Enhanced Practice Mental Health Nurse - Primary Care in Leighton Buzzard

The focus of the role is on high-quality assessment, formulation, risk management, and brief intervention rather than long-term therapeutic work. You will be confident in making clear clinical decisions, holding clinical uncertainty, and supporting patients to the most appropriate onward pathway where needed. You'll help reduce referrals to crisis or specialist services by offering proactive, preventative, and person-centred care. You'll be expected to work at enhanced level: managing complexity, leading service development, and actively shaping a population-based mental health offer.

Clinical Practice

• Deliver timely, person-centred care for adults with mental health needs referred from within the PCN - through GP triage, direct referral, or proactive outreach.
• Conduct comprehensive mental health assessments and develop shared care plans with patients.
• Complete Mental Health care plans to support QOF indicators.
• Deliver brief interventions, psychoeducation, and proactive medication support (if trained).
• Refer and signpost to Talking Therapies, CMHTs, crisis services, and VCSE organisations as appropriate.
• Work collaboratively with GPs, ANPs, Social Prescribers, OTs, and other team members to plan joined‑up care.
• Work autonomously with confidence to manage complexity and psychosocial need.
• Apply holistic clinical reasoning and shared decision‑making to develop meaningful care plans.
• Apply safeguarding principles and act quickly when crises arise.
• Actively contribute to mental health MDTs and population health discussions at PCN level.

Evidence, Research, and Development

• Contribute to service development, quality improvement, and mental health strategy alignment.
• Promote public mental health, prevention, and early intervention as part of population health goals.
• Identify high‑risk populations, promote mental wellbeing, and tackle social determinants of mental health (e.g. loneliness, housing, debt).
• Act as a clinical role model within the MDT, supporting professional development and reflective practice.
• Record activity and outcomes in line with reporting requirements.

Key skills and attributes

• You thrive in a fast‑paced, high-volume clinical environment and are confident delivering safe, effective care within time-limited consultations.
• You communicate clearly and effectively, building strong relationships with internal teams, PCNs, and external stakeholders - both verbally and in writing.
• You are a natural people person and team player who enjoys motivating and supporting others to deliver high-quality outcomes on time.
• You take pride in running a tight ship, demonstrating strong organisational skills, attention to detail, and proactive planning.
• You are tech-savvy, quickly learning new systems, policies, and programmes and using data confidently to inform decision-making and service improvements.
• You excel at problem-solving, applying logical thinking to overcome challenges and implement effective solutions.
• You are self-reflective and committed to continuous professional development, motivated to grow both your clinical expertise and leadership capabilities.
• You understand and adhere to legal, ethical, professional, and organisational policies, procedures, and codes of conduct.
• You have proficiency with MS Office and other IT tools, including HR databases and digital collaboration platforms.