Advanced Mental Health Practitioner - Telephone Duty Service

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Reading; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading mental health trust as an Advanced Mental Health Practitioner, where you'll provide critical support to patients in a community setting. This full-time role requires a passion for mental health, experience in a fast-paced environment, and the ability to manage a multidisciplinary team. Benefits include flexible working options, significant annual leave, and professional development opportunities, all within a supportive community environment.

Benefits

Flexible working options

27 days’ annual leave

Excellent career development

Cycle to Work scheme

Access to wellbeing tools

Discounts at retailers and restaurants

Staff networks for diversity

Generous leave policies

Free parking

Qualifications

• Degree in health/social care required.
• Experience in mental health crisis settings preferred.
• Competent interpersonal communication and reporting skills.

Responsibilities

• Deliver and oversee care for patients in crisis.
• Supervise junior staff and students in care delivery.
• Manage and triage referrals to the service.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Communication

Problem Solving

Team Leadership

Empathy

Education

Degree in health/social care

Tools

MS Office

Databases

Job description

Advanced Mental Health Practitioner - Telephone Duty Service

Band 7

Main area West Crisis Resolution HTT Grade Band 7 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 371-MHS767-A

Site Prospect Park Hospital Town Reading Salary £46,148 - £52,809 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 18/06/2025 23:59

You will work as part of the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team supporting patients in the community to avoid hospital admission. The post holder will be involved in the effective delivery of care and partly for the smooth running of our triage service.

You will be responsible for providing the continued clinical advice, training and supervision of junior staff operating within a multidisciplinary team providing care for those patients who are in a mental health crisis and require intensive home treatment and support without which they would likely require admission to Hospital.

With experience working within Mental Health as senior clinician, you will enjoy working as part of a large team and thrive in a busy fast paced environment.

The post holder will be part of a shift pattern, ensuring that the telephone duty service has a 24 hours staffing coverage.

Main duties of the job

• To be responsible for the effective delivery and quality of care standards for a sub-division of service or for the delivery of specialist services across an organizational and geographical area
• To safely triage referrals coming into the service and attending to walk-ins, where applicable
• Maintain and develop relationships with professionals external to the area of service, service users and their significant others within area of service/specialism
• Ensure services are delivered in a manner that is appropriate, relevant and respectful to all community members, recognising the diversity of ethnicity, culture, belief, privilege and capacity of service users and carers
• Effectively manage highly complex and sensitive situations and condition related information regarding diagnosis and prognosis to service users, other professionals and external agencies, where there may be barriers to understanding or a hostile and antagonistic working environment
• To manage a team of staff and students from both Health and Social Care, undertaking annual appraisals, PDP’s and proactively supporting the development review cycle, the progression of personal performance and achievement of objectives, including career aspirations within the Trust and Partner Organisations processes
• To consistently plan and manage resource requirements within own area of specialism, ensuring the needs of the service users are met and levels of clinical and quality standards are achieved

Working for our organisation

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’re committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. As an employer, we’re committed to offering an inclusive and compassionate environment where our people share in a sense of belonging and are supported to flourish.

Our values at Berkshire Healthcare are:

• Caring for and about you is our top priority
• Committed to providing good quality, safe services
• Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions

Your wellbeing is important to us. Some of the benefits of working for us include:

• Flexible working options to support work-life balance
• 27 days’ annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
• Excellent learning and career development opportunities
• ‘Cycle to Work’ and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
• Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
• Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
• Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment and armed forces community to support equality
• Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave
• Free parking across Trust sites

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The “must haves” for this role:

1. Degree in health/social care or equivalent qualification/experience with professional registration
2. Experience of clinically supervising junior and unqualified staff and mentoring students
3. Experience of working effectively in and leading a multi-disciplinary team and multi-agency environment
4. Experience working in a very busy and fast paced mental health setting, preferably also with a risk triage experience.
5. Effective and competent interpersonal, influencing, communication, observation and reporting skills.

For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.
We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to call: Anita Onovo on 0118 960 5995 or email: [e-mail] who will be delighted to help.

Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications/Training

• Degree in health/social care or equivalent qualification/experience

Continuous Professional Development

• Registered Mental Nurse, Occupational Therapist, Allied Health Professional or Social Worker whereby the person is licensed to assess, plan, implement and evaluate care for patients with mental health problems.

Previous Experience

• Experience of working effectively in a multi-disciplinary team and multi-agency environment
• Experience of working in a busy mental health crisis triage setting or similar

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Excellent knowledge and understanding of the health and social care systems and operating frameworks, clinical observations and the Mental Health Act
• Previous knowledge and experience of working in a care environment and with service users who have complex mental health needs
• Effective and competent interpersonal, influencing, communication, observation and reporting skills
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to analyse situations and be able to make the right decisions
• Able to empathise, be supportive and sensitive to the needs of others as well as being able to cope with distressing circumstances
• Ability to cope in a pressurised environment and apply practical problem solving skills in everyday situations
• Competent IT skills and the ability to navigate around various systems and software packages (such as outlook, databases, MS office and the internet)
• Able to work flexibly on a shift pattern as required and the ability to travel independently between locations to fulfil the requirements of the position
• Ability to work effectively in a team, work on own initiative, work unsupervised and manage own workload.
• Specialist knowledge acquired through training in a specialised discipline

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel to multiple sites
• Manage difficult situations with service users that have complex mental health conditions and challenging behaviours

These are the values that we live by atBerkshire Healthcare:

• Caring for and about you is our top priority
• Committed to providing good quality, safe services
• working Together with you to develop innovative solutions

We welcome people who share these values to come and work for us.

Please find attached the behaviour framework that underpins these values for this job role.

At Berkshire Healthcare, we foster an inclusive workplace where everyone belongs.

We welcome talent from all backgrounds and offer guaranteed interviews to disabled applicants and armed forces community members who meet the minimum criteria.

Please note we may close positions before the advertised date.

Once you have applied, please check your email regularly for updates. All appointments are subject to NHS Employment Checks, and false information may result in withdrawal of offers. For information on how we store your information, please review our privacy statement .

No agencies, please.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.