Senior Mental Health Practitioner – Locality Access Point (LAP)

Job overview

Are you an experienced registered Mental Health Nurse looking to secure the next step in your career or to take on a new challenge within Older People’s Mental Health Services? If so, we are currently looking for an enthusiastic Senior Practitioner to join our fantastic team.

You will have specialist knowledge of the care of older people with mental health conditions and an understanding of the challenges that older adults face and how these impacts on their well-being. You will hold a small caseload of complex cases and lead by example demonstrating exemplary clinical and management standards.

As a member of the wider OPMH Service, you will be the main point of contact with local multidisciplinary and multi-agency Locality Access Point (LAP)/Cluster meetings and support formulation within the meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to deliver an integrated approach to assessment, care planning and decision making for frail patients with long term conditions, in line with the Integrated Care Decision Making (ICDM) initiative of the Frimley Integrated Care System. You will help to identify the appropriate level of psychosocial support for individual patients. To achieve this, you will need to be aware and understand the full range of support available locally, from third sector through to secondary MH provision. You will also be required to develop close relationships with other Integration Leads across the Frimley system and promote integrated working.

Main duties of the job

• To undertake comprehensive initial assessments in a range of settings following acceptance of referral, considering the persons physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs.
• To develop and implement an agreed plan of care with the service user and where appropriate, include the views of families and carers.
• To identify and select from a range of health, social and voluntary agencies which could assist and improve the care of individuals and their families.
• To represent BHFT mental health services at locality LAP/Cluster meetings.
• To provide clinical leadership and offer mental health expertise & guidance to professional colleagues and assist in formulation to support integrated decision making and care provision.
• To utilise advanced clinical skills and expert knowledge to deliver evidenced based person-centred interventions to a small caseload of people with complex mental health needs and offer practical advice and emotional support to their family carers.
• To contribute to and influence the development and improvement of anticipatory care planning.
• To have knowledge of a variety of therapeutic interventions including short term problem solving, crisis intervention and basic CBT techniques.
• To manage complex caseloads and maintain responsibility for clinical decision-making within professional accountability frameworks for patients requiring secondary care mental health support

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The “must haves” for this role:

• Registered Mental Health Nurse /Equivalent Professional Qualification.
• Minimum of five years post registration experience which includes working with older people with mental health needs.
• Car driver with use of a vehicle for work purposes.

For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

Your application is your opportunity to demonstrate to us how you meet the requirements of the role. We recognise that AI tools can support accessibility, equity and confidence for applicants. However, it’s important that examples and responses given in your supporting statement genuinely reflect your own experience and abilities, as these will be explored further during the selection process. AI must not be used to provide misleading or false information during any stage of the application journey.

In addition to explaining how you meet the person specification, you must complete your employment history for at least the last five years. Any experience, skills or responsibilities referenced in your supporting statement should be evidenced within your employment history. Applications that do not include sufficient employment history to support the experience claimed may not be shortlisted.

We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Stonewall Proud Employer, Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.

We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to call: Gbolahan Lamuye on 01189046900 or email: Gbolahan.Lamuye@berkshire.nhs.uk who’ll be delighted to help.

Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

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.