Liaison & Diversion Support Practitioner

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust; West Kirby; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Job summary

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an experienced support practitioner to join the Liaison and Diversion Team including Reconnect, serving people in the criminal justice pathway and those transitioning from custody back into community services.

The role supports mental health assessments, collaborates with criminal justice stakeholders, and contributes to a 24/7 Urgent Care Model that provides access to timely care for individuals in crisis across the North West region.

Qualifications

• Experience working with the criminal justice system or service users with vulnerabilities.
• Ability to provide advice, guidance and support to colleagues and service users.
• Familiar with liaison and diversion or care after custody pathways.

Responsibilities

• To contribute to the delivery of a planned programme of care under the direct supervision of the qualified practitioner.
• To assist the qualified practitioners by being proactive in maximizing health, well being and social inclusion of service users.
• To provide assistance with activities of daily living, participating in and developing health promotional activities.
• To report general observations and provide feedback to the qualified practitioner both verbally and in written formats, if required.
• To carry out supported observations and provide feedback to the qualified practitioner both verbally and in written formats, as required.
• To contribute to the effective running of the service by providing and receiving information to/from other departments, e.g. probation service.
• To maintain effective communication between individuals, relatives, carers, partner agencies and the multidisciplinary team.
• To use a variety of verbal and non verbal skills to overcome communication barriers presented by service-users due to their mental health needs.

Job description

We are looking for an experienced support practitioner to join our Liaison and Diversion Team including Reconnect.

Liaison and Diversion is a process of supporting people coming through the criminal justice system, and diverting people from this pathway where possible through engagement with service users with vulnerabilities. A significant part of the role is liaising with criminal justice system stakeholders and colleagues to provide advice, guidance and support.

RECONNECT is a care after custody service that seeks to improve the continuity of care of people leaving prison or an immigration removal centre (IRC) with an identified health need. This involves working with them before they leave to support their transition to community-based services.

Liaison and Diversion is an integral part of the 24/7 Urgent Care Model.

The 24/7 Urgent Care Model forms the urgent care pathway within Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

The 24/7 Urgent Care hub provides mental health assessment, intensive community interventions, advice, support and guidance twenty four hours, seven days a week across several access points for individuals presenting in crisis.

This service has brought all urgent care teams together to create one central hub and thus diverts service users away from blue light services and affords them the right access to the right care at the right time in the most appropriate environment.

This includes 24/7 self-referral access to a mental health assessment by a mental health professional via a telephone line which reduces long waiting times in AED and contact with other emergency services. The components which are part of the 24/7 Urgent Care Model include Mental Health Liaison, Criminal Justice Liaison Teams, Street Triage Cars, 24/7 Urgent Care Hub, Clinical Decision Units and Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Teams.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

CLINICAL:

• To contribute to the delivery of a planned programme of care under the direct supervision of the qualified practitioner.
• To assist the qualified practitioners by being proactive in maximizing health, well being and social inclusion of service users.
• To provide assistance with activities of daily living, participating in and developing health promotional activities.
• To report general observations and provide feedback to the qualified practitioner both verbally and in written formats, if required. This should include any concerns arising from the service-users physical or mental health.
• To carry out supported observations and provide feedback to the qualified practitioner both verbally and in written formats, as required.
• To contribute to the effective running of the service by providing and receiving information to/from other departments, e.g. probation service. Ensure this information is provided in the most effective way. i.e. telephone, fax or in writing.
• To maintain effective communication between individuals, relatives, carers, partner agencies and the multidisciplinary team.
• To use a variety of verbal and non verbal skills to overcome communication barriers presented by service-users due to their mental health needs.
• As directed by the qualified practitioners, play a specific role in maintaining a safe environment for service users, staff and visitors.
• To carry out specific duties that contribute to the assessment of service-users physical/psychological healthcare needs as requested by the qualified practitioner.
• To carry out, under supervision or direction, activities, which optimize service-users level of functioning and develop meaningful activities for individuals and groups.
• As directed by the qualified practitioner, maintain accurate charts that contribute to the assessment of a service users physical condition e.g. diet and fluid charts, weight or blood pressure, pulse and temperature.
• To prepare agreed assessment reports and treatment plans to assist the qualified practitioner with care planning.
• To use skills and techniques, gained during mandatory training, to de-escalate situations where service-users become physically and verbally aggressive.
• Use an outreach approach to assist service users to attend first key appointments, as directed by the police or the court.
• Enable Mersey Care Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion service users to comply with orders made by the police or the court and prevent further arrests for non-compliance.
• Enable individuals to develop confidence in engaging with relevant (mental health or other) services.
• Enable individuals to develop life skills.
• Enable individuals to find out about and access appropriate services and facilities.
• Promote service users' equality, diversity and rights.
• Promote the needs and rights of individuals in a range of settings including mentally disordered offenders, people with a diagnosis of personality disorder and people who misuse substances.