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Job summary

Main area
Mental Health
Grade
Band 3
Contract
12 months (Fixed Term/ Secondment)
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
364-A-8849
Employer
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Basildon Mental Health Urgent Care Department
Town
Basildon
Salary
£24,625 - £25,674 per annum (pro rata for part time hours)
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
04/04/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust logo

Support Worker - Mental Health Urgent Care Department

Band 3

About Us

EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:

  • We are among the largest employers in the in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
  • We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.

EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.

Our vision and values

Our Vision

“To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care”.

Our Purpose

“We care for people every day. What we do together, matters”.

Our Values

  • We Care
  • We Learn
  • We Empower

Our strategic objectives

  • We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
  • We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
  • We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
  • We will help our communities to thrive.

Our services

  • Mental Health Services
  • Community Health Services
  • Learning Disabilities Services
  • Social Care

Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory. 

Job overview

Support Worker - Mental Health Urgent Care Department

Base – Basildon Hospital

Hours –  7 days a week service delivery based on a rostered shift pattern, this is a 24 hours a day,   MATERNITY COVER (SECONDMENT / FIXED TERM)

An exciting opportunity has arisen for enthusiastic and motivated individuals to join the Mental Health Urgent Care Department at Basildon.  This service will offer anyone in Essex, who is over the age of 18 in a mental health crisis, an urgent biopsychosocial assessment and immediate care planning. 

The department will offer a calm and therapeutic mental health setting to see the majority of urgent/emergency mental health presentations and represent an improvement on the service previously offered in busy emergency departments.

 

Main duties of the job

The post holder will support the work of clinicians working in the department. In the context of a mental health crisis, mental health services commonly see people when they are experiencing or have experienced any of the following:

  • Self-harm leading to medical or surgical treatment
  • Suicidal ideation
  • The consequences of alcohol & drug use, including when co-occurring with a mental health problem
  • Dementia or delirium
  • A severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or severe depression, or a personality disorder
  • Social vulnerability that may have a mental health problem or trauma as a component or root cause, for example, homelessness or domestic abuse

We believe our workforce are our strongest asset & we make it a priority to ensure we develop & create strong career pathways for our current & new staff joining us. Our HCA Role works at a band 3 level, however if you do not have enough experience but still want to join EPUT as an HCA, we have a solution for you:

If you have been successful at the interview stage, but do not have enough experience for this role, you may be offered a position as a Band 2 HCA Apprentice. As part of the Band 2 HCA role you will be enrolled onto the Apprenticeship scheme, providing you with the opportunity to earn as you learn. This role enables you to gain valuable experience on the wards/community settings whilst working towards gaining your Care Certificate & naturally progressing into the guaranteed Band 3 HCA role.

Working for our organisation

EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;

  • Season Ticket Loans
  • NHS discounts for staff
  • Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
  • Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
  • The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
  • Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
  • Day One Flexible Employer

The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment

Join our Staff bank

What is Staff Bank?

Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.

All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.

If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will be working within the Urgent Care Department providing support and assistance to professionally qualified staff whilst delivering high quality care and support to patients signposted to this service.

Patients, relatives, carers and all staff will find the post holder flexible, approachable, and helpful and co-operative, upholding the ethos of EPUT of good customer care at all times with an awareness of own attitude at all times.  

The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week service delivery based on a rostered shift pattern. The Urgent Care Department is delivered by Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust located within the Basildon Hospital site.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • NVQ3 in Health or Social Care or equivalent experience

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Basic understanding of the nature of mental health conditions and how it can affect people’s day to day life

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyMenopause Friendly EmployerPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveDisability confident leaderImproving working livesArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Essex Family Friendly Employers

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Doreen Mhone
Job title
Service Manager
Email address
[email protected]
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