Job summary
hours per week.
Livewell Southwest is excited tobe in a position to further develop the Liaison Psychiatry Service based withinUniversity Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust at Derriford Hospital in line with theNHS England plan for all general hospitals to have mental health liaisonservices embedded. Liaison Psychiatry at University Hospital Plymouth (UHP) is a fullycommissioned Core 24 service.
Now is an exciting time to jointhe team. We continue to develop the service into a team striving to provide the best possible support to people. Successful candidates joining now, will bepart of further developing our service.
Following investment in theDerriford Liaison Psychiatry team, we are looking for suitably qualifiedpractitioners with excellent interpersonal and organisational skills with theability to work under pressure. Experience of working with adults of workingage and older people is desirable but not essential. Liaison Psychiatry inDerriford provides a 24hr, 7 days a week provision and successful applicantswill be expected to work various shift patterns on a rotational basis.
This role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route, please refer to the Direct Gov website for more information with regards to eligibility.
Main duties of the job
The specialist function of theteam is to provide bio-psychosocial assessments for individuals aged 18 yearsand above within the Derriford Hospital footprint, either attending via theEmergency Department or being an in-patient within the hospital. Patients seenmay present with mental health difficulties psychiatric crisis or anorganic presentation such as a dementia /delirium.
Following assessment, patientsmay be signposted to services in their local area (be that Plymouth, Cornwall,Devon or further afield). The Teamwork with hospital staff to develop plans ofcare for those who may be staying in hospital for a little longer. The Teamalso has developed a triage function within the Emergency Department.
Its a challenging and rewardingservice to work in, and we need the best quality of candidates to help us growour service further.
We welcome applications fromRegistered Nurses (RMN and RGN), Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists andSocial Workers who have relevant experience (NMC/HCPC registrations required).Please demonstrate in your application how you meet the essential criteria inorder to be considered. This is a permanent position.
Applicants will be required todemonstrate a good understanding of the relationship between the physiology, psychology,and sociology of ill-health with suitable candidates showing a clearwillingness to develop skills in the areas of both functional and organic mentalhealth needs.
About us
Livewell Southwest is an independent, award-winning social enterprise providing integrated health & social care services for people across Plymouth, South Hams & West Devon, as well as some specialist services for people living in parts of Devon & Cornwall. With teams in community hospitals, GP practices, sports centres, health & wellbeing hubs.
As an organisation with a strong social conscience, we always value being kind, respectful, inclusive, ambitious, responsible and collaborative. Transforming services to make them sustainable, ensuring that we value, support & empower each other.
We are committed to involving the people we care for, families & carers in everything that we do, working towards co-production where we can. Helping us to deliver the right care for people, in the right place & at the right time. By putting people at the centre of what we do, we ensure to support people to lead, healthy independent lives & be the very best at helping people to live well.
Valuing our employees making an investment in their development a priority. We offer:
Protected CPD time for registered staff
Various development pathways and ongoing regular training packages for all staff
Leadership & mentoring programmes
Access & funding for training including Care Certificate, Assistant Practitioners Course & Scholarship Into Nurse Training
A Robust Preceptorship
A bespoke induction programme
Existing members of the NHS Pension Scheme can continue their membership when they join the organisation.
Job description
Job responsibilities
As a member of the Liaison Psychiatry Team,you will be assessing patients who are referred from the Emergency Departmentand ward areas within the acute general hospital.
The specialist function of the team isto provide bio-psychosocial assessments for individuals aged 18 yrs. and abovewithin the Derriford Hospital footprint, either attending via the EmergencyDepartment or being an in-patient within the hospital. Patients seen maypresent with mental health difficulties psychiatric crisis or an organicpresentation such as a dementia /delirium.
You will be able to make clear clinicaldecisions based on the analysis of, often complex, presenting problems. Thiscan include being the decision maker in terms of discharge of patientsexperiencing mental health needs. You will be required at times to make clearautonomous decisions, based on analysis of complex presenting problems andclinical judgement.
You will be able to demonstrate a highlevel of communication skills in terms of use of verbal, electronic and writtenformats.
You will be required to engage withpatients who can be challenging and/or acutely distressed.
You will have freedom to act as a loneworker. Some autonomous working is expected.
The operational hours of this service,is currently 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, with different shift patterns to coverthe service delivery. Post holders will be expected to participate in the shiftpatterns over a 7 day period including weekends and bank holidays.
Professional/Clinical Responsibilities
1. In conjunction with other team membersscreen all referrals received by the team.
2. Undertake holistic and comprehensivebio-psychosocial assessments incorporating assessment of mental state ofpatients referred to the service.
