Community Mental Health Practitioner in Cheltenham

We love what we do and we think you will, too!

At Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC), we provide joined-up mental health, physical health and learning disability services to people of all ages across Gloucestershire. We run community hospitals and provide care and support in people’s own homes and in a range of other locations across the county .

We are on a mission to enable people to live the best life they can and we have a vision to work together to provide outstanding care . We put people at the heart of our services, focusing on personalised care by asking ‘what matters to you ’.

We’re passionate about making sure that everyone can contribute to achieving our mission and w e are continually working to support healthy and happy high-quality team s in all areas of the Trust .

Our application process aims to understand each candidates knowledge, skills and experience. We have found that candidates that use AI to generate their answers can lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description.

It is really important to personalise your application to convey your individual skills, knowledge, and experiences effectively and for us to understand why you are applying for this role with GHC. We discourage over reliance on AI-generated applications as it will lessen your chances of success in securing an interview with us .

Job overview

The Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams are an integral part of Urgent Care Services providing triage and assessment providing home treatment, gate keeping of hospital beds and providing telephone support to those individuals that are suffering with psychological, emotional and mental health distress. We are an open access service working with the those aged 11 to end of life whom are suffering with a functional illness.

We are now seeking highly motivated and committed band 5 nurses to join us in providing this service and complement our current team of professionals, assisting with the day to day running of the service and ensuring you are professionally accountable and responsible for service users’ care. As the ideal candidate for this post you would be an RMN qualified nurse looking for a new challenge and seeking an opportunity to make a real difference to people’s lives. We’re looking for candidates with excellent communication skills and a passion for helping those experiencing a mental health crisis. You will have the ability to build relationships with key partner agencies and help us to integrate more effectively with other services, as well as thriving on working in a high pressure situation.

We welcome applications from newly qualified individuals.

Main duties of the job

• To be a member of a multidisciplinary MHARS team that will provide a 24 hour, 7 days a week service.
• To participate in the provision of a comprehensive assessment, planning, short term intervention, support and education service to clients referred to the service with a range of psychiatric illnesses and mental health crises.
• To have face-to-face contact and the provision of telephone advice ensuring that the needs of the service users are met in the most sensitive and appropriate way.
• To maintain responsibility for a shared caseload of up to 20 to 30 service users.
• The post holder will receive regular supervision from Band 6 Clinicians and/or the Team Manager.

The team operate a mixed economy shift system allowing staff to choose either a standard shift working pattern (7.5 hour shifts) or long shift working pattern (12 hour shifts). This is negotiated with the team manager with those choosing to work long shifts having to pick up a regular short shift or long shift to make up contracted hours. Nights undertaken are 9.5 hours.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Working for our organisation

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post holder will be a member of the Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team working with people in Gloucestershire who are thought to be experiencing a period of mental health crisis or psychological distress. The service will provide an acute, mobile, 24 hour, 7 days a week community service as an alternative to hospitalisation.

• To contribute to the rapid assessment and implementation of crisis resolution or evidence based home treatment for service users who are experiencing an acute mental health crisis.
• To optimise the service user’s ability to remain in the community and/or be cared for in the least restrictive environment in line with the principles of recovering and social inclusion and the 10 essential capabilities.
• To facil t early discharge from hospital and respond to agencies requiring assessment of clients who are being considered for immediate psychiatric hospitalisation

We provide a Multi-professional preceptorship programme that is aligned to the National Preceptorship Framework for Nursing and have been awarded the Interim quality mark from NHS England. Our programme is provided to all Newly Qualified; Nurses, Nursing Associates, Internationally Educated Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals and Return to Practice Practitioners. In addition to the programme we also offer all preceptees the opportunity of enrolling and completing the level 7 (Masters) 15 credit validated module “Preceptorship for Healthcare” (AP7026).

Newly qualified Social Workers are offered the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment programme (ASYE) which is similar to a preceptorship programme.

• NMC or Social Worker or Occupational Therapist or awaiting results from University
• Registered with the HCPC or awaiting results from University

LENGTH AND / OR NATURE OF EXPERIENCE

• Working knowledge of recovery approach and social inclusion.
• Experience in the provision of Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment
• Experience of collaboration working with other agencies including the voluntary sector.

PROFESSIONAL / MANAGERIAL / SPECIALIST KNOWLEDGE

• Knowledge of current Mental Health Act legislation and Mental Capacity Act.
• Demonstrable skills in risk assessment and management.
• Knowledge of the various approaches to mental health assessment.
• Knowledge of evidence based intervention with clients in an acute phase of mental illness.
• An understanding of national policy in relation to mental health
• Knowledge of child care/protection issues.
• Demonstrated commitment to continuing professional development.
• Ability to work on social factors affecting mental distress eg accommodation, substance misuse, domestic violence, welfare rights.
• Knowledge of various approaches in the care and treatment of clients with dual disorder (drug and/or alcohol and mental illness).

When joining us, as well as becoming part of a team that makes a difference, we also offer:

• Free car parking at many of our sites
• 27 days leave plus bank holidays, increasing up to 33 days with long service
• A broad range of training and development opportunities, including apprenticeships up to Level 7 qualification.
• A multi-professional preceptorship programme for all Newly Qualified; Nurses, Nursing Associates, Internationally Educated Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals and Return to Practice Practitioners.
• Generous NHS pension and enhanced pay when if you work unsocial hours
• Flexible, family friendly and agile working opportunities
• Recognition and long service awards
• Fast Track physiotherapy
• Access to discounts and salary sacrifice schemes; including Cycle to Work, Car scheme and discounts on travel, leisure and retailers.

Applicants are advised to apply early as if a large number of applications are received for this post, we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date.

If you are aged 16-30, you may be eligible for financial and pastoral support from the King’s Trust, with who we are in partnership with to support your first 6 months in role. We will pass on your details to the King’s Trust who will be in touch with you if you are eligible. If you would rather not be contacted, please let us know.

For more information please see the attached 'Additional Information for Applicants' document.

Good luck with your application.

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.

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