Senior Community Practitioner

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; Croydon; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health trust is seeking a Senior Practitioner for their Croydon Assessment and Liaison team. This role involves conducting specialist assessments, formulating care plans, and delivering high-quality interventions for adults with mental health issues. Ideal candidates will be registered mental health professionals with experience in community settings.

Benefits

Generous pay, pensions and leave

Flexible working options

Career development support

Keyworker housing

NHS discounts

Counselling services

Wellbeing events

Qualifications

• Evidence of continuing professional development.
• Registered in a mental health profession.
• Experience in community mental health teams (CMHT).

Responsibilities

• Conduct initial mental health assessments and formulate care plans.
• Provide evidence-based interventions for clients.
• Supervise and support junior staff and community practitioners.

Skills

Communication Skills

Autonomy

Teamwork

Education

Registered Mental Health Nurse

Occupational Therapist

Social Worker

Job description

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good'.

We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone's potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I'm going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you'll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

This post is open to experienced RMNs, mental health social workers or OTs who wish to broaden their work experience and further develop their skills and knowledge in the Croydon Assessment and Liaison team.

We provide a service for people aged 18-65, who live in the London Borough of Croydon. We provide advice on the best treatment and care options available to people who have moderate to severe mental illness, such as anxiety, depression or personality disorder.

We work with a team of health and social care professionals including nurses, doctors, and social workers. We also work closely with the patients, their carers and GPs.

Main duties of the job

To work as a highly experienced autonomous practitioner carrying out specialist needs assessments, care planning, implementation and evaluation to a significant number of adults referred to the Croydon Assessment and Liaison Team. The Senior Practitioner will assess and formulate a care plan and offer brief interventions (up to 12 weeks) with mental health service users, signpost to other services and discharge to primary care where appropriate/possible and supervise community practitioners. Communications and Working Relationships: Multidisciplinary Team, other borough teams, external agencies and primary care - daily.

The senior practitioner will support the team leader to ensure service delivery (i.e. meeting target measures, managing staff absences, supervision of junior staff) and provide management cover in the team leaders absence.

Working for our organisation

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I'm going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you'll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Benefits:

Some of our benefits are highlighted here:

• Generous pay, pensions and leave, we offer a comprehensive pay, pensions and leave package which is dependent on the role and length of service.
• Work life balance, flexible working and support a range of flexible options

• Career development, There are plenty of opportunities to progress your career and we support your development through a number of programmes such as mentoring, coaching, positive people management, collective leadership and other talent programmes
• Accommodation, our staff benefits from keyworker housing available which is available on selected sites
• NHS discounts, with discounts up to 10% from a variety of well-known retail brands though Health Service Discounts website.

Other benefits include:

• Croydon Carers parking permit
• Counselling services
• Wellbeing events

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1) Offering comprehensive, specialist, initial assessments and formulations to service users. To manage the provision of appropriate interventions/treatments to a small case load of service users experiencing transitional mental health problems. To exercise autonomous professional judgement for the assessment, coordination and transfer to the relevant team of a designated caseload. To provide comprehensive ongoing assessment and outcome monitoring of all allocated clients. To participate in the team assessment and duty rota. To liaise closely with crisis services and emergency out of hours services. To provide evidence based care as outlined in NICE guidance.

2) To attend regular clinical and management supervision and appraisal. To provide specialist the teaching and training of mental health professionals and other staff working in the service. To undertake the mentorship of students working in the service.

3) To ensure the maintenance of standards of practice/Codes of Conduct according to the employer and regulating and professional bodies (NMC/HCPC). To ensure client confidentiality is maintained at all times. To attend clinical/managerial supervision on a regular basis as agreed with manager. To participate in individual performance review and respond to agreed objectives. To maintain accurate and timely written records.

4) To form and maintain effective working relationships with all services in the borough, including Home Treatment, Promoting Recovery, inpatient units and psychiatric liaison teams. Maintain and develop effective primary care liaison/link working with aligned GP practices. To ensure that the views of users and carers are sought and incorporated into all care delivered. To ensure that care is sensitive to a diverse population.

5) To contribute to the development of best practice within the service. To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and procedures in relation to Mental Health and Primary Care Services. To take responsibility for their own health and safety and the health and safety of colleagues, patient and the general public. To deputise in the absence of the clinical lead. To undertake the role of duty senior on a regular basis. To undertake any other duties as appropriate to grade as requested by the Clinical service Lead.

6) All employees are expected to comply with statutory requirements and the Trust's employment policies while carrying out their work. All employees have a responsibility and a legal obligation to ensure that information processed for both patients and staff is kept accurate, confidential, secure and in line with the data Protection act (1998) and Security and Confidentiality Policies.

7) This post is one of continual development and the post holder will be encouraged to develop skills and capabilities, including participation in projects and training events. Accordingly, the range of duties and responsibilities outlined above may change from time to time to reflect the changing needs of the organisation.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Registered Mental Health Nurse/ Occupational Therapist or Social Worker

Desirable criteria

• evidence of other advanced education e.g. management qualification

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of working in a CMHT
• Experience of working with and addressing issues of diversity including experience of working within a multicultural framework
• experience of conducting biopsychosocial assessments and risk assessments
• experience of working with service users with depression, anxiety and personality difficulties using evidence based interventions - NICE guidelines

Desirable criteria

• experience of working with primary/secondary care, working with GPs
• Experience of team management

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• An understanding of the relationship between primary and secondary care services
• Knowledge of key legislation and guidelines in relation to statutory mental health responsibilities, including Safeguarding Adults, Young people and children
• An understanding of the stepped care model of delivery of psychological therapies for depression, anxiety and personality disorder
• Knowledge and expertise in the management of complex risk and crisis
• Understanding of KPIs

Desirable criteria

• Theoretical knowledge of psychopathology and the evidence base for the relevant treatment
• Knowledge of Datix and how to complete Fact Finder reports

Skills and ability

Essential criteria

• Highly developed verbal and written communication skills including communicating complex, highly technical and sensitive information to clients, families and colleagues
• Ability to identify and employ mechanisms of clinical governance as appropriate and to support and maintain clinical practice in the face of regular exposure to highly emotive and/or challenging behaviour

Desirable criteria

• Transferable skills and knowledge relevant to work with working age adults with severe and enduring disorders in secondary care
• Highly developed verbal and written communication skills including communicating complex, highly technical and sensitive information to clients, families and colleagues

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity

Please note:

• That all applications for this post will need to be made online
• That you read and understand the Job Description and Personal Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
• That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
• That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
• That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not successful
• That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
• That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
• That we are a smoke-free Trust

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion , Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe'

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• JD and PS (PDF, 173.9KB)
• SLaM Staff Benefits (PDF, 1.1MB)
• Happy to Talk Flexible Working (PDF, 680.1KB)