Senior Mental Health Practitioner
Job Description
Job summary
Due to the career advancement of one of our Band 6 Senior Mental Health Practitioner colleagues, we are offering a 12 Month Secondment with a pathway to a substantive post. We are seeking a motivated Band 6 Senior Mental Health Practitioner with significant post qualifying experience to join our dynamic team in the Liaison Psychiatry service.
We welcome applicants who may consider a part time or full time contract and actively support Flexible Working Arrangements within the service.
Liaison Psychiatry is the branch of psychiatry that specialises in the interface between medicine and psychiatry.
Liaison Psychiatry Services nationwide are experiencing significant investment and we are in the privileged position in Devon of being able to further enhance and develop our already well-established Liaison Services at Torbay District General Hospital in Torquay, South Devon.
You will have a key role in contributing to the mental health care of people in the general hospital and we welcome applications from all mental health professionals, including Nurses, Occupational Therapists and Social Workers.
This post covers a Core 24 service, working 7 days a week.
You will be well supported within the team and encouraged to develop your clinical skills within a stimulating learning environment.
Interviews are scheduled to take place in person on Monday 14th April. Previous applicants need not apply.
Main duties of the job
You will be working within a Senior Mental Health Practitioner role helping support referrals from colleagues within Torbay General Hospital. You will be working within a busy team who complete both assessment and consultation work with people who require support for their mental health needs.
It will be your job to make specialist mental health assessments and devise interventions that will help people to recover. You will play a key role in a dynamic multidisciplinary team, working with multiple agencies on a daily basis.
You will be confident working with supervision, with the knowledge to devise individual recovery plans for the people you see. It is important that you can communicate effectively, not only with your colleagues, but the people you care for, their families and carers. You will be at the centre of their care.
You will be an experienced mental health professional with a professional mental health qualification (RMN, CQSW / ASW, BSc/Diploma in OT, SROT)
We will help you grow in the role and can provide a range of training opportunities, including CPD modules that can help you develop the skills you need to thrive in the job. At Torbay Liaison Psychiatry Service, we actively support staff career and professional development.
About us
About Devon Partnership Trust
We provide mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider south west region & nationally. We are passionate about promoting good mental health & wellbeing. We strive to use the expertise & resources within our organisation, and through our partnerships, to deliver high quality services that are safe & focused on people's recovery.
We are committed to developing a culture of coproduction, involving patients, families & carers in everything we do
Our values
We not only recruit based on qualifications & experience - we recruit individuals who possess & demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. These include such attributes as showing a commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, giving respect, dignity & compassion. We can bring those values to life in our everyday tasks by giving a smile; making time for people; challenging ourselves & others, & being open to new ideas.
We are committed to being an inclusive employer & applications are encouraged & welcomed from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics as governed by the Equality Act 2010. Part time & flexible working applications will be considered & supported, where possible. We particularly encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities. We are a Disability Confident Leader.
Job responsibilities
The Liaison Psychiatry Service provides a 24 hour, 7 day a week in and out of hours comprehensive service to patients, clinicians and carers at the local District General Hospital (DGH). This includes specialist mental health assessment and intervention to people of all ages from the age of 18 who present or, are admitted to the DGH.
We provide a specialist consultation-liaison service to referring clinicians and clinical teams, assisting them in decision making in difficult and complex cases, and providing both formal and informal education to qualified and unqualified staff, and offer a broad range of specialist psychosocial treatments for individual inpatients.
Staff within the service are also representing the Devon Partnership Trust in the general hospital setting and will play a vital role in communicating and maintaining a good working relationship between the two organisations.
Through consultation, assessment and interventions, the Liaison Psychiatry Service aims to -
- Arrive at a formulation which will identify the correct care pathway and ensure this is implemented
- Improve the quality of mental health care for all patients
- Improve quality of life for both patients and carers
- Identify and manage risk
- Reduce the length of stay in the general hospital
- Prevent hospital admissions
- Reduce the number of incidents and complaints
- Measure improvements of health outcomes
- Determine service needs
A key aim of the service is to contribute to the acute care pathway, ensuring that those persons who present to the DGH receive a timely specialist mental health assessment by a specialist mental health worker. A significant proportion of these presentations will be those who present with acts of self harm and suicidal behaviours.
In Torbay, our service incorporates the following areas:
Acute Care Pathway (ACP) Ensuring a timely response to people who attend the Emergency Department and facilitating discharge from the Acute Medical Unit and other wards.
Inpatient Assessing and reviewing patients who are kept on caseload for a period of monitoring whilst they remain in-patients in Torbay and South Devon DGH. This will include dementia, delirium, depression, eating disorders, psychosis, medication management & support for patient and ward in challenging situations, on-going risk assessment and monitoring.
Integrated Psychological Medicine Service (IPMS) Ensuring pathways are in place to allow access to the right treatment at the right time for those who present with both complex physical and psychological needs.
There are high rates of mental health problems among people with long-term medical conditions and people with severe mental illness have a reduced life expectancy which can be due to physical health issues.
Duties and Responsibilities
Communication and Working Relationship Skills
- Contribute to the team and engage with a wide range of stakeholders including staff, service users, their carers and other statutory and voluntary sector agencies.
- Impart complex and sensitive information to:
- Patients and families/carers re assessment, care planning, treatment and review
- Multi disciplinary teams to ensure the provision of consistent well coordinated care
- Primary care teams regarding client care
- External agencies also involved in the provision of care eg: voluntary and private sector, police, social services, housing, employment etc
- Services user and carer groups
- Liaise with a wide range of other professions and agencies.
- Contribute to the safe and effective day to day operations of the services including the handling of clinical enquiries.
- Present information, some of which may be contentious, to patients and their families and carers.
Planning and Organisational Skills
- Attend management and professional meetings as directed by their line manager and professional lead.
- Responsible for planning and co-ordinating own day to day work load in collaboration with the needs of the service users and the wider needs of the service. This requires excellent prioritisation skills.
- Plan and organise case conferences liaising with other agencies as required to meet the needs of their clients.
- Ensure that interventions are planned in an integrated and co-ordinated manner particularly where dependent on other external agencies.
Analytical and Judgemental Skills
- Undertake bio-psycho-social ...
