Senior Mental Health Practitioner

Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust; Gillingham; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading NHS Trust as a Mental Health Practitioner, where you'll bridge Primary and Secondary Mental Health services. This role seeks experienced professionals passionate about delivering high-quality care while supporting a diverse community. Enjoy a supportive environment with an emphasis on staff well-being.

Benefits

23.7% employer contribution to pension

27 to 33 days paid annual leave

New Hire Bonus of £1200

Comprehensive induction programme

Flexible working arrangements

Counselling service available for staff

NHS discounts and shopping vouchers

Qualifications

• Minimum of 4 years post-registration experience in mental health.
• Experience in primary care and community mental health required.
• Familiarity with Quality Improvement Programmes.

Responsibilities

• Deliver high quality mental health care in Primary Care settings.
• Provide supervision to band 6 Mental Health Practitioners.
• Work autonomously and creatively in a demanding role.

Skills

Assessment Skills

Communication

Leadership

Flexibility

Organizational Skills

Education

Degree in Mental Health Nursing

State registration with HCPC or NMC

Post-graduate qualification in relevant area

Job description

The CQC rates us as an Outstanding organisation for Caring with an overall rating of Good

Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) offer a range ofongoing benefitsto our valued workforce across the Trust. From an active health and wellbeing programme to regular recognition events, we work hard to provide varied benefits that make a difference to your work-life balance.

Would you like to work flexibly?In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you.

Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement.

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Job overview

Are you an experienced mental health professional who enjoys working autonomously?

Then we have an exciting role available in the Medway Towns area which works to bridge the gap between Primary Care and Secondary Mental Health services by delivering high quality Mental Health care in Primary Care settings and ensuring peoples needs are met in a timely way.

Main duties of the job

The role requires a highly competent, proficient practitioner, who is able to work autonomously and creatively in this busy demanding role. Excellent assessment skills and knowledge of local services are essential to this role. Experience of being in a leadership role is valuable. You will also be providing supervision to the band 6 Mental Health Practitioners across the locality.

Successful candidates must be experienced Mental Health Practitioners and have experience of working in a Primary Care and/or Community Mental Health Team setting. Roles are open to all professions. You will be a confident assertive communicator with colleagues and stakeholders alike.

Above all you will have the ambition and drive needed to work within an environment of change and innovation.

The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).

Working for our organisation

Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life.

We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people in Kent and Medway, as well as specialist services for adults in Sussex and Surrey. We arerated Good overall by the CQC.

Each year we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 people in the community.

We are proud to employ over 3,800 people from 66 nationalities, and to serve an increasingly diverse range of communities across rural and urban areas.

You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.

The nature of our work attracts kindness and compassion as standard and everyone from our cleaners and porters to the chief executive and chairman are recognised as playing a vital role in providing an exemplary service.

Our mission is what we set out to do every day
We deliver brilliant care through brilliant people

Our vision is where we want to be in the future
To provide outstanding care and to work in partnership to deliver this in the right place, for every service user, every time.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job description for full details of the main responsibilities of the role.

At KMPT, we are serious about diversity and inclusion, and we are working hard to build this into our DNA. We warmly welcome applications for any of our roles from people from diverse backgrounds, and we are proactively encouraging applications from under-represented communities for our more senior roles, like this one.

Person specification

Qualifications

• A degree or equivalent qualification in Mental Health Nursing or other relevant healthcare profession
• State registration with the HCPC, Social Work Council or NMC
• Post-graduate qualification in a relevant area

Experience

• Minimum of 4 years post registration experience in mental health with at least 2 years’ experience of working within secondary care community mental health
• Experience of working collaboratively with other organisations
• Experience of supervising junior staff and students
• Experience working in primary care

Knowledge

• Ability to work autonomously and use own initiative
• An advanced understanding of mental health problems and treatment options/models that can be used to assist recovery
• Knowledge of Quality Improvement Programme

Skills

• Communicate complex and sensitive information effectively to patients, cares/ families and all members of the multidisciplinary team
• Provide effective clinical supervision, teaching, training and assessing in clinical practice

Personal Attributes

• Good organisational skills
• Able to work flexibly and cooperatively as part of a team

Other requirements

• Able to travel independently and in a timely manner across the Primary Care Network Area in accordance with Trust policies and service need

Your employer pays 23.7% towards your pension and life assurance benefits.

