Job overview

Over the past couple of years, people in East and West Suffolk have been working together to improve NHS mental health & emotional wellbeing care, learning disability & autism services in the region and the #averydifferentconversation began.

We have used those discussions to plan changes that we think will make things better. We hope these proposed changes will mean that people in East and West Suffolk will be able to get the help and support in the right place for them, when they need it, to stay mentally and emotionally well.

Now is an exciting time to join NSFT as we launch our transformational Primary Care Network Mental Health Service across the whole of Suffolk.

Main duties of the job

Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are groups of GP practices who work together in a local geographical area. In Suffolk there are 14 PCNs with a variety of different sizes, patient populations and mental health priorities. From 2021, each PCN will have two mental health practitioners working in its practices alongside a multi-disciplinary team. Practitioners can include registered nurses, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists and Clinical Psychologists. On a day-to-day basis, PCN Practitioners will work as a member of GP practice extended teams and be based in practices.

We are working jointly with our primary care colleagues and as the PCN’s evolve, we will be expected to think about the wider health of their communities, taking a proactive approach to managing population health. These roles, although new have been piloted in our Early Adopter sites for the past year so the workload is defined, manageable and appropriate to allow for patient centred care and other activities.

We are at the start of a journey which will see services transformed over the next decade.

Working for our organisation

As a PCN practitioner, you will work across the interface between Primary Care and Secondary Mental Health Services as part of a multidisciplinary team providing advice, support, and treatment for members of our community experiencing problems with their mental health and wellbeing.

We are looking to recruit Mental Health Nurses, Registered Nurses Occupational Therapists and Social Workers with an interest or preferably experience in a mental health setting, to undertake the planning and delivery of direct patient care. We would welcome applications either as a permanent position (attracting the recruitment premium of £3k) or as a secondment opportunity for 12 months.

You will need to have good organizational skills as you will be managing a caseload and the provision of services to people with mental health care needs as well as offering support and advice to other health care professionals. You will be an autonomous practitioner, making clinical judgements, identifying alternative courses of action, managing and providing a high-quality care.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We have 0.85 WTE vacancy covering East Ipswich PCN which encompasses Orchard Medical Practice, Ravenswood Medical Practice and Dr Solway and Mallick Practice.

Benefits included with these roles are:-

• NHS pension
• a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
• career progression
• starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
• staff physio service
• NHS discounts and many more.

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing their experiences and learning from each other.

We are working hard to maintain usual recruitment process however please be aware that we may ask you to be interviewed via MS Teams rather than in person.

NSFT is committed to lifelong learning and continuous professional development (CPD) for its entire staff. There are a variety of definitions of CPD across the professions but it is usually taken to mean learning activities which update existing skills.

CPD is determined through appraisal with a personal development plan agreed between an individual and their manager, with the commitment of the necessary time and resources.

**This post attracts a recruitment premium of £3,000 (pro-rata for part time roles). This is a one off payment with half paid on appointment and half paid after the completion of a satisfactory probation period (6 months). The premium is taxable. Please note that should you leave employment, or choose to move to an alternative post within the Trust that does not attract this recruitment premium, you will be required to reimburse all or some it, as follows: 100% of the value of the premium in the first 12 months; 50% of the value of the premium in the period 12 months to 2 years following appointment. Please note this recruitment premium is for external applicants only. Not applicable to newly qualified nurses**

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.