Senior Mental Health Practitioner

The CQC rates us as an Outstanding organisation for Caring with an overall rating of Good. Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) offer a range of ongoing benefits to our valued workforce across the Trust. From an active health and wellbeing programme to regular recognition events, we work hard to provide varied benefits that make a difference to your work-life balance. Would you like to work flexibly? In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement.

Are you an experienced mental health professional who enjoys working autonomously? Then we have an exciting role available in the Medway Towns area which works to bridge the gap between Primary Care and Secondary Mental Health services by delivering high quality Mental Health care in Primary Care settings and ensuring people's needs are met in a timely way.

Main duties of the job:

• The role requires a highly competent, proficient practitioner, who is able to work autonomously and creatively in this busy demanding role.
• Excellent assessment skills and knowledge of local services are essential to this role.
• Experience of being in a leadership role is valuable.
• You will also be providing supervision to the band 6 Mental Health Practitioners across the locality.
• Successful candidates must be experienced Mental Health Practitioners and have experience of working in a Primary Care and/or Community Mental Health Team setting.
• Roles are open to all professions.
• You will be a confident assertive communicator with colleagues and stakeholders alike.
• Above all you will have the ambition and drive needed to work within an environment of change and innovation.

The post holder must hold a full, valid, UK driving licence and have access to a car/vehicle to use for business purposes (unless you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010).

Working for our organisation:

Come and work with us in the Garden of England where we combine exceptional professional development opportunities with a tremendous quality of life. We are Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), providing mental health, learning disability and specialist services, serving 1.8 million people in Kent and Medway, as well as specialist services for adults in Sussex and Surrey. We are rated Good overall by the CQC. Each year we care for over 2,000 people in our hospitals and 54,000 people in the community. We are proud to employ over 3,800 people from 66 nationalities, and to serve an increasingly diverse range of communities across rural and urban areas. You will be joining friendly, passionate colleagues, rich in their diversity, who are committed to providing excellent care to our service users and their loved ones.

Person specification:

Qualifications:

• A degree or equivalent qualification in Mental Health Nursing or other relevant healthcare profession.
• State registration with the HCPC, Social Work Council or NMC.
• Post-graduate qualification in a relevant area.

Experience:

• Minimum of 4 years post registration experience in mental health with at least 2 years’ experience of working within secondary care community mental health.
• Experience of working collaboratively with other organisations.
• Experience of supervising junior staff and students.
• Experience working in primary care.

Knowledge:

• Ability to work autonomously and use own initiative.
• An advanced understanding of mental health problems and treatment options/models that can be used to assist recovery.
• Knowledge of Quality Improvement Programme.

Skills:

• Communicate complex and sensitive information effectively to patients, carers/families and all members of the multidisciplinary team.
• Provide effective clinical supervision, teaching, training and assessing in clinical practice.

Personal Attributes:

• Good organisational skills.
• Able to work flexibly and cooperatively as part of a team.

Other requirements:

• Able to travel independently and in a timely manner across the Primary Care Network Area in accordance with Trust policies and service need.

Your employer pays 23.7% towards your pension and life assurance benefits. 27 days for full time or pro rata if part time. After 5 years NHS service 29 days full time or pro rata if part time. After 10 years NHS service 33 days full time or pro rata if part time. Plus bank holidays, that’s up to 41 days - more than 8 weeks paid time off!

Medical staff have national Terms and Conditions. Buying and selling of annual leave is also available as part of our flexible approach to staff benefits.

Staff Support:

KMPT offers a face to face counselling service for any issues not just work related problems.

NHS discounts and shopping vouchers:

Staff can sign up for Red Guava, PS discounts and Health Service Discounts to receive a variety of discounts in travel, fashion, technology, mobile phone contracts, food and drink, days out etc.

Learning and Development opportunities:

In addition to the mandatory subjects there are a number of leadership, management and staff topic areas, including coaching and mentoring.

Induction:

KMPT is committed to supporting all new staff and this includes a comprehensive Induction programme. The programme's duration depends on role and can be from 2 days to 4 weeks (not always consecutive days). The Induction programme will provide an excellent opportunity for new staff to meet and engage with KMPT’s subject specialists and include the required training.

New starter bonus:

At the Trust we really value our nurses and the skills they bring. To recognise this we offer a New Hire Bonus of £1200 pro rata for band 5 and 6 nursing staff.

Staff Network Forums:

A variety of staff network forums which empower, support and encourage network members and allies, to reflect KMPT values and promote equality and diversity.

Probation Period: New employees external to Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust are subject to a six-month probationary period.

Production of false or forged documents/qualifications in order to obtain employment is a criminal offence and will be reported to the Police.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check: Certain roles are subject to criminal record checks called Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Therefore, you will be required to submit a completed Disclosure form to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

KMPT takes a systematic zero-tolerance approach to tackle any unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviours within the workplace and in our care provision. We are committed to sexual safety which encompasses prevention, support and decisive action against perpetrators.

In cases where we receive a high volume of applications for a post, it may be necessary to bring the closing date forward. Please submit your completed application as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Due to the high volume of applications received, it is not possible to respond individually to your application. Should you not hear from us within six weeks of the vacancy closing, please assume that your application has not been successful.