disability
• To maintain effective verbal and written communication with the clinical team and to keep staff informed of changes to prescribing intervention or treatment provided to service-users.
• To work in partnership with medical staff and service-users in the development and implementation of clinical management plans related to an individuals treatment and prescribing needs.
• To establish and maintain good liaison with GP practices and other services in the area, including sharing prescribing information and rationale.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

• Undertake complex risk assessments and develop a formulation of risk which will lead to the development of risk management plans which have taken into consideration a range of possible options
• Undertake and continuously re-evaluate complex bio-psycho-social assessments and develop a working formulation and diagnosis which will lead to the development of personalised care packages in line with evidence based and payment by results.
• Ensure the continuous re-evaluation of individuals needs and clinical risk situations and use clinical judgement to formulate the most appropriate clinical plan.

Planning and Organisational Skills

• Organise and facilitate complex meetings, these will include: CPA and non-CPA professional and risk meetings.
• Responsible for managing their own workload to ensure the needs to the individuals who use our services are met taking the wider needs of the team into consideration.
• Ensure that interventions are planned in an integrated and co-ordinated manner particularly where dependent on other external agencies.
• Plan and organise individuals packages of care and ensure that reviews are held within the required time frames, for example Section 117, Funding Panels and CPA.
• Plan own workload and the workload of junior colleagues to ensure that care is provided in the most high quality and cost efficient manner, prioritise and make adjustments as appropriate.
• To be aware of the current legislation and prescribing developments that may impact on the delivery of services to service users.
• Have a good knowledge, and apply current Trust Medicine, Controlled Drug and Non-Medical prescribing Policies and associated Standard Operating Procedures

Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy

• Ensure that caseload is well managed and that care and treatment is provided in line with practice standards and recovery co-ordination (CPA and non-CPA ).
• Understand social factors that impact upon mental health
• Develop and deliver care packages including assessing, planning, intervention and evaluation.
• Ensure that all interventions have clear outcomes and that these are taken into consideration when sourcing the resources to best meet the individuals needs. This will include enabling individuals to take up Direct Payments and offering the person as much choice and control of resources as appropriate.
• Ensure that all social care packages are reviewed within the relevant timescales and focus on integration within existing community resources where possible
• Deliver services using a recovery and strengths approach where the needs of the individual and their carers are held as central and their involvement is proactively encouraged.
• Deliver care in line with evidence based practice and employ engagement and therapeutic skills that are appropriate to the clinical situation presented.
• Responsibility for triaging individuals and signposting to the most appropriate services.
• Provide specialist advice to referrers/other multi-disciplinary staff in relation to the care of individuals.
• Enable communication and engagement of individuals and their carers to ensure that they have a voice about the services they receive and how these are developed. This may include engagement of advocacy services.
• Ensure that appropriate action is taken to safeguarding adults and children. This will include providing and receiving highly complex and sensitive information in relation to safeguarding adult and children work, co-ordinating and chairing safeguarding meetings and implementing relevant care plans.
• Ensure that assessment and treatment plans are holistic, outcome focused and take into account the physical health and social needs of the individual, including input of significant others
• Ensure the monitoring and review of mental health medication taking into consideration interactions with physical health needs.
• Assess the eligibility of the person for services including financial maximisation, debt advice, budgetary management, FAB/FACS assessment
• Ensuring timely and accurate documentation of all clinical activity in line with professional guidance and best practice.
• Practice in a way that actively minimises dependency and promotes recovery.

Experience

Essential

• An understanding of the NSF and Mental Health Act/ Mental Health Capacity Act requirements.
• CPA Process
• Awareness of community structures and social care management responsibilities
• Understanding of recovery principles in Mental Health
• Extensive post registration experience working at band 5 in mental health care working in at least two inpatient and one community settings or substantial experience in both inpatient and community settings within a mental health and/or learning disabilities setting?;
• Evidence of acting as nurse in charge on a regular basis;
• Substantial experience of managing/leading a busy caseload of clients with a range of mental health conditions within a community setting and without supervision;.
• Working within a community mental health setting in either the statutory or voluntary sector.
• Experience of clinically supervising junior and unqualified staff and mentoring students
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency environment.

Planning & Organising Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication skills including the ability to engage with clients experiencing a wide range of mental health problems.
• Able to produce well written reports.
• Ability to communicate with a wide range of professionals from various settings.
• Ability to think and work independently/autonomously and with complex case load
• Able to own problems and get involved in the solutions.
• Ability to manage risk.
• Able to plan creatively to maximise effectiveness of care plans.
• Able to work independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to manage own time and that of the teams.
• Ability to work flexibly.
• Ability to be mobile across a geographical area.
• Excellent clinical assessment skills.
• Ability to manage change in a positive manner.

Qualifications

Essential

• A professional mental health qualification eg RMN, Social Work Degree or equivalent, BSc/Diploma in OT, SROT, Chartered Clinical Psychologist, on the appropriate professional body register and hold current registration with no restrictions.
• Evidence of relevant continuing professional development
• Training to level 3 in Safeguarding children and young people: roles and competencies for Health Care staff
• Mentoring students in line with professional requirements

Desirable

• Clinical Supervision qualification
• Evidence of leadership/management training within a core service
• Post graduate qualification relevant to specialism

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).