Band 7 Primary Care Mental Health Lead ARRS Role

Job overview

Are you ready for a new and exciting challenge? Do you want to make a real difference to mental health care within Primary Care while working as part of a supportive, dynamic and innovative team?

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated and experienced mental health professional to join North Arden Primary Care Network as a B7 Primary Care Mental Health Lead. Working collaboratively across GP practices, the wider Primary Care Network, and community mental health services, you will play a key role in developing and delivering high quality, patient-centred mental health care.

Main duties of the job

Be responsible for the clinical leadership of mental health provision within a designated PCN. They will be responsible for the management of day-to-day operational / clinical issues arising from within mental health service delivery.

Provide management, support and development of the staff within the PCN team.

Provide supervision and mentorship to Band 6 Mental Health practitioners and direct line management to other roles including other CWPT psychological roles working within the PCN.

Work across the interface between Primary Care and Place Based PCN aligned Specialist Community Mental Health Services as part of an Integrated Model of Care.

Review patients presenting with mental health issues providing an enhanced assessment and then consider a range of options regarding treatment interventions including evidence-based interventions and to provide them with highly specialized advice concerning care when appropriate and liaising with GPs.

Please see job description for full duties.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To act as the first point of contact for any clinical concerns raised by any GPs and other mental health practitioners, to offer advice, support and signposting to appropriate agencies.
• To support with the prevention of de/escalation to specialist/acute services and reduce inappropriate referrals to Specialist Community Mental Health Services.
• To support the reduction in carer crisis, hospital admissions and inequality
• Support smooth transition between Primary and Specialist Community Mental Health services when required.
• Ensure service users are more quickly supported to the right service utilising the PCN social prescribers or equivalent.
• Improve access to mental health services for service users and carers at the first point of contact as required.
• Participate in receiving and screening referrals and complete comprehensive risk and evidenced based decisions.
• To recognise and describe effectively symptoms of mental illness and distress and escalate concerns effectively and in a timely manner. This may include decisions made with SCMH GPs and social prescribers. Decisions may include signposting to the appropriate services, either within the CWPT, or externally as appropriate, and providing advice and feedback to referrers.
• Utilise high level of specialist knowledge for assessment to undertake high quality Brief Solution Focused work when appropriate and facilitate referral on for appropriate treatment if required within SCMH.
• To be responsible for the development and implementation of a person-centred approach to care: screening and decision making for referrals, identifying the needs of service user and their carers
• To determine priority, need and plan service user intervention, where service user presentations are complex, include risk assessment and support onward referral to the appropriate service.
• To record any assessment / assessment of risk and plan for each person they see on CWPT specified systems
• To link in with locality place-based community mental health duty teams to discuss any open referrals or for advice.
• For service users presenting in crisis, the post holder may be required to support / or in conjunction with the GP referral process to Mental Health Access Hub.
• To agree with the patient brief interventions to be offered or other support such as referral to social prescribers, referral to IAPT or SCMH as appropriate
• Facilitate onward referral to the Voluntary sector via social prescribers.

Applicant requirements

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.