3. Utilise a range of highly specialisedclinical skills appropriate to the needs of individual patients and theclinical setting in which they are seen.
4. Conduct risk assessments on all patientspresenting to the service in line with CPA policy. The post holder will havehighly developed risk assessment skills to manage complex presentations andchallenging behaviours.
5. Advise ward nursing, medical and otherprofessional staff on the management of patients and contribute to careplanning to meet identified needs.
6. Evaluate effectiveness of careinterventions with all disciplines of staff, adjusting care plans wherenecessary.
7. Provide a consultation-liaison serviceto clinicians and clinical teams within the general hospital. This will includegiving specialist advice on care, treatment and patients management issues.
8. Work in collaboration with colleagues inthe promotion of care delivery and strategic objectives and takingresponsibility/lead for specific areas of working liaison with police,drugs and alcohol, Safeguarding.
9. Refer and signpost people to appropriatemental health services as required both within and outside of theorganisations area.
10. Work collaboratively with social careteams, discharge planning teams, onward care teams, community liaison teams andcommunity mental health teams in devising appropriate discharge plans.
11. Deliver care that is evidenced based andreflecting current best practice.
12. Be accountable for own practice inaccordance with NMC Code of Professional practice or HCPC relevant codes of practice.
13. Demonstrate sound understanding of theethical and legal issues in caring for all older adults attending the hospital.This will include Mental Health Act (1983), Mental Capacity Act and Deprivationof Liberty Safeguarding (2005) issues as required.
14. Raise awareness of mental health needsof older people in acute general hospital setting through discussion andcollaborative working with staff of all levels and disciplines. Raise awarenessof the mental health needs of the general population within the acute generalhospital.
15. Provide support and advice for carersand families of people with mental health needs within the general hospitalsetting whenever possible. The Liaison Service is committed to theimplementation of the Triangle of Care as fully as possible.
16. Work collaboratively with colleagues inthe development of the Liaison Psychiatry Service.
Communication
17. Communicate effectively and sensitivelywith patients, families and carers.
18. Work positively and sensitively withchallenging and hostile behaviours to enable therapeutic and productiveoutcome.
19. Have highly developed interpersonalskills, self-awareness and empathy to engage with others and provide aneffective outcome.
20. Demonstrate the ability to negotiate andproblem solve in complex situations where agreement is required or communicateclear decision making and rationale when agreement cannot be reached.
21. Provide comprehensive information basedon assessment to inform the care, treatment, or discharge planning process ofpatients within the acute general hospital.
22. Demonstrate the ability to develop and maintaingood working relationships with colleagues within the Liaison Psychiatry Teamand across other statutory and non-statutory organisations.
23. Maintain confidentiality of the patientsas per policy whilst sharing information when appropriate to do so
24. Keep accurate and contemporaneouselectronic/written patient records and comply with professional and Trustrecord keeping policies including CPA.
25. Comply with Local and National policiesin relation to confidentiality and information sharing protocols.
26. Liaise with existing care coordinatorsregarding the status and progress of patients who are subject to CPA in theacute general hospital setting.
27. Demonstrate the ability to adaptcommunication to take account of others needs.
28. Maintain high standards of integritywhen communicating with patients and others.
29. Demonstrate ability to use IT systemseffectively including email, clinical systems used by the team.
30. Represent the team by attendance atmeetings as delegated by Team Manager.
31. Act as a role model in providing aservice for people with mental health problems for all staff within the acutegeneral hospital.
Analyticaland Judgmental skills
32. Demonstrate the ability to analyse,often large amounts of complex information from a range of other specialistsand assimilate these and their relevance to a persons mental health needs,formulate a clinical opinion including assessment of risk and advise onappropriate care plan.
33. Possess a good working knowledge ofmental health legislation including Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act andDeprivation of Liberty safeguards and use this in relation to advising andplanning care, independently or with other professionals.
34. Assess the patientsrisk/psychiatric/psychological and emotional fitness for discharge from thehospital setting
35. Formulate a care pathway followingassessment, with an appropriate onward referral to other NHS professionals,statutory and non-statutory services if necessary.
Planning andOrganisational skills
36. Demonstrate the ability to manageconflicting demands on time and the ability to prioritise clinical work effectively.
37. Demonstrate the ability to organise thework schedule and appropriate screening of referrals to the team each day in conjunctionwith colleagues, including medical staff. Where necessary there will be a focuson presentations to the ED. The post holder will need to be able to ensure thatthe needs of other referrals are not delayed due to ED work.
