Primary Care Mental Health Triage Practitioner

The Methodist Church in Britain; Bournemouth; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 29,000; Full time

Job summary

Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust, based at Southbourne Surgery within Bournemouth East Collaborative Primary Care Network, seeks a telephone-based Mental Health Triage Practitioner to assess and route patients.

You will carry out focused triage calls, signpost to community support, and work with the PCN Mental Health team across sites. NVQ Level 3 in care and 12 months' experience required; travel may be involved.

Qualifications

• NVQ Level 3 in care or equivalent
• Willingness to undertake continuing personal development
• 12 months' experience in a similar role

Responsibilities

• Carry out focused telephone triage assessments with patients who contact their practice with mental health as the main concern, using the PCN Mental Health pathway
• Decide next steps for each patient and facilitate access to the relevant service
• Navigate patients to specialist community support such as Access Wellbeing, Help and Care, Steps2wellbeing, Dorset Mind, counselling and GP care
• Offer signposting to people with mild to moderate mental health needs
• Connect patients to valued community resources where relevant
• Give patients good quality information and motivate them to engage with their recovery
• Work as part of the PCN Mental Health team alongside Mental Health Practitioners and MH lead GPs
• Build working relationships with reception teams, GPs and other PCN staff
• Collaborate with healthcare professionals inside and outside the PCN
• Manage administrative processes accurately and promptly using PCN systems
• Promote social inclusion, early intervention and recovery in wellbeing activities
• Travel between PCN and Trust sites where required

Skills

PCN knowledge

Mental health support

Risk assessment

Mental health knowledge

Psychoeducation

Safeguarding

MS 365

Education

NVQ Level 3 in care

Tools

Microsoft 365

Job description

This post sits within the Mental Health team of Bournemouth East Collaborative Primary Care Network, based at Southbourne Surgery and employed by Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust. The practitioner takes first-contact calls from patients whose main concern is mental health, assesses them by telephone and routes them to the right service, including community support. The role is telephone-based, with hours from 24 up to 37.5 a week, and may involve travel between PCN and Trust sites. Applicants need an NVQ Level 3 in care or equivalent, plus 12 months in a similar role.

What the job involves

• Carry out focused telephone triage assessments with patients who contact their practice with mental health as the main concern, using the PCN Mental Health pathway
• Decide next steps for each patient and facilitate access to the relevant service
• Navigate patients to specialist community support such as Access Wellbeing, Help and Care, Steps2wellbeing, Dorset Mind, counselling and GP care
• Offer signposting to people with mild to moderate mental health needs
• Connect patients to valued community resources where relevant
• Give patients good quality information and motivate them to engage with their recovery
• Work as part of the PCN Mental Health team alongside Mental Health Practitioners and MH lead GPs
• Build working relationships with reception teams, GPs and other PCN staff
• Collaborate with healthcare professionals inside and outside the PCN
• Manage administrative processes accurately and promptly using PCN systems
• Promote social inclusion, early intervention and recovery in wellbeing activities
• Travel between PCN and Trust sites where required

Qualifications

• NVQ Level 3 in care or an equivalent qualification or level of experience
• Willingness to undertake continuing personal development

Experience

• 12 months of experience in a similar role
• Experience of multi-disciplinary working

Skills & knowledge

• Knowledge of the aims, objectives and ethos of primary care and the PCN
• Supporting people with a range of mental health issues, including risk assessment, and understanding of stigma
• Knowledge of the mental health sector, the Dorset framework and Dorset services
• Knowledge of anxiety and depression, evidence-based treatment, coping skills, psychoeducation, self-management, relaxation and mindfulness
• Working knowledge of adult and child safeguarding
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), email, the internet and social media

Other

• Remaining boundaried and professional at all times
• Self-motivated, working on own initiative, with time management and assertiveness to balance workload
• Delivering standalone interventions and offering pathway options that promote client autonomy
• Identifying and managing risk incidents
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, working as part of a team
• Confident telephone manner, accurate bookings and report writing without supervision

Nice to have

• Additional coaching or therapeutic qualification, such as integrative, systemic, person-centred, psychodynamic, CBT or coaching
• Experience of working in a primary care setting
• Professional or lived experience of mental health and wellbeing challenges
• Experience of working in the voluntary sector
• Previous work with young people aged 11 to 25 with mental health difficulties
• Facilitating workshops and support groups, with organisational skills
• Counselling skills
• Knowledge of the NICE Stepped Care Model and the 5 ways to wellbeing