Mental Health Practitioner

NHS; Sidcup; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust is recruiting for a Band 6 clinician based at Hawthorns, Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, to provide clinical input into the Home Treatment Team in Bexley. The role involves senior clinical decision-making and leadership within a multidisciplinary team providing care in the community to prevent admission and support early discharge.

The post requires clinical autonomy, advanced risk formulation, and robust decision-making under pressure, with a commitment to

Qualifications

• Leads and coordinates teams during challenging situations with risk management.
• Conducts comprehensive mental health assessments and risk assessments.
• Supports junior staff through supervision and mentorship.
• Maintains clinical documentation and applies safeguarding and legal frameworks.

Responsibilities

• An experienced mental health practitioner who provides clinical leadership, supports and mentors junior staff, and ensures safe, high-quality, recovery-focused care.
• Leads and coordinates teams during challenging situations, using effective risk management, de-escalation techniques, and post-incident debriefing to promote safety and learning.
• Clinically skilled in conducting comprehensive mental health assessments, MSE, risk assessments, and developing robust risk management and care plans.
• Committed to developing others through supervision, teaching, mentorship, and constructive feedback while promoting evidence-based practice, professional accountability, and continuous service improvement.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Mental health assessment

Risk management

Communication

Team mentorship

Job description

Main area Adult Acute & Crisis Mental Health Grade Band 6 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Long days and weekends) Job ref 277-8412884-AAC

Site Hawthorns, Queen Mary's Hospital Town Sidcup Salary £45,953 - £54,254 pa inc Salary period Yearly Closing 24/11/2026 23:59

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust as a valued Band 6 clinician based at Hawthorns providing clinical input into the Home Treatment Team in Bexley.

Home Treatment Team is a multidisciplinary team, providing a service seven days a week, 365 days per year to individuals in mental health crisis with the principal aim of providing an effective alternative to inpatient care. This involves intensive clinical work over short periods of time to prevent the need for admission or facilitate safe early discharge. The team also carries out 72 Hour follow–up for individuals discharged from mental health inpatient units.

As a senior clinician, the post holder will play a key role in the gatekeeping of acute inpatient admissions, undertaking complex assessments to determine whether individuals can be safely and effectively treated in their own homes. This requires a high degree of clinical autonomy, advanced risk formulation skills, and the ability to make robust, evidence-based decisions under pressure.

Main duties of the job

• An experienced mental health practitioner who provides clinical leadership, supports and mentors junior staff, and ensures safe, high-quality, recovery-focused care. Demonstrates extensive knowledge of the Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, and other relevant legislation, ensuring compliance and supporting colleagues to apply legal frameworks in practice.
• Leads and coordinates teams during challenging situations, using effective risk management, de-escalation techniques, and post-incident debriefing to promote safety and learning. Acts as Shift Coordinator when required, managing workload, prioritising referrals, coordinating resources, and supporting operational service delivery.
• Clinically skilled in conducting comprehensive mental health assessments, MSE, risk assessments, and developing robust risk management and care plans. Works autonomously and collaboratively with service users, carers, multidisciplinary teams, and partner agencies to deliver person-centred care. Competent in medication management, physical health monitoring, health promotion, recovery-focused interventions, and safeguarding patient dignity, equality, and rights.
• Committed to developing others through supervision, teaching, mentorship, and constructive feedback while promoting evidence-based practice, professional accountability, and continuous service improvement.

Working for our organisation

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.
We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We Listen
• We Care

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Demonstrates excellent communication skills, providing clear, accurate, and timely information to patients, carers, families, colleagues, and partner agencies. Communicates effectively using active listening, professional judgement, and appropriate communication methods tailored to individual needs, cultural differences, and complex situations.

Maintains high standards of clinical documentation, ensuring accurate verbal and written handovers, comprehensive patient records, and timely use of care plans, pathways, and electronic systems. Able to identify and communicate key clinical information, recognise deterioration in a patient's mental or physical health, and elevate concerns appropriately and without delay.

Effectively manages patient caseloads by coordinating care, prioritising workload, delegating tasks according to staff competence, and identifying and mitigating risks. Works collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to ensure continuity of care and promptly communicates significant changes in a patient's condition.

Demonstrates a strong understanding of risk management, safeguarding, and confidentiality, ensuring adherence to Trust policies and procedures. Supports junior staff in recognising and responding to safeguarding concerns, promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults while maintaining patient safety, dignity, and confidentiality at all times.

Person specification

REgistration

• Qualifed with registration
• OT/RMN/SW

Qualification

• Qualification
• Achieved Grade and years of experience

HTT/Community Experience

• HTT/Community Experience
• Experience working in HTT or Community Mental Health team

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes and supports individuals of all abilities. Remember, if you meet the minimum criteria for this role and you have a disability, you can be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme - Please ensure you select this on your application form. We would encourage you to be open about your needs so we can work with you to design a comfortable and accessible interview experience. Any information you provide regarding a disability or a need for adjustments will be treated in confidence and will only be shared with colleagues who are supporting this request.

If you require any adjustments to participate fully in the interview process, please let us know by adding the relevant details when scheduling your preferred interview date and time. Please feel free to contact the appointing manager to discuss your needs.

We encourage applicants to contact the hiring manager before their interview, if they have any questions about the role or the process. This is a great way to get clarity and prepare effectively for the interview.

If you have declared you are part of the armed forces community, you may be asked to provide evidence during the recruitment process. If you misrepresent this information, your offer may be withdrawn. For Armed Forces specific support, see our webpage: https://oxleas.nhs.uk/armed-forces-community/

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

If you choose to use AI or other tools to assist in writing your application, it's essential to personalise this information, particularly your supporting information section. While AI can help streamline the writing process, these tools cannot fully grasp the context or requirements of the job you’re applying for. There is also a risk that it can generate false or misleading information. AI-generated job applications can often be generic, impersonal and may not accurately reflect your qualifications, knowledge, skills, and experiences. It is crucial that you personalise your supporting statement by articulating these in your unique voice. Relying solely on AI to write your application or supporting information section is not advocated by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and could negatively impact your chances of success in the application process.

We monitor applications for any behaviour that could create an unfair advantage, and we check all references carefully. You are likely to be tested on your experience at interview, so be honest and make sure all the information in your application is correct.Please note that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited during the interview process.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high volume of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.