Senior Mental Health Practitioner

Job summary
Hi, my name is Mike and I am the Service Manager for both Peterborough and Cambridge CRHTT's. This post is for the Peterborough team but we have positions both ends of the county. We are HTAS accredited, reflecting the high standard of care we provide, and have great opportunities for personal growth and development.

Peterborough Crisis Resolution & Home Treatment Team is a well-established service at the heart of acute crisis care within Peterborough and surrounding areas. Covering a large geographical area, rich with diversity, team is made up of very experienced staff, of various disciplines, all with their own unique brilliance.

You will be responsible for conducting comprehensive assessments and collaboratively planning care and treatment interventions with those we are supporting. This includes effectively managing high risk presentations at times, so requires a good knowledge base and comprehensive skill in risk management and safety planning.

Main duties of the job
Our aim is to offer an urgent Mental Health Assessment and Home Treatment for those referred and assessed as requiring the services of the Team.

Identify the appropriate intervention or management required or if necessary, recommend the most suitable referral agency.

Provide assessment reports/letters containing the necessary information of a high standard and monitor reports by junior staff to ensure they are of an equal standard.

To contribute to achieving the Teams objectives, monitoring, and evaluating workloads through effective clinical leadership.

Be conversant and proactive with Government legislation pertaining to the Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act, Crisis Care Concordat, NHS Plan and Clinical Governance.

Encourage, promote, and maintain effective communication with partner agencies both statutory and non-statutory.

About us
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead fulfilling lives.

Our clinical teams deliver a wide range of NHS services across inpatient, primary care and community settings, including children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, and research and development.

To achieve our goals, we recruit high calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities' employer, we welcome applications from all sections of the community, particularly under represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

All appointments are subject to the successful completion of a probationary period.

Please note we reserve the right to close adverts early should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all roles. If you apply for a post that does not attract sponsorship, your application will be withdrawn from the process.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at

Job 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.

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

• To offer an urgent Mental Health Assessment and Home Treatment for those referred and assessed as requiring the services of the Team.
• Identify the appropriate intervention or management required or if necessary, recommend the most suitable referral agency.
• Provide assessment reports/letters containing the necessary information of a high standard and monitor reports by junior staff to ensure they are of an equal standard.
• To contribute to achieving the Teams objectives, monitoring and evaluating workloads through effective clinical leadership.
• Provide urgent assessment/intervention for AMH service users out of their teams core hours of service.
• The post will include flexible working patterns over a 37.5 working hours per week to incorporate cover for 24 hours, 7-day service, including on call if required to meet the needs of the service users & carers.
• Ensure accurate and timely recording on CPFT Information Systems, i.e. Systm One.

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

Person Specification
Education / Qualifications
Essential

• Registered Nurse/Occupational Therapist/Social Work

Desirable

• Post qualification specialist mental health training

Experience
Essential

• Experience of working in a community setting
• Experience in leadership role
• Experience of developing and providing teaching programmes
• Experience of managing and training staff

Desirable

• Qualification in leadership
• Ability to deliver mental health awareness and varied concise information

Skills & Abilities
Essential

• Effective written and verbal communication skills
• Effective organisational and time management skills
• Clear evidence of effective & safe decision making and problem solving.
• Ability to contribute to service development and ability to manage change
• Ability to work under pressure

Desirable

• Ability to develop and lead new initiatives within the clinical care environment

Knowledge & Understanding
Essential

• Working knowledge of the Mental Health Act
• Understanding of therapeutic skills for clinicians required to support patients in an acute phase of illness
• Clear understanding of CRHTT practice and treatment objectives.
• Commitment to and understanding of IT.
• Knowledge of SOVA and Safeguarding policies

Desirable

• Mental Health Act Training
• Any additional training relevant to CRHTT intervention

Physical Requirements
Essential

• Able to cover shifts over a 24 hour period, 7 days a week
• Ability to travel across a large geographical patch

Other
Essential

• Committed to the empowerment of service users and carers promoting their involvement in service delivery
• Provide and promote non-discriminatory care

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).