Band 6 Integrated Non-Custodial Services Practitioner - Melksham

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust; Melksham; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust is recruiting an experienced RMN, RNLD, Social Worker or OT to join the Integrated Non-Custodial Service in Wiltshire, predominantly based in police custody suites.

The role involves assessing vulnerabilities, signposting and diverting to appropriate care pathways, with opportunities for ASYE progression and banding considerations. The post emphasises collaboration with criminal justice partners and statutory/voluntary sectors.

Qualifications

• Hold current registration with the pertinent professional body.
• Ability to carry out assessments in stressful environments such as holding cells.
• Work on own initiative within clinical and professional policies in Court and prison settings.
• Commitment to clinical supervision and continuing professional development.
• Able to maintain good relationships with partnership agencies.
• Experience of working with complex and diverse needs including dual diagnosis.
• Demonstrate teamwork and a whole-team approach.
• Ability to gather and process information for risk formulation.

Responsibilities

• Attend Police Custody and Courts to provide mental health assessments and identify robust care pathways.
• Provide written information to Police or Courts to inform case disposal.
• Prepare comprehensive health and social reports within required timeframes.
• Work closely with referring agencies within Police Custody and Court as Health's single point of contact.
• Address the Court in person to advise on disposal and care pathways when needed.
• Signpost and refer to appropriate services for identified needs.
• Make recommendations on diversion vs ongoing involvement and facilitate MH Act assessments with AWP teams.
• Refer to Youth Detention Services when custody is indicated and ensure risk information is received.
• Provide specialist advice to Youth Custody Service and custody suites.
• Adhere to all Trust policies and communicate clearly with diverse service users.
• Work autonomously and manage own workload.

Skills

Registration with professional body

Assessments in custody environments

Independent working

Clinical supervision experience

Relationship building with partners

Experience with complex needs

Team working approach

Risk formulation from information

Job description

Job overview

The Integrated Non-Custodial (IN-CS) Liaison & Diversion Service is an NHS England-commissioned service that is looking for an experienced RMN, RNLD, Social Worker or OT to join the team.

The service is an all-age, all-vulnerabilities model, identifying care pathways for a wide range of support needs, including mental health needs, substance misuse issues, learning disabilities and neurodiversity. The practitioner, upon identifying vulnerabilities, will offer assessment, support, signposting and diversion to hospital when indicated. The successful candidate will be predominantly based in police custody suites, working alongside other criminal justice partners within Wiltshire.

NOTE: This post is open to newly qualified social workers. In line with AWP Trust policy, all newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) will be recruited initially at Band 5 level, regardless of the advertised role banding. All NQSWs are expected to successfully complete their ASYE within 2 years of employment, unless there are exceptional circumstances, in which case it may be extended for a further 2 years.

If you have been appointed to an advertised Band 6 role, this will be an automatic progression following confirmation of your successful ASYE completion. If you have been appointed to a Band 5 post, you will then be eligible to apply for a subsequent Band 6 vacancy upon successful ASYE completion.

Main duties of the job

The Integrated Non-Custodial Service (IN-CS) Liaison & Diversion Service is an all-age, all-vulnerability service offering assessment and support to individuals who find themselves in contact with the criminal justice system across both Swindon and Wiltshire.

The successful applicant will be working specifically with adults but will, on occasion, also be expected to assess young people in contact with the criminal justice system. Your role will be to inform the disposal of cases and to identify robust care pathways, which involves a commitment to partnership working with both statutory and voluntary sector agencies.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities.

Working for our organisation

We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

We aim to provide High Quality, Compassionate Care everywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.

Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200miles, to more than 1.8million people.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To attend Police Custody and Courts and provide mental health assessments, advice, and identify robust care pathways for individuals where a potential mental health need has been identified.

To provide the Police or Courts with written information pertaining to the individual in a timely fashion to inform disposal of the case.

To prepare comprehensive health and social circumstances reports, where indicated, within a specified timeframe.

To work closely with, and build links with, all referring agencies within Police Custody and Court, acting as a single point of contact for Health.

To address the Court in person when necessary in order to advise the Court on the disposal and care pathway of a particular case.

To signpost and refer to appropriate services for the identified needs of the service user.

To make recommendations to Police and Court on whether the criminal justice system remains involved or diversion is indicated.

To build a good working knowledge of the Mental Health Act in relation to the Courts and the criminal justice system.

Where diversion is indicated, to facilitate Mental Health Act assessments in conjunction with the AWP Assessment Teams.

To refer to the Youth Detention Services where custody is indicated, ensuring appropriate risk information is received along the care pathway.

To provide specialist advice and service to the Youth Custody Service and the custody suites where indicated.

To be responsible for adhering to all Trust policies and procedures.

To be able to communicate clearly with a diverse group of service users.

To work autonomously, with the ability to organise and manage own time according to delegated workload.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities.

Person specification

Registration and Experience

Essential criteria

• Hold current registration with pertinent body.
• Ability to carry out assessments requiring intense and prolonged concentration in stressful environments i.e. Holding Cells at the Courts.
• Ability to work on own initiative and take responsibility for own practice within the broad context of clinical and professional policies and service level agreements while working in the Court and prison settings.
• A commitment to clinical supervision and continuing professional development. Experience of providing clinical supervision to junior staff.
• Able to maintain/forge good relationships with partnership agencies.
• Experience of working with individuals with complex and diverse needs including enduring mental health needs and dual diagnosis.
• Can demonstrate experience and commitment to working in a team and an understanding of the whole team approach.
• Ability to gather and process information in the formulation of client risk.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working within the criminal justice system.
• Knowledge /understanding of the criminal justice system.

We are proud to be fostering a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. A key commitment to this is improving staff representation from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, those from the LGBTQ+ communities, people with 'lived-experience' of mental health conditions and people living with disabilities,- we are a 'Disability Confident Employer' offering a guaranteed interview to Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. This includes people with a variety of disabilities and neurodivergent conditions (for example autism, ADHD, sensory, physical and learning disabilities).

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service users.