Community Mental Health Nurse

Job summary

37.5 hours per week.

We are looking to recruit a highly skilled, motivated and passionate Band 6 Community Mental Health Nurse to join our Community Forensic Team (CFT), in the area of Plymouth, Devon.

The CFT works with mental health offenders from the Plymouth area who are being cared for within high, medium and low secure mental health units. CFT works with patients and their families throughout their inpatient journey and through discharge into the community with the aim of building good therapeutic relationships and prevention of re-admission to hospital.

Our multidisciplinary team strives to deliver high quality and effective services to people experiencing severe and enduring mental health problems, who are often under the Ministry of Justice conditions. We offer assessment and treatment of mental health problems, with a focus on effectiveness and recovery, relapse prevention work, and working to promote the independence of our service users.

Successful candidates will be working closely with experienced colleagues in a multi-disciplinary team, alongside allied teams in the wider local mental health system, making a difference to the quality of our service user experience.

Successful candidates will also benefit from a competitive salary, regular supervision, and training that comes from working for Livewell Southwest.

Main duties of the job

The role will be embedded within a multi-disciplinary team with a specific focus of expediting the safe and smooth discharge of patients within secure hospital to a range of appropriate community placements.

You will hold a small caseload, but be expected to provide care pathway management to inpatients, attending regular inpatient reviews to monitor the progress of service users and to support their discharge pathway into the community.

You will be required to provide co-ordination for community patients ensuring that assessments and care plans reflect the psychological, emotional, social care, treatment, interventions, risk management and physical healthcare needs of patients. The assessment and management of risks associated with patients will also form an integral part of your responsibilities contributing to the development of robust risk assessments such as the HCR-20.

You are also expected to contribute and support day-to-day operational management of the CFT. As a Registered Mental Health Nurse in CFT, you will work alongside nursing colleagues and be responsible for the safe custody, control and administration of medications and take appropriate action/measures to provide safe administration as prescribed to patients.

This role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route.

Please note that we may close the job advertisement earlier than the specified deadline.

All staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7 day service.

About us

Livewell Southwest is an independent, award-winning social enterprise delivering integrated health and social care services across Plymouth, South Hams, and West Devon, with specialist services in parts of Devon and Cornwall. Our teams work in community hospitals, GP practices, sports centres, and health hubs.

As an organisation with a strong social conscience we are guided by our values,kindness, respect, inclusivity, ambition, responsibility, and collaboration. We focus on transforming services to ensure sustainability, while empowering staff and those we serve.

We involve the people we care for, along with their families and carers, in shaping the care they receive, striving to deliver the right care at the right time and place. Centering our work on individual needs helps people lead healthy, independent lives.

We prioritise employees' development, offering protected CPD time, training pathways, leadership programs, and funding for qualifications like the Care Certificate and Nurse Training Scholarships. Our induction and preceptorship programs ensure a smooth transition into our organisation.

Livewell Southwest values diversity and encourages applications from all sections of the community, including those with armed forces experience, lived experience of mental health, neuro-diverse conditions and learning disabilities. If you need assistance or reasonable adjustments during the application process, contact the Recruiting Manager listed in the job advert.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will deliver high quality comprehensive mental health services. The role involves managing a defined caseload with a focus on providing expert assessment and treatment for people with complex mental health difficulties and their carers. This will include recovery co-ordination (design and co-ordination of treatment packages).

This will include undertaking the role of care pathway manager maintaining a care pathway management opinion of the patient based on risk, diagnosis, and treatment needs and involvement in any significant pathway decisions regarding the patient. Additionally, the post holder should liaise closely with the in-patient treatment team with regards to gathering information, assessment and developing recommendations for the patients recovery.

The post holder will contribute to the clinical leadership of the team, providing supervision for other members and participating in team and service development, and evaluation.

