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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical

• To provide medicine management education, adherence advice and lifestyle advice for patients and their families and/or carers presenting with mental health needs
• To assist in supporting early intervention and shared decision-making around self-management of symptoms and adherence to treatment

• To work with patients and team members to support engagement with appropriate services and treatment which may include onward referral to Living Well Centres or signposting to other mental health services, social prescribers, voluntary services and community-based support groups.
• To support patients to transition from secondary care to primary care by providing appropriate number of step-down sessions at the point of step down from secondary care services dependant on patient need.
• To support patients in their referral from primary care to secondary care and ensure effective and safe transition.
• To support patients to stay well within their local communities, including psychological support and the re-enforcement of psychology techniques.
• To promote the safety and the wellbeing of patients and their families and/or carers
• To develop a close relationship with Primary Care practices with the PCN, attending practice meetings and having regular informal contact.
• To work closely and in partnership with colleagues within primary care and their community partner organisations in a collaborative way, ensuring that decisions are made that ensure the best care for service users and that there is a seamless pathway.
• To support GPs in assessing risk by providing expert advice and consultation.
• To support primary care teams with the review of long-acting depot injections for those patients with complex needs, offering support with administration on an occasional basis if required.
• To support patients on the SMI register to access annual physical health checks and to work in collaboration with the Band 4 Associate Nurses in the PCN with delivery of physical health checks
• To work closely with the Mental Health Personal Independence Co-ordinators

Quality Improvement

• To contribute to the improvement of pathways between primary and secondary care and where practicable, to standardise processes across the PCN
• To improve quality and effectiveness of prescribing of mental health medications through clinical audit and education of prescribers to improve performance against NICE standards and clinical and prescribing guidance
• To support primary care initiatives which improve the physical health outcomes of those with a long-term mental health condition and the mental health outcomes of those with a long-term physical health condition

Training Development and Education:

• To provide informal mental health specific learning for staff across the Primary Care Network, including providing specialist advice relating to mental health
• To undertake mandatory and statutory training as required by Alliance policy, identifying individual training needs.
• To contribute and commit to undertaking an annual Development Review/appraisal.
• To undertake personal development as identified in the Personal Development Plan (PDP).

Management:

• To be responsible for the management, supervision and appraisals of Primary Care Mental Health Practitioners, working across PCNs in Lambeth.
• To facilitate and enable appropriate communication within Primary Care Networks within Lambeth, between other teams and departments across Lambeth including Local Authority, service users, carers and other relevant agencies.
• To ensure policies on staff supervision, health and sickness, safety and equal opportunities are adhered to, and ensure that all staff absence is recorded through an agreed team procedure.
• To provide supervision on clinical caseloads and ensure that all team members have appropriate clinical supervision and Development Review.
• To ensure all staff receive an appraisal in line with service policy, ensuring that training, professional and legal requirements are met.
• To provide specific professional supervision to team members from the same profession as the post holder.

General:

• This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities, and the postholder may be required to undertake other duties which fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with the manager.
• The postholder is expected to comply with all relevant Alliance and PCN policies, procedures and guidelines, including those relating to Equal Opportunities and Confidentiality of Information.
• The postholder is responsible for ensuring that the work that they undertake is conducted in a manner which is safe to themselves and others, and for adhering to the advice and instructions on Health and Safety matters given by Manager(s).  If postholders consider that a hazard to Health and Safety exists, it is their responsibility to report this to their manager(s).
• The postholder is expected to comply with the appropriate Code(s) of Conduct associated with this post and meet the required professional standards for on-going registration.
• To make effective use of supervision and be able to acknowledge their own limitations, reflect on practice and discuss/identify their training and development needs with their line manager.