Senior Mental Health Practitioner

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust; Witney; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading organization in mental health care is seeking a Senior Mental Health Practitioner based in Witney. This role entails leadership, mentorship, and providing high-quality care for Older Adults in the community. Candidates should possess significant experience in mental health, specifically within community settings, and a relevant professional qualification. Excellent career progression opportunities and a supportive work environment are offered.

Benefits

27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays

NHS Discount across various shops

Competitive pension scheme

Lease car scheme

Cycle to work scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Mental Health First Aiders

Staff accommodation

Qualifications

• Substantial experience of mental health care, including experience in community settings.
• Experience of working with Older Adult patient group.
• Working at Band 6 or above of the NHS payscale for at least 1 year.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership to junior and unqualified staff and support evidence-based care.
• Act as a clinical expert in developing clinical practice.
• Enable the team to meet key performance indicators.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Organizational skills

Education

Relevant Professional Qualification (RMN or OT)

Post qualifying education e.g. MSc modules

Qualification in management/leadership

Job description

Are you an experienced RMN seeking a new challenge?

Are you looking for a role with leadership and mentorship responsibilties?

The Older Adult Community Mental Health Team in North & West Oxfordshire is a dynamic multidisciplinary team based over 2 localities, Banbury & Witney. The team provides specialist mental health support to patients with a range of functional and organic mental illness in people aged 65+ years.

The Senior Mental Health Practitioner (SMHP) vacancy is in the beautiful historic market town of Witney, based at Des Roches Square. We see patients in and around Witney, including the towns of Bampton, Burford, Carterton and Eynsham.

The SMHP will provide leadership, training and support within the team and act as role model and resource, encouraging and developing the highest standards of clinical competency.

You will already have significant experience of working at Band 6+ of the NHS AfC pay scale; working in a community mental health setting and preferably of working with an Older Adult patient group. You must have access to your own transportation to move around the county and a valid UK driving licence.

Main duties of the job

The SMHP will provide leadership to junior and unqualified staff particularly, newly qualified/preceptor staff and support them in providing evidence-based care and interventions to patients who present with complexity. You will be able to identify and contribute to service developments and be willing to adopt a Quality Improvement approach. You will be the main point of contact for practice placement coordinators and students within the team, building relationships with the coordinators for each profession within the Trust and universities/colleges.

The responsibilities include:

• Act as a clinical expert taking a lead role in advancing the development of clinical practice.
• Provide evidence based holistic patient care within a variety of settings, inclusive of the patient’s residence and care settings within the community, from assessment of presenting condition through to diagnosis, treatment and discharge, including the administration of medication within agreed clinical guidelines and protocols.
• Take an active leadership role in enabling the team to meet all relevant key performance indicators.
• Play an active role in the delivery of out of hours service of the team in the evenings and at weekends

You must have exemplary organisation and communication skills, be reliable, punctual and be able to work well autonomously as well as in a team.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible

Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive:“Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are:“Caring, safe and excellent”

At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Relevant Professional Qualification (RMN or OT)
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Desirable criteria

• To hold a professional/clinical qualification in psycho-social intervention (e.g. CBT, DBT, NMP)
• Post qualifying education e.g Msc modules, in relevant area
• Qualification in management/leadership

Experience

Essential criteria

• Substantial experience of mental health care and working across different settings which must include experience within a community mental health setting.
• Experience of working with Older Adult patient group
• Working at Band 6 or above of the NHS AfC payscale for at least 1 year
• Experience of providing formal and informal teaching including supervising student placements

Desirable criteria

• Experience of being in a position of leadership with proven track record

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Knowledge of functional and organic mental illness, typical presentation and treatment options
• Knowledge of clinical risk, risk formulation and management
• Knowledge of MHA and MCA and how this is applied in the community

All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.

Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.

We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.

Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.

We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.

We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing