Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

ARRS Mental Health Practitioner

The closing date is 11 January 2026

Job summary

ARRS Mental Health Practitioner - Primary Care Tewkesbury GP Surgery TWNS PCN

This is an exciting opportunity to improve the experience for individuals with mental health needs through offering early assessment and access to treatment and support to promote mental health and well-being within primary care.

Embedded within Primary Care Networks (PCNs), our ARRS Practitioners are outward facing linking seamlessly with the Gloucestershire Health and Care (GHC) NHS Foundation Trust, where we will provide support with supervision and training opportunities. The PCNs provide a welcoming environment for SMHPs making them feel part of their teams team and there is Countywide support from SMHP colleagues based in other practices.

Main duties of the job

The ARRS Practitioner will be an integrated member of the GP practice team and will take the lead in ensuring best practice is delivered across your allocated GP surgeries. The role requires working autonomously in providing high volume assessment, diagnosis, and treatment appointments, advice and support for GPs in caring for other patients with mental health issues, improve links with and navigation to community providers. The MH Practitioner will work within a number of GP practices within a specific Primary Care Network.

Enthusiasm, an ability to work flexibly and collaboratively with colleagues across service areas to bring about change and the desire to develop and improve services will be fundamental to these roles. Professional development, governance support, training and supervision will be provided by GHC Trust working collaboratively with colleagues in Primary Care.

For more information please contact Tim Buhagiar

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

  • 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
  • 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
  • 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys

Details

Date posted

31 December 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year per annum, pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

327-25-1102

Job locations

Eastgate House

Eastgate Street

Gloucester

GL1 1PX


Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be expected:

  • To work within a multi-professional primary care team to provide a service for adults18+ with varying levels of mental health needs, including SMI and Complex Emotional Needs that may co-exist with physical health problems within the registered patient population.
  • To exercise a high degree of professional autonomy and make critical judgments to satisfy the expectations and demands of the role.
  • To act as a practice leader, managing your own workload and to work across professional, organisational and system boundaries to improve services and develop practice.
  • To navigate, liaise with and refer onto mental health services, voluntary and public sector agencies and community support groups.
  • To support the delivery of annual mental health reviews for adults on the practices mental health register.
  • To provide specialist advice, supervision and support to practice colleagues in relation to patients with mental health issues. In particular to help identify (through Risk Stratification) those patients potentially at risk of relapse to support their continued wellbeing and to reduce their impact on the Health and Wellbeing service as a whole.

The Trust is required to work in line with the Governments UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit - https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be expected:

  • To work within a multi-professional primary care team to provide a service for adults18+ with varying levels of mental health needs, including SMI and Complex Emotional Needs that may co-exist with physical health problems within the registered patient population.
  • To exercise a high degree of professional autonomy and make critical judgments to satisfy the expectations and demands of the role.
  • To act as a practice leader, managing your own workload and to work across professional, organisational and system boundaries to improve services and develop practice.
  • To navigate, liaise with and refer onto mental health services, voluntary and public sector agencies and community support groups.
  • To support the delivery of annual mental health reviews for adults on the practices mental health register.
  • To provide specialist advice, supervision and support to practice colleagues in relation to patients with mental health issues. In particular to help identify (through Risk Stratification) those patients potentially at risk of relapse to support their continued wellbeing and to reduce their impact on the Health and Wellbeing service as a whole.

The Trust is required to work in line with the Governments UK Visa and Immigration Rules and Regulations. For more information about sponsorship for certain roles, please visit - https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

Person Specification

QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

  • Registered Mental Health Practitioner, eg Mental Health Nurse (RMN)

Desirable

  • Non Medical Prescriber

LENGTH AND / OR NATURE OF EXPERIENCE

Essential

  • Significant, recent clinical experience in the assessment of mental health at Band 7 level.
  • Front line experience of using advanced assessment skills especially in determining the nature and severity of mental illness/health (functional and organic) and differentiation between physical and mental health symptoms and conditions.
  • Extensive working knowledge of the makeup of the wider health and social care community including statutory and non-statutory services and direct experience of multi inter-agency working and collaboration.
  • Detailed working knowledge of how specialist mental health services are organised and operate, where and how they fit into the health and social care community.

Desirable

  • Contemporary experience of working in a primary care setting.
  • Experience of assessment and management of patients with mental health conditions in a primary care setting.
  • Experience of the wider community mental health service in recovery / crisis teams.

PERSONAL SKILLS ABILITIES AND ATTRIBUTES

Essential

  • Resilient and able to manage a significantly different, fast-paced workload in primary care.

PROFESSIONAL / MANAGERIAL / SPECIALIST KNOWLEDGE

Essential

  • Confident to work without explicit supervision
Person Specification

QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

  • Registered Mental Health Practitioner, eg Mental Health Nurse (RMN)

Desirable

  • Non Medical Prescriber

LENGTH AND / OR NATURE OF EXPERIENCE

Essential

  • Significant, recent clinical experience in the assessment of mental health at Band 7 level.
  • Front line experience of using advanced assessment skills especially in determining the nature and severity of mental illness/health (functional and organic) and differentiation between physical and mental health symptoms and conditions.
  • Extensive working knowledge of the makeup of the wider health and social care community including statutory and non-statutory services and direct experience of multi inter-agency working and collaboration.
  • Detailed working knowledge of how specialist mental health services are organised and operate, where and how they fit into the health and social care community.

Desirable

  • Contemporary experience of working in a primary care setting.
  • Experience of assessment and management of patients with mental health conditions in a primary care setting.
  • Experience of the wider community mental health service in recovery / crisis teams.

PERSONAL SKILLS ABILITIES AND ATTRIBUTES

Essential

  • Resilient and able to manage a significantly different, fast-paced workload in primary care.

PROFESSIONAL / MANAGERIAL / SPECIALIST KNOWLEDGE

Essential

  • Confident to work without explicit supervision

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).

Additional information

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Eastgate House

Eastgate Street

Gloucester

GL1 1PX


Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Eastgate House

Eastgate Street

Gloucester

GL1 1PX


Employer's website

https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/who-we-are/jobs/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

ARRS Primary Care MH Operational Lead

Tim Buhagiar

tim.buhagiar@ghc.nhs.uk

03004213388

Details

Date posted

31 December 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£47,810 to £54,710 a year per annum, pro rata

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

327-25-1102

Job locations

Eastgate House

Eastgate Street

Gloucester

GL1 1PX


Supporting documents

Privacy notice

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust's privacy notice (opens in a new tab)