Mental Health Liaison Practitioner

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

An exciting Opportunity has come up in the Psychiatric Liaison Service at King George Hospital, Redbridge. We are seeking an experienced Band 6 Mental Health Nurse with NMC registration. This post holder will expect to support their team, department, and organisation to achieve the Trust’s Values in their day-to-day work. These are the 5P’s: 

●Putting people first

●Prioritising quality

●Being progressive, innovative, and continually improve

●Being professional and honest

●Promoting what is possible – independence, opportunity, and choice. 

Main duties of the job

The candidate must have extensive experience in assessments of patients in crisis and formulating a plan in line with the assessment outcome; and will work as a member of the Psychiatric Liaison Service (PLS), serving Barking, Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT). The Psychiatric Liaison Service (PLS) incorporates aspects of the RAID model of liaison psychiatry, pioneered in Birmingham.

Working for our organisation

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focussing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

High Cost Area Supplement - Outer London

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,551 to a maximum of £5,735 pro rata for part time).

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1. To provide comprehensive psychosocial and emergency mental health assessments to the EDs and other clinical units throughout BHRUT hospitals.

2. To engage challenging and/or acutely disturbed service users in potentially hostile and antagonistic situations.

3. To arrange appropriate inpatient admission via the correct pathways where required.

4. To be responsible for monitoring a small caseload of clients occasionally.

5. To participate in clinical supervision and promote best practice.

6. To keep the Clinical Lead and the Service Manager informed of developments, incidents etc.

7. To initiate and participate in audit and/or quality improvement projects associated with the work of the Psychiatric Liaison Service.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

•RMN •Degree •Evidence of CPD

Desirable criteria

Mentorship / Assessors

Experience

Essential criteria

• Acute crisis (HTT and inpatient wards) and Psychiatric liaison experience Well-developed interpersonal skills especially when handling conflict and change •Ability to cope with highly emotionally stressful situations on a day-to-day basis. Have experience working within liaison services/assessment within the A&E Department/General Hospital. •Risk assessment and management within crisis services.

Desirable criteria

•Managing clinical services.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

High standard of literacy and numeracy Possess working experience with a range of assessment tools for a range of mental health conditions, including cognitive assessments. Thorough knowledge of the 1983 Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, Children’s Act, and related legislation, codes of practice and guidance Understanding of and commitment to the principle of equal opportunities in service delivery

Desirable criteria

Have experience supporting people who misuse alcohol and/or drugs •To be flexible and supportive within the team and with our BHRUT colleagues.

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff. A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a ‘Top 10 Family Friendly Employer’ from the Working Families Charity. Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors. Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.