Associate Practitioner

Eput; Loughton; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 31,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days holiday plus bank holidays

Pension up to 14.5%

Staff discounts

Season ticket loans

Job summary

We are seeking an Associate Practitioner to join the West Essex Epping Forest Community Mental Health Team. You will assist in the care and management of service users under the guidance of the Team Leader and mentor students and junior staff.

The role involves health clinics, clerical duties, safeguarding, risk assessment and supporting patients with daily living activities. NHS benefits apply and the post is based in Essex.

Qualifications

• 1-2 years SMI physical health experience
• ECG and phlebotomy
• Willing to learn and be flexible

Responsibilities

• Assist in management and care of service users under supervision
• Produce accurate documentation and records
• Contribute to risk assessment and monitoring of service users
• Provide practical support and education to service users and carers
• Transport service users to appointments and attend team meetings

Job description

Site West Essex Epping Forest CMHT Town Loughton, Essex Salary £28,392 - £31,157 per annum, pro rata for part time Salary period Yearly Closing 27/10/2026 23:59

Please be aware that, due to current allocation constraints, Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) are being prioritised for registered roles at this time.

Our Trust cares for more than 100,000 patients at any one time across our community health, mental health and learning disability services across Essex and parts of Bedfordshire and Suffolk.

We want you to be part of our journey of transformation, where our patients and their families are at the heart of everything we do and to achieve our vision to be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care.

You’ll be part of a Trust where you will be supported to be your authentic self and be the best you can be, where we will help you to grow, develop and thrive.

The Trust is recognised by the University of Essex and is a top provider of apprenticeships for people looking to be an assistant practitioner, senior health care support worker (CAP). Our trailblazing CAP apprenticeship won a national HSJ Award.

We are also recognised as a Veteran Aware Trust and holder of gold accreditation from the Ministry of Defence Employment Recognition Scheme. Our services are highlighted as an exemplar of good practice, producing the best care for more than 3.500 armed forces veterans in the past seven years.

We have been shortlisted and won national awards. We are an inclusive organisation and Level 3 Disability Confident Leader Trust.

We are constantly innovating and looking for new ways to deliver care, such as using technology to enhance patient care and working with partners to launch new services such as the Basildon Mental Health Urgent Care Department, virtual hospitals and falls response cars.

Join us and you’ll do the best work of your life – and make a difference to other people’s lives. What we do together, matters.

Job overview

We are looking for a motivated and enthusiastic Associate Practitioner to join the West Essex Epping Forest Community Mental Health Team.

You will be responsible for assisting in the management and care of service users based upon individual needs, under the guidance of the Team Leader, and in providing practical support to service users in performing day to day activities, guidance and education. You will also ac t as a mentor to students and junior staff, and be responsible for supervising unqualified staff.

Main duties of the job

• Leading and running the physical health clinics
• Providing support to the clozapine and depot clinics where required
• Supporting the teams duty service on a rota
• Organising and following up on clinical outcomes following assessments
• Provide healthy lifestyle advice, and health promotion advice
• Assisting senior clinicians in the assessment and management of risk or to carry out care planned interventions
• Identify possible safeguarding concerns and take appropriate action through escalation of concerns

Working for our organisation

Valuing you. Recognising your dedication. At EPUT, we look after you.

• Receive supervision and support to help you fulfil your potential.
• Join an inclusive EPUT community and connect with others through engagement events and equality or champion networks.
• If you need help, we provide mental health and wellbeing services, occupational health advice and counselling.
• 27 days holiday, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days after 10 years’ service.
• Excellent pension of up to 14.5% of your pensionable pay.
• Staff discounts include Blue Light Card, NHS discount offers, and staff benefits.
• Season ticket loans are interest-free to cover the cost of travelling to and from work via tram, rail, or bus.

Work that wraps around your needs

• Job share: Applications for job shares are welcomed.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please note that this role outline serves to provide an illustrative example of the duties and responsibilities you may be expected to undertake during the course of your normal duties. It is not an exhaustive list and you will therefore be required to undertake other responsibilities and duties that are considered to be commensurate with the band.

• Assist in the management and care of service users.
• Produce accurate and timely documentation / records on all clients in line with relevant codes and Trust Policy.
• Contribute to assessment and observation of service users and provide relevant and timely feedback.
• Contribute to risk assessment of the individual and of the potential hazards in the service user environment.
• Provide practical support to service users, carers.
• Transport / accompany service users to appointments.
• Attend team meetings i.e. referral / review / business.
• Report and document incidents as required.
• Assess and support service users in activities of daily living such as meal planning, shopping, budget management.
• Support with housing and benefits claims, employment and paperwork.
• Undertake physical health care checks of service users and act on the findings.
• Act as key worker (Under the supervision of a registered clinician).
• Under the supervision of a registered clinician take part in assessing, planning and reviewing care.
• Under supervision facilitate group work (low level) such as relaxation, health promotion, sleep hygiene.
• Provide support o service user to promote concordance with medication and treatment regimes in line with Trust Policy.
• Transport and store medications in line with Trust Policy.
• Provide practical support, guidance and education for service users.
• Undertake carers assessments
• Demonstrate duties to new starters.
• Record all service user related activity information into Paris.
• Deliver smoking cessation training.
• Participate in audit and research.
• Be an Infection Control Link person (to support 1st level nurse).

Person specification

Driver

• Access to a car and driver

SMI physical health experience

• 1-2 years
• ECG and phlebotomy
• Willing to learn and flexible

Please be aware that, due to current allocation constraints, Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) are being prioritised for registered roles at this time.
Important note: please ensure that as part of your application, you include professional references with business contact information covering your last three years of employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.

As a newly appointed employee, you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post; the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email [e-mail] and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Important Notice: Recently the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) which amended on 22 July 2021 and come into force on 11 November 2021 that anyone directly employed to work in a Care Home or who are required as part of their role to be deployed to a CQC registered care home are required to have had both their COVID vaccinations, unless they are exempt. This is therefore a requirement of this role and will form part of our pre-employment checks.

Please note -staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered ‘suitable alternative employment’ to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.