Undertake duties under the Mental Health Act 1983, as amended 2007, Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice and associated legislation including, where trained, the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Undertake mental health assessments, formulate, implement and coordinate plans for the ongoing care of service users, promoting a holistic approach and maximizing social inclusion. Where appropriate, make applications for compulsory admission/guardianship. The AMHPs will reach an independent judgement about the need for admission to hospital either voluntary or under compulsion and pursue any appropriate alternative less restrictive options.
Provide reasoned and clear verbal and written reports to promote effective, accountable and independent AMHP decision making. Keep appropriate records with an awareness of legal requirements for the AMHP role. Promote and co-ordinate an effective practice supervision structure across organisational and professional boundaries. Deliver professional leadership and consultation to promote evidence-based practice, improved standards of care provision and service development.
Implement and monitor clinical practice guidelines, standards and protocols, ensuring the highest quality service user experience. Provide professional advice and leadership on issues and developments relating to mental health legislation. Provide professional expertise, advice and support to senior managers and clinical teams regarding critical incident review and learning lesson techniques pertaining to the use of mental health legislation. The specialist team to take a lead on certain service development areas associated with mental health.
To undertake regular audits both inpatient and community to ensure continued compliance with the compliance of MHA e.g. training, Section 136, networking, diversity, scrutiny, auditing. Further development of the services may entail working out of hours/weekends and on call. Although AMHPs act on behalf of the Local Authority, they cannot be told by the Local Authority or anyone else whether or not to make an application.
They must exercise their own judgement based on social and medical evidence when deciding when to apply for a patient to be detained under the act. The role of the AMHPs is to provide an independent decision about whether or not there are alternatives to detention under the Act, bringing a social perspective on their decision, and taking account of the least restrictive option and maximizing independence guiding principle. To maintain daily contact with all acute inpatient areas, provide scrutiny training for appropriately qualified nursing staff, scrutinizing paperwork for the Mental Health Act Office.
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