Senior Mental Health Practitioner

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Primary Care Mental Health Practitioners in Kingston. In this role you will work as part of the primary care team in specified Primary Care Network(s), providing support to GP practices for patients presenting with mental health problems. This support will include provision of advice, education, support and interventions to patients and carers. You will also have responsibility of the Mental Health Practitioners working across PCN’s in the specified borough.

Main duties of the job

In this role you will work as part of the primary care team in specified Primary Care Network(s), providing support to GP practices for patients presenting with mental health problems. This support will include provision of advice, education, support and interventions to patients and carers through bookable appointments. You will provide expert advice and education to primary care staff across the specified Primary Care Network(s).

You will also be responsible for the management of Primary Care Mental Health Practitioner's working across Primary Care Networks.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To provide medicine education and adherence advice and lifestyle advice for patients and their carers, presenting with mental health problems
• To assist in supporting early intervention and supporting shared decision-making around self-management.
• To work with patients and team members to support engagement with appropriate services and treatment which may include onward referral to secondary mental health services or signposting to other mental health services, social prescribers, voluntary services and community-based support groups.
• To support patients to transition from secondary care to primary care by providing up to three step-down sessions at the point of step down from secondary care services.
• To support patients to transition from primary care to secondary care when more specialist or intensive support is required, such as for those patients with complex needs who require additional support.
• To support patients to stay well within their local communities, including the reinforcement of newly learned psychology techniques
• To always work to promote the safety and the wellbeing of service users and their families/carers.
• To develop and maintain close relationships with Primary Care practices, attending practice meetings and having regular informal contact.
• To work closely and in partnership with colleagues within primary care and the Trust in a collaborative way, ensuring that decisions are made that ensure the best care for service users and carers and that there is a seamless pathway of care.
• To work closely with GPs to assess risk of those patients with a Mental Health diagnosis; by providing expert advice and consultation.
• To support primary care teams with the administration of long-acting injections for those patients with complex needs who require additional support.
• To support patients on the SMI register to access annual physical health checks and to carry out these checks and physical health monitoring for those patients with complex needs who require additional support.