Specialist Paramedic Mental Health

The Specialist Paramedic Mental Health (SPMH) will work on the Mental Health Response Vehicles (MHRVs), rotate into the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to provide support to patients over the phone and to crews on scene where necessary, and undertake rotation into partner organisations including primary care, crisis teams and third sector providers to continue their own development and support with closer working relationships. Paramedics operate at the Specialist Paramedic level, providing enhanced clinical support and supervision of staff across a range of incidents within the pre-hospital environment.

Working with a greater autonomy, the post holder will provide enhanced clinical management and coordinate the care of patients with complex and challenging healthcare needs, responding to patients with acute or critical illness, serious injury or major trauma in emotive and demanding situations or environments. The Specialist Paramedic Mental Health will support patients experiencing mental health crisis when they need a response (either telephone or face to face from the ambulance service).

Vacancy locations:

• Middlewood
• Hoyland
• South Yorkshire reserve post (Doncaster, Hoyland & Middlewood)

Main duties of the job

The post holder will safely and effectively manage patient care, ensuring they:

1. Provide a Trust-wide specialist source of experience and knowledge around mental health issues and crisis.
2. Undertake an enhanced assessment of patients with complex health needs, ensuring that care is planned to best meet these needs in the pre-hospital setting.
3. Exercise their own clinical judgement to assess, diagnose, treat, refer and/or discharge patients with undifferentiated injury and/or illness.
4. Apply enhanced knowledge, make balanced and pragmatic decisions relating to end of life care and futility of resuscitation; placing the patient's best interests and wishes at the heart of such decisions.

Communication and Relationship Responsibilities

Develop working relationships with colleagues, peers and operational/clinical managers across all directorates and divisions within the Trust as appropriate to undertake the role. Develop working relationships with external organisations in order to access support for patients and to positively promote the Trust and the role of Paramedic. The post holder will be required on a regular basis to communicate with people who may be experiencing significant distress and in situations which are complex and highly charged.

About us

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) NHS Trust geographically covers nearly 6,000 square miles of varied terrain, from isolated moors and dales to urban areas, coastline and inner cities. We serve a population of over five million people across Yorkshire and the Humber and strive to ensure that patients receive the right response to their care needs as quickly as possible, wherever they live. We employ more than 7,100 staff, who together with over 1,300 volunteers, enable us to provide a vital 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, emergency and healthcare service. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice, and we are continuously working across our partnership to improve our collective offer to staff in areas like health and wellbeing, benefits and flexible working incl. hybrid working.

Benefits:

• Flexible working including part-time hours, job shares and flexible hours, agile working (role dependant).
• 27 days annual leave, increasing to 33 with service.
• Contributory Pension.
• NHS Discounts including shops, restaurants, gyms etc.
• Car lease and other salary sacrifice schemes.
• Dedicated employee assistance and counselling service.
• Opportunities for research participation, career progression and ongoing development.
• Well respected, committed and supported staff networks for our workforce.

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Job responsibilities

Leadership, Management, Training and Supervision Responsibilities

The post holder will support the development of self and others by:

1. Providing mentorship and support to any clinician or non clinician as required.
2. Supporting the delivery of training and development activities across the organisation within their area of expertise and capability.
3. Demonstrating clinical leadership through role modelling professional behaviours that influence the provision of high clinical standards and promote exemplary behaviours in others.
4. Developing and maintaining a personal professional portfolio to underpin, and evidence their professional scope of practice and continuing professional development, as required by the Trust and professional regulatory body.
5. Maintaining fitness to practice in line with the requirements of the professional regulatory body.

Planning and Organisational Responsibilities

Manage the care requirements of the situation; assessing and triaging patients and advising and directing the public accordingly. Acting as a point of contact for the MHRV whilst on shift. Working in EOC, acting as a central point of clinical support, providing remote clinical advice and decision-support to clinicians across the Trust, in relation to urgent and emergency care; working to defined SOPs and guidelines. Whilst working on placement in MH trusts to at all times act in accordance with YAS values and via any honorary contacts in place with the values of partner organisations.

Training requirements

The PMH/SPMHs will be required to complete a PGDip qualification for the role. This will be delivered through an Emergency Care Practitioner Apprenticeship programme for Mental Health at Sheffield Hallam University and the qualification will result in a PGDip in Specialist Practice. The post title will be Paramedic Mental Health during training, and then Specialist Paramedic Mental Health once training is completed and the individual has passed the CASP process as a level 7 specialist practitioner.

Person Specification

Skills

• Demonstrates attitudes and behaviour which enhances the experience of the patient.
• Willingness to clinically supervise paramedics and other clinical staff when required.

Qualifications/ Knowledge

• Registered Paramedic that has completed the NQP programme.
• Willingness to undertake any statutory training, recertification/revalidation and additional clinical skills courses as required by YAS and the discrete professional and statutory regulatory bodies.
• Holds or willingness to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Clinical Practice around Mental Health.
• Specialised knowledge, or desire to acquire such knowledge, in Mental Health.
• Demonstrates an understanding and application of the principles of Crew Resource Management (CRM) and Human Factors in operational and clinical environments.

Experience

• Experience of undertaking clinical supervision and mentorship in practice.
• Demonstrable portfolio of significant relevant and recent CPD.
• Experience of working within EOC/Call Centre and/or remote clinical assessment setting.

Values & Behaviours

• Demonstrates a commitment to the Trust's values and behaviours framework (Kindness, Respect, Teamwork, Improvement).

Personal/ Other

• Committed to personal and professional development.
• Committed to the development of the paramedic profession evidenced by membership of the College of Paramedics.

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.

South Yorkshire - Middlewood, Hoyland, Doncaster