Community Psychiatric Nurse

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust; Gillingham; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust is seeking a Community Psychiatric Nurse to provide home-based crisis assessment, rapid response availability, and leadership within the North Kent Home Treatment & Rapid Response Teams.

You will deliver evidence-based nursing care in service users' homes, supervise junior staff and nursing students, and contribute to multidisciplinary planning while maintaining high standards of documentation and CPA compliance.

Qualifications

• Registered with the NMC and eligible to practice as a nurse.
• Mentor (998) course or equivalent / Practice Educator training.
• Continuous professional development relevant to the role.

Responsibilities

• Assessment & crisis screening with holistic nursing input for newly referred service users.
• Shift co-ordination & MDT leadership to manage priorities and resources.
• Hospital gatekeeping & liaison to guide pathways without delay.
• Maintain up-to-date care plans and risk assessments per CPA and policy.
• Supervise nursing students as a Practice Educator and deliver inductions.
• Contribute to service development and in-service training packages.

Skills

Crisis assessment

Shift leadership

Mentorship

Documentation standards

NMC registration

Autonomous working

Education

Nursing degree (RN)

NMC mentor training

Tools

Care planning tools

CPA guidelines

Risk assessment tools

Job description

When a service user experiences an acute mental health crisis, receiving prompt, compassionate care in their own home can transform their recovery. As a Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) within our North Kent Home Treatment & Rapid Response Teams, you will play a vital role in delivering recovery-focused nursing care to service users, families, and carers when they need it most.

This dynamic dual role combines hands-on crisis nursing, hospital gatekeeping, shift leadership, and student mentorship:

Home Treatment: Deliver evidence-based, nurse-led care and psychosocial interventions directly in service users' homes, offering a safe, effective alternative to inpatient admission.

Rapid Response: Screen new referrals via the Urgent Mental Health Helpline, conduct urgent 24/7 assessments, and carry out gatekeeping assessments across general hospital settings.

Clinical Leadership & Mentorship: Lead shifts, co-ordinate multi-disciplinary team (MDT) workloads, maintain high documentation standards, and act as a Practice Educator to support and inspire the next generation of mental health nurses.

Please note we are unable to provide Visa sponsorship for this post.

Main duties of the job

Assessment & Crisis Screening: Conduct holistic nursing assessments for newly referred service users in acute distress, delivering targeted, short-term interventions to help resolve crises safely.

Shift Co-ordination & MDT Leadership: Act as shift co-ordinator--managing fast-changing priorities, delegating effectively across the multi-disciplinary team, and keeping clinical operations running smoothly.

Hospital Gatekeeping & Liaison: Complete gatekeeping assessments in general hospital settings to ensure individuals are guided onto the most appropriate care pathway without delay.

Quality & Clinical Documentation: Maintain clear, up-to-date care plans and risk assessments in line with Trust policies, Care Programme Approach (CPA) guidelines, and Quality Improvement standards.

Practice Education & Mentorship: Supervise nursing students on placement as a Practice Educator, completing formal assessments and delivering welcoming team inductions.

Service Development: Help design and deliver specialist in-service training packages to support continuous team learning and professional growth

About us

We are Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust. We care for the mental health and wellbeing of people across Kent and Medway.

Our teams support children, young people and adults with a wide range of mental health needs. We also provide specialist services, including all-age eating disorder services and neurodevelopmental assessments for children and young people, such as autism and ADHD.

Because we work across the whole county and across hospital and community settings, we can make care more joined up and easier to access for the people we serve.

Our vision is simple: we are here to help communities not just live with mental illness, but live well. It's why we're passionate about working with communities to make mental health care better for everyone. Everything we do is guided by our values: caring, inclusive, curious and confident.

Join us if you share our passion for better mental health care and want to be part of a team that's working well together.

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached Job description for further details for full detailed responsibilities of this role.

The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes, unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010.

Person Specification

Training, Qualifications and Registration

• Registration with relevant regulatory body. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
• The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) oMentor (998 course or equivalent) / Practice Educator.
• Further training relevant to the role

Experience

• Minimum of 2 years post registration experience.
• Experience of prioritising casework and allocation /delegation of tasks to others.
• Experience of liaising with a variety of stakeholders both internal and external to organisations.
• Experience of clinical audit and research.Experience of leading service developments.

Knowledge and Skills

• Knowledge of and ability to apply relevant legislative frameworks and policies relating to care e.g. Care programme approach, Mental Capacity Act, Safeguarding, Consent to Treatment.
• An understanding and ability to apply principles of risk assessment and risk management.
• Understanding of the impact of mental health crisis on lifestyle and function for clients, family and carers and common pharmacological and psychosocial treatments
• Ability to maintain a high degree of professionalism at all times, especially in complex/challenging situations
• Ability to work autonomously and cooperatively as part of an interprofessional team.
• Training and presentation/facilitation skills.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.