Senior Practitioner - Community in Manchester

Main area: Mental Health

Grade: Band 7

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Happy to discuss flexible working)

Job ref: 437-8218279

Site: Across community teams - Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Bolton & Wigan Town, Greater Manchester

Salary: £49,387 - £56,515 per annum, pro rata

Salary period: Yearly

Closing: 31/08/2026 23:59

Job overview: Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust is making a significant investment in Adult Community Mental Health Services across Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Bolton and Wigan, creating exciting opportunities for exceptional Mental Health Nurses, Occupational Therapists and Mental Health Social Workers to join us as Band 7 Senior Practitioners. We are expanding our workforce in line with our safer staffing programme and transforming how community mental health services are delivered. Our ambition is simple: to provide high-quality, personalised, recovery-focused care that improves the lives and outcomes of the people we serve.

Main duties of the job: These roles offer genuine variety. Depending on local service need, workforce pressures and safer staffing requirements, Senior Practitioners may initially be deployed to undertake comprehensive assessments, support referral and triage functions, manage complex caseloads, lead care coordination activity or provide specialist clinical leadership across the pathway. As a Band 7 Senior Practitioner, you will:

• Deliver high-quality assessment, formulation and intervention.
• Hold and manage a complex caseload.
• Provide clinical leadership within the MDT.
• Support risk management, safeguarding and complex decision-making.
• Lead personalised care planning and implementation of DIALOG+.
• Provide supervision, mentorship and line management to Band 6 practitioners and other colleagues.
• Support service improvement, reflective practice and a culture of continuous learning.
• Work flexibly across the Community Mental Health Team pathway in line with service need.

We know that high-quality care can only be delivered by a workforce that feels valued, supported and invested in. That's why we are committed to providing:

• A structured and supportive induction programme
• High-quality clinical supervision
• Dedicated reflective practice
• Strong multidisciplinary team decision-making
• Visible and accessible leadership
• Opportunities to lead quality improvement initiatives
• A culture of learning, innovation and continuous improvement
• Genuine influence over service development and transformation

Working for our organisation: Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations. We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford, Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities: Please see attached job description and person specification.

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years.

Person specification:

• Qualifications: Registered Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist or Social Worker; Evidence of significant post-registration professional development relevant to community mental health practice; Clinical supervision training, practice educator qualification, mentorship qualification or willingness to undertake; Additional training in DIALOG+, personalised care planning, trauma-informed practice, psychosocial interventions, formulation, safeguarding, risk management or quality improvement.
• Experience: Significant post-registration experience in mental health services, including experience in community mental health or equivalent complex community settings; Experience of working with people with serious mental health needs, complexity, risk and co-occurring physical, social or relational needs; Experience acting as a care coordinator, keyworker or Named Worker for people with complex needs; Experience of supervising, supporting or advising registered, newly qualified, student or unregistered staff; Experience of leading or contributing to MDT discussions, safety huddles, complex case reviews or formulation meetings; Experience of complex risk assessment, safety planning, safeguarding and multi-agency work; Experience contributing to audit, service improvement, complaints learning, incident learning or clinical governance; Experience chairing meetings, leading improvement work or supporting implementation of service transformation.
• Knowledge: Detailed understanding of the Personalised Care Framework and the move from CPA to needs-led, outcome-focused personalised care; Detailed understanding of the Named Worker role and the principle of shared MDT responsibility for care, risk and intervention delivery; Knowledge of DIALOG+, outcome-focused conversations, personalised care and support planning and co-produced review processes; Knowledge of complex formulation, risk assessment, safety planning, safeguarding adults, Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act and least restrictive practice; Knowledge of supervision, reflective practice, professional development and psychologically safe team cultures; Understanding of community transformation, MDT working, safer staffing principles and caseload prioritisation; Understanding of audit, quality assurance, incident learning, complaints learning and clinical governance processes.

Important Information about working for GMMH: All positions within the Trust are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks. The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH. Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer. The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities.

Please note, this vacancy may be closed at any time if sufficient applications have been received.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications: A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application. The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges. We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.

Sponsorship: We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website. If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.

The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it here. We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment.

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.