Community Mental Health Nurse - South

Job overview

We are excited to announce the launch of our new Assertive Outreach Team. This fantastic opportunity will enable you to take part in the roll out and development of our new county-wide service, with two bases one in Peterborough to cover the North of the county and one in Cambridge to cover the South of the county.

Our Assertive Outreach team will work in collaboration with our existing CPFT services to support the patients with the most complex and severe needs. In this role you will provide clinical nursing expertise within an MDT. The service will carry a small caseload to enable intensive community-based mental health care to patients with complex mental health needs who struggle to engage with traditional services.

We are looking for experienced clinicians with an interest in working in an innovative and developing service. This role will provide a fantastic development opportunity for a clinician looking to further develop their clinical management skills or someone with an interest in moving into a management role in the future.

Main duties of the job

• To provide clinical nursing expertise to the Assertive Outreach team.
• Working clinically with those patients under the care of the team and working together with wider Cambridge and Peterborough health and social care system partners to best meet the needs of all those in our population with potential AO needs.
• To provide intensive, community -based mental health care to patients with complex mental health needs who struggle to engage with traditional services.
• To deputise for the Team Leader across the full range of management responsibilities, including the performance review of junior staff.
• To take on the role of care co-ordinator for patients and provide leadership to support others, to ensure that full assessment of individual nursing care needs is undertaken, that care is planned, implemented and reviewed on a regular basis.
• To act as a role model and promote effective teamwork across the service to meet individual patient’s needs.
• To ensure that the CPA / DIALOGUE +and Mental Health Act is adhered to at all times, and to work within the boundaries set out by the Trust’ Policies and Procedures and NMC.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence* and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.

*DVLA have a number of reciprocal arrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

• The post holder will provide a good role model, develop and maintain good systems of communication, be able to communicate with a wide range of people in a range of situations.
• The post holder will act as an independent practitioner within a defined community assertive outreach setting, whilst liaising with other professionals as necessary.
• Manage a defined assertive outreach caseload.
• Have sound knowledge of the Dartmouth Assertive Outreach Community Treatment Model (DACT).
• To support the Consultant Psychiatrist, keeping the consultant psychiatrist up to date with relevant information regarding the patient and their families.
• To support the consultant psychiatrist on home visits when needed.
• Be responsible for the assessment planning, implementation and evaluation of nursing care within the agreed parameters of assertive outreach, and have a working knowledge of local, national policies and legislation which govern current service provision.
• The post holder will be responsible for ensuring effective communication pathways exist.
• The post holder will be responsible for the appropriate clinical risk assessment of patients contacting the out of hours service, providing an effective advice, guidance and decision-making process culminating in the coordination of any reviewed plan of care.
• The post holder will be responsible for the safe storage and administration of medications.