Suffolk Police Triage Practitioner

Job summary

The NSFT Suffolk Police Triage Team based in Ipswich, are looking for highly motivated and enthusiastic health practitioners or allied professionals, who are looking to expand their skill and knowledge base within one of a range of Crisis Mental Health Services within Suffolk.

The Suffolk Police Triage team provides a dedicated frontline mental health nurse to work with a police officer in the car and also support in the Control Room. Suffolk Police work alongside mental health professionals, collaboratively working to ensure that all service users with mental health issues are effectively supported during what is often a challenging crisis period and that the specialist mental health skills provided by NSFT would allow timely assessment, treatment, and appropriate pathway support at the initial point of contact.

Mental health incidents are identified either through proactive observation of police incidents as they occur, or through requests for assistance from officers within the control room or at incidents where officers feel that mental health assessment and direction would be of benefit both to the police and the service user.

The service is county wide service; however, you will be based in Ipswich and be required to function in both the Control room and the Police car. The hours of operation are 14:00 - Midnight, however flexible working will be considered.

Main duties of the job

• Telephone, electronic and face to face mental health screening, triage and assessment
• Signposting/referral to appropriate services within NSFT or alternative support from external agencies within the community
• Supporting and advising police colleagues during their contact with members of the public presenting with mental health difficulties
• Providing professional liaison and sharing appropriate and proportionate information between NSFT and Suffolk Constabulary
• Collaborative development of support plans and management strategies to assist officers to respond to service users who have frequent contact and regularly present in crisis
• Consultation with police prior to the application of a S136 detention and other processes around the Mental Health Act
• Delivery of mental health training and promotion of mental health awareness and risk assessment to police and police colleagues

This is a county wide service, however at present the base is in Ipswich at either Police HQ in Martlesham within the Control Room or with Suffolk Constabulary at Landmark House. We are a 24/7 service with operational hours of 14:00 - 00.00. Flexible working within these hours will be considered.

About us

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.

Some of the benefits you can expect:

• 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

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.

Employer details

Employer name

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Address

Martlesham - Suffolk Constabulary

Martlesham Heath

Martlesham

IP5 3QS

Employer's website

https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)

---

Employer details

Employer name

Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust

Address

Martlesham - Suffolk Constabulary

Martlesham Heath

Martlesham

IP5 3QS

Employer's website

https://www.nsft.nhs.uk/Pages/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)

---