27 days for full time or pro rata if part time

After 5 years NHS service

29 days full time or pro rata if part time

After 10 years NHS service

33 days full time or pro rata if part time

Plus bank holidays, that’s up to 41 days - more than 8 weeks paid time off!

Medical staffs have national Terms and Conditions.
Buying and selling of annual leave is also available as part of our flexible approach to staff benefits.

Recommend a friend campaign

If you already work for us you could refer a friend from outside of the Trust to any of the roles below and you can receive £1000 if they are successfully recruited; Nursing staff - RMN RGN RNLD - Band 5 and 6, Medical Doctors, Clinical Psychologist and Allied Health Professionals,

Covers job share, term time working, flexible shifts etc. Just ask and we will try to help.

Statutory and occupational maternity, paternity or adoption leave

Dependant on length of NHS service

Other paid/unpaid leave

This can be for Jury Service, Reserved Armed Forces, etc. This is paid outside of annual leave.

Non paid leave for career breaks

Staff Support

KMPT offers a face to face counselling service for any issues not just work related problems.

NHS discounts and shopping vouchers

Staff can sign up for Red Guava, PS discounts and Health Service Discounts to receive a variety of discounts in travel, fashion, technology, mobile phone contracts, food and drink, days out etc.

Learning and Development opportunities

In addition to the mandatory subjects there are a number of leadership, management and staff topic areas, including coaching and mentoring.

Induction
KMPT is committed to supporting all new staff and this includes a comprehensive Induction programme. The programme's duration depends on role and can be from 2 days to 4 weeks (not always consecutive days).

The Induction programme will provide an excellent opportunity for new staff to meet and engage with KMPT’s subject specialists and include the required training.

The programme may involve some travel to the various training venues across Kent and Medway, the main ones being Canterbury, Maidstone and Dartford.

New starter bonus

At the Trust we really value our nurses and the skills they bring. To recognise this we offer a New Hire Bonus of £1200 pro rata for band 5 and 6 nursing staff.

Staff Network Forums

A variety of staff network forums which empower, support and encourage network members and allies, to reflect KMPT values and promote equality and diversity.

Lease car scheme, Cycle to work scheme, the list goes on………!

Probation Period . New employees external to Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust are subject to a six-month probationary period.

To deliver an effective service it is essential in some of our roles that you are able to travel between work bases in a timely manner.

Production of false or forged documents/qualifications in order to obtain employment is a criminal offence and will be reported to the Police.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check.
Certain roles are subject to criminal record checks called Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Therefore, you will be required to submit a completed Disclosure form to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

KMPT are signed up to NHS England's Sexual Safety in Health Care Organisational Charter

KMPT takes a systematic zero-tolerance approach to tackle any unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviours within the workplace and in our care provision. We are committed to sexual safety which encompasses prevention, support and decisive action against perpetrators. We are committed to keeping you and our patients safe.

KMPT is creating an environment for equal opportunities for all, where we canALL be ourselves.

In cases where we receive a high volume of applications for a post, it may be necessary to bring the closing date forward. Please submit your completed application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

Due to the high volume of applications received, it is not possible to respond individually to your application. Should you not hear from us within six weeks of the vacancy closing, please assume that your application has not been successful.

Use of AI when writing job applications

While AI tools can be helpful in generating ideas and drafting initial versions, they should never be the sole source for writing your job application.

AI cannot truly understand the specific job you're applying for or what makes you a good fit. Therefore, it's crucial to personalise any AI-generated content to accurately reflect your skills, experiences, and aspirations.

Relying solely on AI to write your application may result in generic, impersonal, and potentially inaccurate content. Always review and refine any AI-generated text to ensure it effectively communicates your experience, skills, accomplishments, and aspirations, and demonstrates your suitability for the position.

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.