Mental Health Practitioner

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust; Lancaster; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting a Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner to join the Home Treatment Team in Lancaster. The role covers Lancaster, Morecambe and surrounding areas, working across seven days with long shifts to support acute mental health care in the community.

You will work within a multi-disciplinary team to assess, triage and help patients access the most appropriate mental health pathway, with a focus on reducing unnecessary admissions and promoting

Qualifications

Responsibilities

• Provide comprehensive assessment and triage within the Home Treatment Team.
• Signpost or facilitate onward care to a mental health pathway as needed.
• Triage collaboratively with referrers and other teams to determine the best care route.
• Follow-up appointments within agreed timescales as part of ongoing assessment.

Skills

Communication skills

Job description

Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism, community, and physical health services for the populations we serve.

As an integrated Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) delivers a comprehensive range of services, including:

• Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults, including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, and forensic services with low and medium secure care.
• Specialist mental health inpatient care for individuals with learning disabilities, alongside specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
• Extensive community physical health and well‑being services for children and adults, covering prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and long‑term condition management.

The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,500 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health, general nurses, childrens' nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers, as well as those specialising in learning disabilities and community physical health services.

For more information visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a band 6 mental health practitioner to work in the Home Treatment Team in Lancaster.

The Home Treatment Team cares for people who are experiencing acute episodes of mental illness or emotional distress. The service is an alternative to admission and offers intensive support to service users and their families in the community.

The service works closely with the in‑patient wards to support early discharges and with other parts of the mental health services as well as third sector providers, so great communication skills are essential.

The post is a full‑time, permanent post covering the service over 7 days per week working long days. The team covers Lancaster, Morecambe and surrounding areas.

Advert

As a member of the team you would be working with a multi‑disciplinary team consisting of Mental Health Nurses; Support Workers; Occupational Therapist; Psychologist and Consultant Psychiatrist.

You will provide a comprehensive assessment and triage service and, where necessary signposting or clear onward facilitation to a mental health pathway. Your referrers will mostly include IRS (initial response service), and Acute Hospital colleagues, trust employed mental health practitioners working in GP service. Service users will be triaged collaboratively and a decision will be made in consultation with the referrer and with the use of a clinical tool, within the response time required.

This comprehensive, collaborative triage system will lead to comprehensive assessment clear onward facilitation of service users to the most appropriate care following assessment

The post holder will provide evidence based mental health assessments and/or signposting to alternative service provision for people who present requiring a specialist urgent mental health assessment. The post holder may offer follow‑up appointments within the agreed timescale for intervention as part of the on‑going assessment process.

Working for our organisation

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under‑represented groups. If you'd like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi‑time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Explore our full wellbeing offer here: Keeping our workforce well

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached the job description and person specification for more information about this role.

For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).