Liaison Psychiatry Senior Practitioner Nurse

Job description

Job responsibilities

To actively support the Liaison Psychiatry Team to deliver a consistent, responsive, safe, high quality and user friendly service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

To provide senior clinical support to the Liaison Psychiatry Team.

To provide a visible, accessible and authoritative presence in all areas of responsibility for staff, service users and carers.

To work closely with the Service Manager, Deputy Manager and Consultant Psychiatrist(s) to develop the Liaison Psychiatry Service.

To regularly undertake delegated managerial responsibilities and duties, and to deputise for the Service Manager and Deputy Manager in his/her absence or as required.

Enable the provision of evidence based assessment and treatment that incorporates cultural preferences, health beliefs, behaviours and traditional practices as well as respecting differences in relation to gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion and disability.

To enable delivery of specialist mental health education to Acute Trust staff to increase awareness, empower and enable, promote the specialist skills of mental health professionals with the ultimate aim of improving the service user experience in an Acute Trust setting.

To work jointly with the Consultant Psychiatrist(s) and local Lead Psychologists to ensure that the links between Liaison Psychiatry and Clinical Health Psychology are maintained and developed and that the many areas of joint interest are taken forward in an effective joined-up manner

To work closely with all stakeholders to ensure that all key interfaces between CNWL and the Acute Trust are enhanced and working effectively.

Clinical

Utilize a wide variety of clinical skills appropriate to the needs of the individual patients and the clinical setting in which they are required to be seen.

Conduct specialist psychosocial assessments using the teams established structured assessment template without immediate supervision.

Demonstrate the necessary clinical skills and interventions necessary to undertake a comprehensive risk assessment.

Be able to identify risk and formulate a risk management plan following the assessment of self -harm or for any patient in mental health crisis. Ensure that the level and nature of risk is identified, and a risk management plan is clearly communicated to other members of the wider clinical team.

Have a knowledge of preventative strategies in relation to self harm or harm to others.

Demonstrate a high standard of record keeping and clearly document all assessments and patient/carer contacts, formulation, care planning and the rationale for clinical decision-making.

Provide a highly specialised consultation-liaison service to the clinicians and clinical teams within the Acute Hospital setting. Assist in the joint development of care plans and make complex decisions in cases where patients have presented with a mental health presentation, multiple psychosocial problems and are exhibiting challenging behaviour.

Support and educate Acute Hospital staff in formal and informal settings to enable them to feel confident in managing patients with complex mental health needs. Priority areas would include risk assessment, levels of observation, importance of compliance with medication, mental health related legislation and the ability to understand and interpret changes in mental state.

Always ensure that the teams clinical practice is based on evidence based practice, current clinical guidelines, and Trust and national policy. Work with colleagues to develop clinical expertise and high standards of nursing practice, as defined by the nursing and midwifery code of professional conduct (2015)

You must have the ability to frequently work under pressure and maintain intense concentration, particularly in unpredictable situations where there will be exposure to highly distressing and/or very disturbed patients, often exhibiting challenging behaviours with an inherent risk of physical violence.

Demonstrate a high level of understanding of the legal and ethical issues in providing care to patients with mental health disorders. In particular, demonstrating sound understanding of the mental health act (revised 2007) and the Mental Capacity Act (2005). Also the ethical and confidentiality issues surrounding child and adult protection and awareness of your role in such cases.

Ability to work autonomously and use your own initiative when making decisions. Recognise your own limitations when acting independently and make use of all available resources for advice and guidance when required.

Ability to prioritise, manage time and achieve the necessary tasks within available time, particularly in relation to Acute Hospital targets.

The ability to combine behavioural, environmental, social, cultural and psychopharmacological models in treating individuals with difficult behaviour resulting from mental health disorder, brain injury, influence of substances and social issues.

Take the lead in encouraging a culture of cleanliness in the clinical area. Implement and evaluate systems to monitor cleanliness and infection control issues.

To monitor standards of clinical practice within the Team and ensure that the objectives for Key Clinical Outcomes are met. This will include ensuring that all team members are fully aware of the aims and objectives of the service, understand why they are being asked to demonstrate the outcomes they achieve and the delivery of key outcome measures.

To ensure high standards of assessment and treatment within the Liaison Psychiatry Team by monitoring and developing standards of service to ensure the consistent delivery of high quality care.

To maintain a coherent and robust clinical governance structure within the Team and contribute to the Acute Hospital Clinical Governance frameworks.

To provide reliable , relevant accessible and timely information about the care and treatment provided to patients and the patient experience

To support the Service Manager and Deputy Manager in the identification of innovative approaches to the management of A&E mental health breaches and delayed discharges

To ensure the safe and effective delivery of high quality health and social care to patients, utilising the knowledge and skills of the staff whilst recognising and helping to manage their stress in this demanding area of work.

To ensure compliant discharge of the legal responsibilities of the Mental Health Act 2007 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 by the Team and to advise our Acute colleagues where necessary.

To recognise and promote the role of advocacy, autonomy and self-empowerment in the care of service users and ensure promotion of the recovery model within the team.

After receiving appropriate training, the post-holder will act as the lead in identified specialist areas for the team and a will be a source of knowledge and advice for team members.

To ensure that the service always involves carers and families in the treatment, management and the formulation of care and treatment plans.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• clinical leadership skills.
• Knowledge of change management
• Ability to prioritise and delegate.
• Specialist knowledge of mental health disorders as well as their relationship to physical disorders
• Assessment and treatment of DSH
• Higher level of communication skills, both written and oral
• Ability to engage with challenging and / or acutely distressed patients in potentially hostile and / or antagonistic situations and use de-escalation techniques effectively
• Sufficient clinical knowledge to be able to make autonomous decisions, based on analysis on complex presenting problems and judgement about available options
• Organisation skills that will enable a number of complex activities and clinical work to be undertaken, revising and adjusting these according to the needs of individual patients and the service

Desirable

• Computer skills

Training / Qualifications

Essential

• UK Registered Nurse (Mental Health) on live NMC register
• ENB 998 or equivalent
• Evidence of recent relevant professional development post graduating as a registered nurse

Desirable

• Educated to degree or diploma level Nursing, other courses relevant to Liaison Psychiatry

Expereince

Essential

• Extensive post qualification work in psychiatry
• Experience in community mental health practice
• Experience in carrying out psychosocial assessments and autonomous practice.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team
• Ability to interpret research and apply to practice

Desirable

• Other relevant post registration experience
• Audit and research
• Evidence of an active interest in further professional development

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

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Address

The Paterson Cabin, St Marys Hospital

16 South Wharf Road

London

W2 1PF

Employer's website

https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/work (Opens in a new tab)