Main area: Mental Health Practitioner Grade Band 6
Contract: Multiple permanent full time and 1 fixed term post
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 351-BAY548-CL-Q
Site: The Bay IRS Town, Lancaster
Salary: £35,392 - £42,618 pa pro rata
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 24/03/2025 23:59
Our Vision: to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism, and community-based services for the populations we serve.
As an integrated mental health, learning disability, and community Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including:
1. Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults, including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, forensic services including low and medium secure care.
2. Specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
3. Community physical health and well-being services for children and adults.
The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,000 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health and general nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices, and volunteers.
Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust supports flexible working. We believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours, home/remote working, and flexi-time.
Job overview
Multiple Permanent Full Time and Fixed Term posts available
The Initial Response Service (IRS) launched in the Bay in 2023 and has consistently demonstrated itself to be an integral part of secondary mental health services; we’ve improved access to mental health services for individuals who need it, whilst reducing demands on care and treatment delivery services. In the most recent CQC report, the IRS was identified as a source of positive change in how mental health services are delivered in Lancashire and South Cumbria.
Forget caseloads and case management. In the IRS, your skills and expertise will be in assessing patients at the point of referral and identifying what service will best meet their needs moving forwards. The spectrum of mental health needs varies significantly; you will have the ability to offer advice and guidance for mild to moderate mental health issues and ways this can be managed and improved. Equally, you’ll have the ability to respond to urgent referrals with more acute needs and higher risks in the community.
If you require more details about the role or an informal chat, please contact us on the details provided.
Main duties of the job
* Ability to use your skills to triage and assess individuals with varying degrees of mental health difficulties over the phone and/or face to face in the community.
* Identify community services that are most appropriate for presenting need (third sector, CMHT, HBTT, and Talking Therapies).
* Act as shift lead, screening referrals and prioritising them based on your clinical judgment of risk and need.
* Work alongside the police to support patients and implement care when they are at risk of being held under s.136 of the MHA.
* Fast-paced environment and supportive developing team.
We want to hear from practitioners who are experienced in the field of mental health and its care and treatment pathways (including third sector service). We need confident practitioners with an ability to assess risk and respond to it appropriately in a fast-paced environment.
Fancy the challenge? IRS for the Bay has multiple roles available in the team, so come along and join us.
Working for our organisation
Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health, and forensic services including low and medium secure care.
The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria, and Sefton area.
Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working. We believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time, and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role.
Person specification
Education/ Qualifications
* Recognised Core Mental Health Professional Qualification (e.g. RMN/Dip SW/OT)
Knowledge
* In-depth knowledge of mental health problems
* In-depth knowledge of issues that impact upon people with mental health problems
* Detailed knowledge of the impact of risk and protective factors that affect people with mental health problems
Experience
* Experience of post-qualification clinical work with service users experiencing a range of mental health problems
* Experience of delivering evidence-based interventions in a time-limited framework
* Evidence of assessment across a broad range of mental health problems
Skills and Abilities
* Ability to assess service users’ presenting problems and needs, quickly and accurately, under pressure.
* Ability to determine the most appropriate course of action from a range of available options.
* Ability to communicate clearly the outcomes of assessment, verbally and in writing.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Please be aware, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when submitting an application is monitored and if you have used AI to generate an application, you are required to declare this on your application form. Failure to do so may result in your application being withdrawn.
We want to highlight the importance of integrity and authenticity in your application form and ask you to use AI tools responsibly to ensure your application form is a true reflection of your skills, knowledge, and experiences.
Please ensure that you read the person specification attached below as your application will be measured against this document.
Applications from job share partners are welcome and other forms of flexible working will be considered for all posts.
For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).
You are advised to consider applying for LSCft vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within three weeks of the closing date, then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.
LSCft is committed to celebrating difference as an asset and we know that recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds helps to create a more flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from people regardless of age, disability (particularly those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. Our goal is for the Trust to be truly representative of the communities we serve, so we are particularly keen to receive applications from people in under-represented groups. If there is anything you’d like to discuss in relation to your application, then please ask.
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.
Application numbers
This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. You are therefore advised to consider applying for this vacancy as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
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