Job summary
The Croydon Home Treatment Teams provide 7 day a week, crisis assessment and intensive home treatment to patients with the aim of preventing in- patient admission where possible or if admission is required facilitating earlier discharge.

Our focus is to support service users to remain in their own home in order to aid their recovery during the crisis episode.

You will be a qualified Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist or Social Worker. You will need to have post qualification experience in mental health and preferably within crisis services.

Main duties of the job
A track record in working with and involving carers and service users in service development and delivery.

When working in the borough HTT, practitioners undertake assessments and treatment as required. The person will lead in the assessment, co-ordination, planning, implementation, evaluation and delivery of home treatment for people in acute psychiatric crisis.

The post holder will play a key role in the current development of the team and help implement the acute care pathway's aims and objectives, as well as helping to ensure good links with referring inpatient and community teams, with a view to reducing the number and length of inpatient admissions. Effective gatekeeping assessment and the identification and delivery of the best treatment packages for people presenting to services in crisis will also be key.The post holder will work as an experienced mental health professional (Nurse, OT or Social Worker) who, acting within their own professional boundaries will provide care for presenting service users from initial history taking, clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of care. The post holder will supervise junior members of staff and support the work of the senior team members of the team.

The post holder may be required to work across different Trust sites according to the needs of the Home Treatment Service Line.

About us
The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer; we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect, and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice.
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment.
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity.

SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion, Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe.

Job responsibilities
Key Responsibilities:

• To provide rapid, crisis assessments for clients in a mental health crisis in order to ensure the right intervention is provided at the right time for service users presenting with mental health diagnoses and any comorbid conditions In addition, to support early discharge from the inpatient wards.
• To deliver a range of effective, service user-centred interventions aimed at crisis resolution and promoting recovery. Supporting service users to adopt recovery strategies that promote their wellbeing, healthy lifestyle, independence and self-care.
• To undertake thorough risk assessment of all service users in line with policy standards in order to manage risk safely and effectively.
• To ensure that care is carefully and meaningfully planned within the multidisciplinary team, delivered to a high standard and evaluated regularly.
• To rapidly and continuously evaluate the patients changing condition and response to therapeutic interventions and modifies the plan of care for optimal patient outcome.
• To undertake the safe and effective discharge of patients and ensure the smooth transition of care from HTT to other services.
• To operate within the legal requirements of the Mental Health Act and be able to exercise independent judgement in the assessment of mental health conditions.
• To escalate and refer the needs of service users presenting with complex long term conditions (e.g. diabetes, asthma,)
• To ensure that Safeguarding issues are acted upon and reported appropriately in line with the Trusts Safeguarding Policies.
• Maintain relevant clinical and pharmaceutical knowledge, critically appraise and apply information in practice.
• Promote and deliver evidence based care for service users with mental health conditions in their own homes.
• To carry out physical observations in accordance with Trust and local policy, liaising with medical and senior nursing staff as appropriate.
• To administer or issue medication dependent on role with knowledge of its purpose, contraindications and side effects, relating that information to service users in a way they will understand.
• Support service users to adopt recovery strategies that promote their wellbeing, healthy lifestyle, independence and self-care.
• Actively promote health education that may include providing alternative materials to support service users and carers in making decisions regarding their care and treatment.
• To provide relevant support to carers and families in relation to their rights as carers and actively support their involvement in the care of the service user.
• To apply infection control measures.

Please note:

• That all applications for this post will need to be made online
• That you read and understand the Job Description and Person Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria
• That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible
• That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs
• That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not been successful
• That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees
• That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process
• That we are a smoke-free Trust

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Recognised Professional Qualification in Nursing (RMN), Social Work (Dip SW/CQSW) or Occupational Therapy

Desirable

• Post registration qualification in specialty
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Experience
Essential

• A range of relevant post registration experience in a mental health setting
• Experience of working with people in a mental health crisis
• Sound knowledge and understanding of current issues in specialty
• Excellent knowledge of mental health policy including relevant legislation especially the Mental Health Act
• Knowledge of the principles of equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice in the provision of services

Desirable

• Experience of delivering teaching Sound knowledge
• Experience of a variety of psychological and social

Knowledge / Skills
Essential

• Able to assess need and implement care plans
• Able to assess risk and provide management plan
• Able to demonstrate clinical expertise
• Able to work under pressure
• Competence in provision of clinical supervision

Desirable

• Sound IT skills (including email and office packages)
• Able to lead a multi-disciplinary team service development
• Excellent written and verbal skills
• Willingness to work flexibly and adapt to changing priorities

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).