The person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualified RMN and current professional registration. Evidence of Post Graduate Courses, on-going training and development in theory and practice in mental health nursing

Desirable

• Post graduate qualification relevant to forensic mental health or a willingness to work towards this. Commitment to CPD and developing own potential

Specific Skills

Essential

• Essential criteria
• Computer Literacy Training and presentation skills Excellent written and verbal communication skills Group work skills Ability to assess and develop plans to manage risk. Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance, professional and ethical issues Skilled in assessing, planning and evaluating nursing interventions. A problem-solving approach to professional practice. Previously participated in audit and quality assurance programmes. Familiarity of basic research methodology. Demonstrate an ability and awareness to maintain personal/professional boundaries. Able to plan creatively to maximise effectiveness of care plans, including complex multi-agency care plans Able to work independently and as part of a team. Excellent self-management skills and ability to set own priorities Ability to take initiative and develop new ideas Leadership skills Able to plan prioritise, manage and oversee a clinical caseload Ability to organise and respond efficiently to complex information Ability to plan services according to need IT skills Experience supporting students
• Knowledge
• Essential criteria
• An understanding of the Mental Health Act/Mental Health Capacity Act requirements Awareness of community structures and social care management responsibilities Understanding of recovery principles in Mental Health Awareness of legal restraints impacting on the rehabilitation of mentally disordered offenders Good working knowledge of health legislation and current practice including Personalised Care Framework (PCF) or Care Programme Approach (CPA) and risk assessment and management Knowledge of ordering, storing and administering required medications Knowledge of possible side effects of medication
• Desirable criteria
• Understanding of recovery principles in Mental Health.
• Knowledge and understanding of application of an evidence-base in practice.
• Duties and responsibilities
• Communication and Working Relationship Skills
• Contribute to the teams engagement with a wide range of stakeholders including staff, service users, their carers and other statutory and voluntary sector agencies.
• Impart highly complex and sensitive information to:
• Patients and families/carers re assessment, care planning, treatment and review
• Multi-disciplinary teams to ensure the provision of consistent well-coordinated care
• Primary care teams regarding client care
• External agencies also involved in the provision of care e.g.: voluntary and private sector, police, social services, housing, employment etc.
• Service user/carer groups
• Liaise with a wide range of other professionals and agencies.
• Contribute to the safe and effective day to day operations of the service including the handling of clinical enquires.
• Provide and receive information some of which may be contentious, sensitive and highly complex to and from individuals and their families/carers, where there may be barriers to understanding.
• Provide high standards of written and verbal communication that is clear and in line with professional documentation standards
• Participate in and chair clinical meetings, this will include PCF reviews, MOJ reviews, professional meetings, and clinical risk meetings.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate in a way that is empathic and reassuring whilst employing negotiating techniques to gain co-operation from highly complex individuals.
• Communicate information in a way that makes it relevant and understandable for service users and carers, working in line with practice standards and operational policies.
• Facilitate fair access to social care services and promote social inclusion regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or disability
• Analytical and judgement skills
• Undertake complex risk assessments and develop a formulation of risk which will lead to the development of risk management plans which have taken into consideration a range of possible options.
• Undertake and continuously re-evaluate complex bio-psycho-social assessments and develop a working formulation and diagnosis which will lead to the development of personalised care packages in line with evidence based and payment by results.
• Ensure the continuous re-evaluation of individuals needs and clinical risk situations and use clinical judgement to formulate the most appropriate clinical plan.
• Ability to reflect and critically appraise own performance, professional and ethical issues
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries
• Planning and Organisational Skills
• Organise and facilitate complex meetings, these will include: PCF reviews, MOJ Reviews, professional and risk management meetings.
• Responsible for managing their own workload to ensure the needs to the individuals who use our services are met taking the wider needs of the team into consideration.
• Ensure that interventions are planned in an integrated and co-ordinated manner particularly where dependent on other external agencies.
• Plan and organise individuals packages of care and ensure that reviews are held within the required time frames, for example Section 117, Funding Panels and PCF.
• Plan own workload and the workload of junior colleagues to ensure that care is provided in the most high quality and cost-efficient manner, prioritise and make adjustments as appropriate.
• Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy
• Ensure that caseload is well managed and that care and treatment is provided in line with practice standards and Personalised Care Framework (PCF).
• Understand social factors that impact upon mental health.
• Develop and deliver care packages including assessing, planning, intervention and evaluation.
• Ensure that all interventions have clear outcomes and that these are taken into consideration when sourcing the resources to best meet the individuals needs.
• Deliver services using a recovery and strengths approach where the needs of the individual and their carers are held as central and their involvement is proactively encouraged.
• Deliver care in line with evidence-based practice and employ engagement and therapeutic skills that are appropriate to the clinical situation presented.
• Responsibility for triaging individuals and signposting to the most appropriate services.
• Provide specialist advice to referrers/other multi-disciplinary staff in relation to the care of individuals.
• Enable communication and engagement of individuals and their carers to ensure that they have a voice about the services they receive and how these are developed. This may include engagement of advocacy services.
• Ensure that appropriate action is taken to safeguarding adults and children. This may include providing and receiving highly complex and sensitive information in relation to safeguarding adult and children work, co-ordinating and chairing safeguarding meetings and implementing relevant care plans.
• Ensure that assessment and treatment plans are holistic, outcome focused and take into account the physical health and social needs of the individual, including input of significant others.
• Ensure the monitoring and review of mental health medication taking into consideration interactions with physical health needs.
• Ensuring timely and accurate documentation of all clinical activity in line with professional guidance and best practice.
• Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation
• Participate in programmes of audit and research within the team as agreed by the Directorate and implement the findings.
• Contribute to clinical governance arrangements in order to ensure the quality of the service provided; this will include ensuring performance targets are met to provide high quality care.
• Involvement in the development of local systems and process that ensure the implementation of Trust policies.
• Ensure participation in the teams compliance with CQC standards through the participation in provider compliance assessment tools.
• Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources
• Ensure care is provided in the most cost-effective and high-quality manner and identify unmet needs.
• Order/monitor and maintain any stock requirements in liaison with the Team Manager.
• Undertake management of petty cash transactions as per Livewell Policy.
• Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g. Supervision, Training, HR Advice and Management
• Provision of day to day and clinical supervision as allocated by line manager (this will include participation in the appraisal process)
• Demonstrate and role model excellent clinical leadership skills.
• Assist with the induction of new staff, students and staff training as appropriate.
• Ensure that core training is maintained and that the training and development opportunities in line with the teams Workforce Plan are participated in to meet professional requirements.
• When tasks are delegated, ensure that the person you have delegated these tasks to is appropriately skilled to do so.
• There is a requirement to support learners on a regular basis which includes the achievement and updating of profession specific training to the required standard to fulfil this role.
• Responsibility for Information Resources and Administrative Duties
• Ensure information resources are used to maintain knowledge and promote a continuous improvement culture.
• Ensure information is shared with key stakeholders and other agencies in a secure manner.
• Responsible for maintaining accurate and comprehensive patient treatment records.
• Carry out administrative duties in relation to service provision.
• PHYSICAL DEMANDS OF THE JOB
• Ability to frequently travel independently and in a timely manner between Livewell Southwest sites and community locations including areas not served by public transport.
• They may need to sit for prolonged periods to compile complex reports.

Experience

Essential

• Relevant mental health experience.
• Experience of managing an extensive and complex caseload of clients with a range of complex mental health problems.
• Working within a community mental health setting in either the statutory or voluntary sector.
• Clinical supervision for qualified and/or support staff Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency environment. Understanding of current issues within secure mental health services, clinical governance issues, practice education and implications for nursing.

Desirable

• Experience of working within a forensic community or hospital setting

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).

UK Registration

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

Employer details

Employer name

Livewell Southwest

Address

200 Mount Gould Road

Mount Gould

Plymouth

Devon

PL4 7PY

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://www.livewellsouthwest.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

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