Community and Inpatient Liaison Practitioner | Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

Overview

The role of the Community and Inpatient Liaison practitioner is to provide temporary care coordination and to interface with inpatient wards in order to support the flow of patients between inpatient and community services and to facilitate discharges from the inpatient service into the community. This role also involves supporting care planning, undertaking care act assessments, capacity assessments and relevant paperwork for panel presentations to either the local authority or the 117 panels with support from the ECC Senior Practitioners.

It would be expected that the Community and Inpatient Liaison Practitioner would largely attend ward reviews, attend professionals meetings, liaise and interface with care coordinators, discharge coordinators and inpatient ward staff in order to contribute towards safe and effective working relationships with other teams, services, and organisations. The Community and Inpatient Liaison role would also support discharges from community services by identifying and facilitating discharges for those patients who no longer require secondary care services.

The Community and Inpatient Liaison Practitioner would be expected to also support with the general functioning of the team such as being on the duty rota and potentially supporting with providing cover to facilitate joint appointments with other team members and to take part in regular multi-disciplinary team discussions.

Responsibilities

• Attend ward reviews, professionals meetings, and liaise with care coordinators, discharge coordinators and inpatient ward staff to contribute towards safe and effective working relationships with other teams, services, and organisations.
• Support discharges from community services by identifying and facilitating discharges for patients who no longer require secondary care services.
• Support the general functioning of the team (e.g., duty rota) and provide cover to facilitate joint appointments and regular multi-disciplinary team discussions.
• Support the existing community staff to develop knowledge and understanding of available treatment and support options within EPUT services and the wider services available within local areas.
• Support community processes that facilitate flow and capacity through the system from inpatient to FRT and from FRT to RWB or into primary care domains.
• Support care coordinators in managing practical elements of discharge planning, care act assessments, 117 panel presentations, etc., to reduce delays and improve working relationships while maintaining therapeutic relationships with inpatients and visits with other patients in the community.
• Identify, assess and manage clinical and non-clinical risks through risk assessments and the implementation of risk treatment plans for inclusion in local and Trust risk registers.
• Provide supervision and annual appraisals to junior staff and oversee Hub compliance for supervision and appraisal performance.
• Support adherence to key performance indicators (KPIs) and implement strategies to manage compliance with targets.
• Implement HR policy and processes with a focus on employee well-being, including sickness absence monitoring.
• Facilitate access to training (mandatory and specialist) and implement strategies to improve compliance where difficulties arise.
• Work with colleagues from the wider health and social care economy to facilitate an integrated patient experience and service transformation to improve patient care at a neighbourhood, community and secondary level.
• Support student and learner placements and experiences including nursing and allied health professionals.
• Implement quality initiatives to develop improved ways of working and the patient/carer experience.
• Participate in recruitment and HR processes and reviews with the clinical manager regarding skill mix and service need.

This advert closes on Thursday 9 Oct 2025