Senior Mental Health Practitioner

Job Summary

We are looking for a motivated and dynamic Band 6 to join the Exeter Liaison Psychiatry Team. The successful applicant will help deliver high‑quality and comprehensive assessment and consultation to people with mental health needs in the Royal Devon and Exeter University Hospital.

About the Service

Liaison Psychiatry specialises in the interface between medicine and psychiatry. We are recruiting an experienced clinician with significant post‑qualifying experience to join our 24/7 service. Full‑time and part‑time Band 6 positions are available. All staff must be able to work day and night shifts.

We offer relocation packages, training and development support, and the opportunity to speak directly to the manager and spend time with the team during the application process.

Key Duties

• Work within a Senior Mental Health Practitioner role, supporting referrals from colleagues across the Royal Devon and Exeter University Hospital.
• Make specialist mental health assessments and devise interventions to facilitate recovery.
• Participate actively in a dynamic multidisciplinary team, collaborating with multiple agencies daily.
• Deliver care in line with evidence‑based practice, engaging patients, families and carers with therapeutic skills.
• Develop and implement individual safety plans and manage risk assessment and formulation.
• Communicate effectively with colleagues, patients and carers, and serve as a centre of care.

Responsibilities

• Provide 24‑hour, 7‑day comprehensive service, including specialist mental health assessment and intervention for patients aged 18 and over.
• Assist clinicians in decision‑making for complex cases and deliver formal and informal education to staff.
• Represent Devon Partnership Trust within the hospital, maintaining good working relationships.
• Arrive at a formulation that identifies the correct care pathway and ensures implementation.
• Improve the quality of mental health care, quality of life for patients and carers, manage risk, reduce length of stay, prevent admissions and incidents, and measure health outcomes.
• Contribute to the acute care pathway, ensuring timely specialist assessment, especially for self‑harm or suicidal presentations.

Professional Duties

• Practice to minimise dependency and promote recovery.
• Communicate information understandably to service users and carers, adhering to policy guidelines.
• Work cooperatively across acute hospital, mental health services, primary care, and other organisations.
• Maintain duty of care to patients and clients, taking into account patient wishes, values and beliefs.
• Take personal accountability for practice in accordance with the NMC Professional Code of Conduct.

About Devon Partnership Trust

We provide mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider south‑west region and nationally. We promote good mental health & wellbeing, and strive to use our expertise and resources, together with partnerships, to deliver safe, high‑quality, recovery‑focused services.

Our Values

We recruit individuals who demonstrate behaviours underpinning our Trust’s core values: commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, respect, dignity & compassion. We value open, inclusive working with patients, families & carers and encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities.

Details

• Date posted: 22 December 2025
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 6
• Salary: £38,682 to £46,580 a year
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full‑time, Part‑time, Flexible working
• Reference number: C9369‑25‑0842‑2
• Job locations: Wonford House, Dryden Road, Exeter, Devon, EX2 5AF

Person Specification

Essential Skills and Abilities

• Excellent communication skills with clients across a wide range of mental health problems.
• Ability to engage with a wide range of professionals from diverse settings.
• Ability to think and work independently/autonomously after induction.
• Risk decision‑making within the care plan.
• Teamwork and flexible time management.
• Computer literacy and report production.
• Excellent clinical assessment skills.
• Positive change management.

Essential Knowledge and Skills

• Understanding of Local Mental Health Care Pathways, Mental Health Act, Mental Health Capacity Act & DOLS requirements.
• Willingness to engage in completing a competency framework.
• Specialist knowledge of acute mental health issues in working‑age and older adults.

Desirable Knowledge and Skills

• Awareness of community structures and social care management responsibilities.
• Understanding of recovery principles in mental health.

Experience

• Extensive post‑registration experience (2–3 years minimum) in band 5 mental health care, ideally in both inpatient and community settings.
• Experience completing biopsychosocial assessments with people with mental health needs.
• Experience clinically supervising junior and unqualified staff and mentoring students.
• Experience working in a multi‑disciplinary and multi‑agency environment.

Desirable Experience

• Experience with urgent mental health care pathways.

Qualifications

• A professional mental health qualification (RMN, CQSW/ASW, BSc/Diploma in OT).
• A current registration with a professional body (e.g. NMC).

Desirable Qualifications

• Post‑graduate qualification relevant to specialism.
• Clinical supervision qualification.
• Mentorship qualification.
• IT skills.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975. A submission to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB) will be made to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

Employer Details

• Employer name: Devon Partnership NHS Trust
• Address: Wonford House, Dryden Road, Exeter, Devon, EX2 5AF
• Website:
• LNKD1_UKTJ

#J-18808-Ljbffr