Clinical Practice Lead in Exeter

The Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team is a pivotal, county-wide service whose main focus is to offer an alternative to inpatient admission and provide intensive treatment as required within the community. The service operates within locality-based leadership teams to ensure effective gatekeeping for all service users referred for hospital admission. Outreach is at the heart of the service, with most assessments taking place in non-hospital environments. We are currently advertising for an 18‑month secondment for a Clinical Practice Lead.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and deliver high‑quality mental health services.
• Ensure robust shift planning and effective leadership, maintaining consistent service provision and team coverage.
• Develop, implement, and oversee comprehensive treatment plans for clients.
• Provide mentorship, guidance, and support to colleagues across the multi-disciplinary team.
• Utilise an approved UK triage tool to rigorously assess the urgency and complexity of each referral, ensuring accurate prioritisation and allocation of resources.
• Conduct timely clinical assessments within 4 hours for urgent referrals and 24 hours for routine cases to provide prompt access to care and interventions.
• Assess, manage, and formulate clinical risk with each client on the caseload.
• Offer crisis resolution as an alternative to hospital admission, available 24/7.
• Act as the gatekeeper for inpatient hospital beds.
• Conduct in‑person follow‑up after hospital discharge to ensure ongoing support and continuity of care.

About Us

Devon Partnership NHS Trust provides mental health, learning disability and neurodiversity services, as well as a range of specialist & secure services for the wider South West region & nationally. We are passionate about promoting good mental health & wellbeing, and we strive to use the expertise & resources within our organisation, and through our partnerships, to deliver high‑quality services that are safe & focused on people’s recovery.

Values

We recruit based on qualifications & experience, and our core values underpin our confidence in the behaviours we look for: commitment to quality of care, improving lives of others, giving respect, dignity & compassion. These values are brought to life by a smile, making time for people, challenging ourselves & others, and being open to new ideas. We are a Disability Confident Leader and we are committed to being an inclusive employer. Applications are encouraged & welcomed from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics as governed by the Equality Act 2010. We particularly encourage applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions, neurodiversity or learning disabilities.

Experience – Essential

• Experience of working with people presenting in mental health crisis in both inpatient and community settings.
• Proven expertise in crisis intervention, mental health assessment, and risk management.
• Experience of leading clinical decision‑making and supervising staff.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work flexibly and manage competing demands in high‑pressure environments.
• Commitment to continuous professional development and service improvement.
• Management and organisational skills that enable a number of complex activities and clinical work to be undertaken, revising and adjusting these according to the needs of individual patients and the service.
• Ability to be mobile across a geographical area.
• Specialist knowledge of mental health disorders.
• Excellent clinical knowledge to be able to make autonomous decisions, based on an analysis of complex presenting problems and signpost accordingly.
• Experience of working in a senior or advanced clinical role.

Experience – Desirable

• Experience in service development or leading change initiatives.
• Familiarity with local crisis pathways, community resources, and integrated care systems.
• Experience in managing complex cases involving co‑occurring needs (e.g. substance misuse, neurodiversity, trauma).

Knowledge and Skills – Essential

• Strong understanding of safeguarding, legal frameworks (e.g. MHA, MCA), and ethical practice.
• Commitment to continuous professional development and service improvement.
• Ability to interpret research and apply to practice.
• Management and organisational skills that enable a number of complex activities and clinical work to be undertaken, revising and adjusting these according to the needs of individual patients and the service.
• Ability to be mobile across a geographical area.
• Knowledge and utilisation of counselling skills / cognitive behavioural skills, psychosocial intervention.
• Teaching, training and/or supervision of clinical staff.

Knowledge and Skills – Desirable

• Understanding of research principles and how to apply this in practice.

Qualifications – Essential

• Professional registration (e.g. RMN, Social Worker, Occupational Therapist) with substantial post‑qualification experience.

Qualifications – Desirable

• Training in advanced psychosocial interventions (e.g. CBT, DBT, systemic approaches).
• Post‑graduate qualification relevant to specialism (e.g. CBT, NMP, DBT, etc.).
• Management qualification, leadership or quality improvement qualification.

Legal & Registration

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such a submission for Disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) is required to check for any previous criminal convictions. Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.