38. Coordinate the appropriate follow up ofpatients seen by the service.
39. Deliver formal and informal trainingsessions on behalf of the team to other professionals with the acute generalhospital setting.
Management
40. Take responsibility for agreed clinical,managerial and strategic projects associated with the provision of the LiaisonPsychiatry service. This will include planning, implementing, reviewing andrevising these projects as necessary.
41. In the absence of a Band 7, takeresponsibility for the coordination of all activities within the clinical areaor equivalent sphere.
42. In the absence of a Band 7, takeresponsibility for the management of the Team and patient care provided, to theagreed local and professional standards.
43. Undertake line management supervisionand appraisal of other staff within the team where appropriate.
44. As a band 6 practitioner, you will beviewed as a senior member of the team. Therefore, you will be expected to be apositive role member to others. You will need to demonstrate flexibility in yourpractice, support others and delegate where required.
45. You will regularly be shift lead andwill likely also take the lead in the team on certain aspects of team function.
Education/Training & Development
46. Participate in the mentoring andeducation of a range of students on placement with the Team.
47. Participate in the planning, developmentand delivery of educational programmes and training sessions for a range ofclinical staff within the working and learning environments.
48. Provide clinical supervision tocolleagues and students as required
49. You will need to participate in CPD regularlyand keep your mandatory training up to date. The post holder will proactivelyensure they are receiving clinical supervision.
Physicalskills
50. Be able to demonstrate IT skills,including keyboard use.
51. Show the ability to concentrate forsustained periods of time in often noisy environments with frequentinterruption.
52. Be required to have ability to travel toother clinical sites for attendance at meetings.
53. Be involved with patients who at timespresent with physical and verbal aggression due to ill health, distress and/ornon-concordance with care. Post-holder will need to be aware of how to respondappropriately and safely, with consideration to the safety of themselves andothers.
54. Have the ability to work effectively ina busy and chaotic working environment of the ED.
55. Have an awareness of the Physicalchallenges presented by disturbed patients who attend the Ed by their own freewill or via the Police.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
56. Registered Mental Health Nurse/Registered General Nurse or Allied Health Professional such as Physiotherapist, Social Worker or Occupational Therapist (on relevant register NMC or HCPC).
57. Mentorship qualification or equivalent experience.
Desirable
58. Post qualification experience/training in mental health and related issues.
59. Leadership qualifications.
60. Teaching Qualification.
61. Non Medical Prescribing.
Disposition
Essential
62. Autonomous practitioner with ability to work unsupervised.
63. Facilitative and Influencing skills.
64. Flexible and adaptable.
65. Tact, diplomacy and self-confident.
66. Ability to meet deadlines.
67. Ability to prioritise and reprioritise work to meet clinical demand.
Knowledge & Skills
Essential
68. Up to date knowledge of current practice with emphasis on Liaison Psychiatry.
69. Evidence of post registration development.
70. Understanding about how a persons physical health can affect their mental state.
71. Specialist knowledge of mental disorders and their impact on physical health.
72. Understanding of National guidelines and initiatives related to provision of mental health services in an acute general hospital.
73. Understanding of services and their role in the provision of mental health care in the community.
74. General understanding of Continuing Healthcare and the assessment process for this.
75. Sound working knowledge of Mental Health Act (1983), Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (2005).
76. Protection of Vulnerable Adults Policies and Procedures.
77. Time management.
78. Ability to manage environmental stress.
79. Ability to work in a changing team.
80. Articulate with a high level of communication skills.
81. Ability to deal with high levels of emotional stress.
82. Ability to sustain high levels of concentration.
83. Motivated and committed to developing new ideas and improving patient care.
84. Ability to function as an autonomous practitioner.
85. IT skills.
Desirable
86. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy skills.
87. Problem solving skills.
88. Solution focussed therapy skills.
89. Physical healthcare skills.
90. Motivational interviewing skills.
91. DBT skills.
92. Cognitive assessment skills.
93. Experience of working in both acute mental health and in complex care and dementia care
Experience
Essential
94. 18 months + recent experience as a Band 5 Nurse or AHP equivalent either working with older adults or within dementia/complex care environments or with functional mental health issues.
95. Ability to demonstrate transferable skills.
96. Either experience of working with older adults with Depression and older adults with dementia.
97. Or experience of working with adults with functional mental health problems.
98. Suitable Candidates will show a clear willingness to develop skills in the areas of both functional mental health problems and older peoples/complex care mental health needs.
Desirable
99. Previous experience of working in a community mental health setting.
100. Evidence of developing and contributing to service development.
101. Experience of change in health care.