ARRS Mental Health Practitioner

ARRS Mental Health Practitioner - Primary Care (Various locations across Gloucestershire)

This is an exciting opportunity to improve the experience for individuals with mental health needs through offering early assessment and access to treatment and support to promote mental health and well-being within primary care.

Embedded in one of five Primary Care Networks (PCNs), our ARRS Practitioners are outward facing linking seamlessly with the Gloucestershire Health and Care (GHC) NHS Foundation Trust, where we will provide support with supervision and training opportunities. The PCNs provide a welcoming environment for SMHPs making them feel part of their teams and there is Countywide support from SMHP colleagues based in other practices.

Main duties of the job

The ARRS Practitioner will be an integrated member of the GP practice team and will take the lead in ensuring best practice is delivered across your allocated GP surgeries. The role requires working autonomously in providing high volume assessment, diagnosis, and treatment appointments, advice and support for GPs in caring for other patients with mental health issues, improve links with and navigation to community providers. The MH Practitioner will work within a number of GP practices within a specific Primary Care Network.

Enthusiasm, an ability to work flexibly and collaboratively with colleagues across service areas to bring about change and the desire to develop and improve services will be fundamental to these roles. Professional development, governance support, training and supervision will be provided by GHC Trust working collaboratively with colleagues in Primary Care.

We will consider offering a Band 6 developmental role to candidates with suitable knowledge and experience. Support from our Operational Lead, the wider team and colleagues within each PCN will be in place to help development into the Band 7 role.

Details of locations for each PCN and contact details are available within the supporting documents section of this advert. Please state in your application which locations you are applying for.

For more information contact Hannah Rigby or PCN lead contact details can be found in the supporting information documents attached to this advert.

About us

We have in excess of 5000 staff working over 50 sites, providing a diverse range of services. We strive to support an organisational culture that is welcoming, builds and celebrates inclusivity and diversity and provides a sense of belonging and trust.

The annual NHS Staff Survey gives our people the opportunity to tell us about their experience working at the Trust. For the 2023 survey just over 2800 colleagues gave us their views (58.5%). It was great to see from the results that colleagues are saying that:

1. 89.7% believe they are making a positive difference to patients/service users
2. 73.3% would recommend the organisation as a place to work
3. 82.4% agree that care of patients and service users is the organisations priority
4. 76.7% would be happy with the standard of care for a friend or relative

Our results put us as 5th nationally as a Community, Mental Health and Learning Disabilities NHS Employer of Choice and 1st equal amongst all NHS Provider Trusts in the South West. However, we know we have more to do and will continue to drive forward our commitment to making GHC a Great Place to Work.

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be expected:

• To work within a multi-professional primary care team to provide a service for adults 18+ with varying levels of mental health needs, including SMI and Complex Emotional Needs that may co-exist with physical health problems within the registered patient population.
• To exercise a high degree of professional autonomy and make critical judgments to satisfy the expectations and demands of the role.
• To act as a practice leader, managing your own workload and to work across professional, organisational and system boundaries to improve services and develop practice.
• To navigate, liaise with and refer onto mental health services, voluntary and public sector agencies and community support groups.
• To support the delivery of annual mental health reviews for adults on the practices mental health register.
• To provide specialist advice, supervision and support to practice colleagues in relation to patients with mental health issues. In particular to help identify (through Risk Stratification) those patients potentially at risk of relapse to support their continued wellbeing and to reduce their impact on the Health and Wellbeing service as a whole.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.
Person Specification
QUALIFICATIONS
Essential

• Registered Mental Health Practitioner, eg Mental Health Nurse (RMN)
• NMP

LENGTH AND / OR NATURE OF EXPERIENCE
Essential

• Significant, recent clinical experience in the assessment of mental health at Band 7 level.
• Front line experience of using advanced assessment skills especially in determining the nature and severity of mental illness/health (functional and organic) and differentiation between physical and mental health symptoms and conditions.
• Extensive working knowledge of the makeup of the wider health and social care community including statutory and non-statutory services and direct experience of multi inter-agency working and collaboration.
• Detailed working knowledge of how specialist mental health services are organised and operate, where and how they fit into the health and social care community.

Desirable

• Contemporary experience of working in a primary care setting.
• Experience of assessment and management of patients with mental health conditions in a primary care setting.
• Experience of the wider community mental health service in recovery / crisis teams.

Employer details
Employer name

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Eastgate House
Eastgate Street
Gloucester
GL1 1PX

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.