Mental Health Risk and Referrals Manager

NHS; Burgess Hill, Horsham, Crawley; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading community health service provider in the UK is seeking a Mental Health Risk and Referrals Manager to oversee the duty team and manage patient referrals within their services. This role involves significant interaction with clients and ensures effective risk management across the multidisciplinary team. The ideal candidate should have relevant health qualifications and experience in secondary mental health services, working in a supportive environment that values diversity and well-being.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Excellent training and development opportunities

Positive workplace culture with diverse networks

Beautiful location near the South Downs and coast

Qualifications

• Must be a Registered Mental Nurse or hold relevant professional registration.
• Educated to degree level in health or social care.

Responsibilities

• Manage screening of self and professional referrals.
• Provide duty cover and support clinical risk management.
• Engage with multidisciplinary teams and external stakeholders.

Skills

Good working relationships

Ability to work under pressure

Education

Degree level in relevant subject

Current registration as RMN or Allied Health Professional

Job description

Mental Health Risk and Referrals Manager

Calling Mental Health Nurses (RMNs), Occupational Therapists, Psychological Therapists and other mental health professionals with experience of primary and secondary mental health care! This is an exciting role overseeing and working with a duty team, focused on supporting patients to access primary care services safely.

NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies (previously known as IAPT) is nationally recognised as a high performing talking therapies service, with a reputation for clinical excellence, innovation and collaborative working with secondary care and voluntary services. We provide a range of NICE compliant psychological therapies for people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties, and achieve excellent recovery outcomes for our patients. We have good staff retention and aim to grow inclusive staff teams where diversity is valued and the workforce reflects the communities served.

We are excited to announce we are looking for a further Mental Health Risk and Referrals Manager to complement our current team of two and work alongside the Clinical Leadership team.

We are collaborative in the way we work, encouraging everyone to contribute ideas and suggestions for continual improvement, and have made creative adaptations to our Duty system in response to our Mental Health Risk and Referral Managers' feedback.

Main duties of the job

The management of screening relevant self and professional referrals is carried out by a team of Duty Workers. You will provide duty cover when needed, work alongside the Clinical Leadership team, and existing Duty and be responsible for the organisation and delivery of the established NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies duty rota. The system provides advice and support to our staff (CBT Therapists/Counsellors, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs) and our Administrative Team) about all aspects of clinical risk, supporting robust risk management and safeguarding processes across the service.

The Mental Health Risk and Referral Manager will have substantial client contact by telephone, often talking with people who may be distressed, to help screen client suitability for the service and make referrals where appropriate into secondary mental health services. You will manage the interface between NHS West Sussex Talking Therapies and secondary mental health care services.

We have bases in Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Crawley and Horsham and are open to discussing the applicant's base preference. You will report to the Deputy Clinical Lead and engage with the new West Sussex Triage Hub, an exciting new multi-agency approach to management of referrals to services, using the Community Mental Health Framework for Adults and Older Adults' "No wrong front door" approach.

About us

We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex, with 6,000 staff serving 1.3 million people. We deliver essential care to adults and children, helping them manage their health, avoid hospital admissions, and reduce hospital stays.

Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community. We offer opportunities across medical, clinical, support, and corporate services.

Why work for us?

• Positive 2023 NHS Staff Survey results, highlighting compassionate leadership and wellbeing
• Varied environments: community hospitals, patients' homes, and bases across Sussex
• Flexible working options: part-time, flexi-time, annualised hours, and flexi-retirement
• Excellent training, development, and research opportunities
• Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove, and Brighton
• Active EMBRACE, Disability & Wellbeing, LGBTQIA+, and Religion & Belief networks
• Level 3 Disability Confident Leader and Veteran Aware Trust
• Beautiful Sussex location near the South Downs and coast

Our values

Compassionate Care, Working Together, Achieving Ambitions, Delivering Excellence

We embrace diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds, particularly from ethnically diverse, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aim to create an inclusive environment and support reasonable adjustments during recruitment.

This post may close early if sufficient applications are received.

Job responsibilities

This is a great opportunity to join our team as the service delivers on the commitments of the NHS Long Term Plan (2019).

You will be working within a multidisciplinary team that consists of CBT Therapists, Counsellors, PWPs, Administrators, Managers and Employment Advisors, and regularly engage with external stakeholders. We are commissioned to provide services from 8am to 8pm and all staff are required to contribute 7.5 hours of cover over this daily time frame.

We have adapted our service to enable the continued provision of psychological therapies via video platforms and telephone working, and staff have been equipped with laptops and mobile phones to help them work from home. We work with a blended approach involving home working and working on site.

The post holder will still need to be willing and able to travel throughout West Sussex as required.

Person Specification

Qualifications and/or professional registration

• RMN or Allied Health Professional with current registration and accreditation e.g. CBT Therapist/Counselling Psychologist.
• Core Profession (e.g. MH Nursing, Accredited Counsellor, Occupational Therapy, Health Visitor etc.).
• Educated to degree level in relevant subject or equivalent level of experience of working at a similar level in health or social care and/or psychological therapies.

Experience and Knowledge

• Knowledge of IAPT and psychological therapies
• Experience of working with secondary care mental health services.
• Ability to work at pace and effectively under pressure, with patients who are highly distressed and/or at risk of self-harm or suicide

Essential skills

• Ability to form good working relationships with staff in a multidisciplinary team and with external partners and agencies

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.