HealthJobsUK

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Purpose:

Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner will be based within neighbourhood-based community mental health teams which provide integrated health and social care services. 

Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team alongside colleagues from a range of professional backgrounds, they will undertake assessments of need and coordinate the development of sustainable recovery-focussed care plans.  They will provide practical support and carry out planned interventions to address assessed needs and to overcome barriers to access and social inclusion.  Using a strengths-based approach they will support service-users to develop their own solutions, minimising long-term dependence on services through self-directed support and promoting the take-up of personal budgets where appropriate.

• To manage a caseload of mental health service-users with complex needs as lead professional and care co-ordinator under the CPA process.
• To use evidence-based and client-centred principles to assess needs and to plan, implement and evaluate health and social care interventions
• To facilitate flow through the service and timely step-down to low intensity services and primary care.
• To provide leadership for junior staff through supervision and appraisal.
• To participate in the planning, development and evaluation of MDT services, holding personal responsibility for defined projects and areas of responsibility.
• To mentor and supervise students on practice placements
• To carry out MDT activities e.g. coordinating meetings and undertaking duty responsibilities
• To provide profession-specific interventions for the wider team as required and in line with NICE guidelines
• To offer/provide timely NICE concordant interventions to clients with FEP and their carers
• To participate in team training and mandatory training and ongoing professional development.

Our values and commitments:

Key Responsibilities:

1) Assessment:  To be responsible for strengths-based assessments of the health and social care needs of newly referred adults and for the formulation of care plans within 12 weeks of acceptance by teams. To undertake risk assessments regularly, including all other health professionals/agencies involved.  To ensure that risk assessments are regularly updated, are meaningful, are reflected in care plans and are shared appropriately.  To undertake carers assessments.  To undertake capacity assessments.

2) Engagement:  To assertively outreach to difficult to engage clients alongside Intensive Caseload Management colleagues.  To encourage participation in treatment as well as facilitating independence in all aspects of daily living.

3) Support: To provide ongoing care coordination of a designated caseload of service users. To work collaboratively with service-users and carers using a recovery approach.  To provide information to help clients make an informed choice about opportunities and services available to them and to then assist clients to obtain the required services, support and entitlement.

4) Interventions: To provide and facilitate health and social care interventions tailored to individual service-user needs. To ensure all interventions are appropriate and that care is sensitive to the needs of black and minority ethnic service users.  To facilitate Intensive Caseload Management for difficult to engage and high-intensity users. To provide psycho-education to services-users.  To have a client-centred approach with a focus on recovery and social inclusion

5) Families and Carers:  To involve families and carers in treatment plans where appropriate. This may require direct family interventions.  To ensure that the needs of carers are assessed and that care services are provided as necessary. To provide families and carers with psycho-education.

6) MDT Working: To work in co-operation with members of the multi-disciplinary team and all other relevant health professionals to assess, develop, implement and evaluate high quality packages of client centred care.  To participate in the team duty system. To provide cover for colleagues in their absence. To form effective relationships with inpatient services to facilitate early effective discharge. To participate in Mental Health Act assessments of service users that you are responsible for as appropriate. To take part in all clinical meetings.

7) Communication: To maintain accurate clinical documentation on designated caseload ensuring case notes are updates in line with guidance.  To ensure effective verbal and written communication with all involved with delivery of care.  To liaise with other disciplines and organisations to ensure that all issues affecting service user care are managed and communicated to a high standard.

8) Personal Development: To remain up to date with current/emerging good practice guidelines and relevant research relating to community mental health services. To abide by the policies of SLaM NHS foundation Trust and Local Authority.  To contribute to effective MDT working. To meet regularly with Team Leader. To remain up to date with all mandatory training requirements. To undertake CPD as agreed with Team Leader. To provide supervision to other junior members of staff.

9) Miscellaneous: To participate in research as requested. To undertake audit/clinical governance as required. To undertake other duties as requested by Service Manager and the Team Leader and to be willing to work from any location in the borough.

Communications and Working Relationships:

Internal: 

• CMHT Team Leader, team administrator and clinical team members.
• Neighbourhood Service Manager and PCMHT colleagues
• Inpatient service, Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team and Psychiatric Liaison Team.

External: 

• Interface with local services including Adult Social Care, Children’s Social Care, primary care, housing services, substance misuse services, care agencies, police, probation and voluntary sector services