Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Mental Health Practitioner

The closing date is 25 March 2026

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a band 6 mental health practitioner to work in the Home Treatment Team in Lancaster.The Home Treatment Team cares for people who are experiencing acute episodes of mental illness or emotional distress. The service is an alternative to admission and offers intensive support to service users and their families in the community.

The service works closely with the in-patient wards to support early discharges and with other parts of the mental health services as well as third sector providers, so great communication skills are essential.The post is a full-time, permanent post covering the service over 7 days per week working long days. The team covers Lancaster, Morecambe and surrounding areas.

As a member of the team you would be working with a multi-disciplinary team consisting of Mental Health Nurses; Support Workers; Occupational Therapist; Psychologist and Consultant Psychiatrist.

Main duties of the job

You will provide a comprehensive assessment and triage service and, where necessary signposting or clear onward facilitation to a mental health pathway. Your referrers will mostly include IRS (initial response service), and Acute Hospital colleagues, trust employed mental health practitioners working in GP service. Service users will be triaged collaboratively and a decision will be made in consultation with the referrer and with the use of a clinical tool, within the response time required.This comprehensive, collaborative triage system will lead to comprehensive assessment clear onward facilitation of service users to the most appropriate care following assessment.The post holder will provide evidence based mental health assessments and/or signposting to alternative service provision for people who present requiring a specialist urgent mental health assessment. The post holder may offer follow-up appointments within the agreed timescale for intervention as part of the on-going assessment process

About us

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you'd like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.

The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.

Explore our full wellbeing offer here: Keeping our workforce well

Details

Date posted

11 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£38,682 to £46,580 a year Per Annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

351-BAY950-ZK

Job locations

The Orchard

Lancaster

LA1 4JJ


Job description

Job responsibilities

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity, please review the attached job description and person specification.

Job description

Job responsibilities

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity, please review the attached job description and person specification.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Registered Mental Health Nurse/ Social worker

Knowledge

Essential

  • Able to understand the difference between crisis planning and contingency planning and able to formulate explicit planning in these areas
  • Knowledge, understanding and experience of the care pathways for psychosis and non psychosis and relevant interventions
  • Effective communication with service users, carers and members of the multidisciplinary teams. Strong customer service and negotiation skills

Skills

Essential

  • Motivational skills
  • Assertiveness skills in relation to bed management
  • Demonstrate the ability to work sensitively in a non judgemental way with service users who are in crisis oAble to
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Registered Mental Health Nurse/ Social worker

Knowledge

Essential

  • Able to understand the difference between crisis planning and contingency planning and able to formulate explicit planning in these areas
  • Knowledge, understanding and experience of the care pathways for psychosis and non psychosis and relevant interventions
  • Effective communication with service users, carers and members of the multidisciplinary teams. Strong customer service and negotiation skills

Skills

Essential

  • Motivational skills
  • Assertiveness skills in relation to bed management
  • Demonstrate the ability to work sensitively in a non judgemental way with service users who are in crisis oAble to

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.

Employer details

Employer name

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Address

The Orchard

Lancaster

LA1 4JJ


Employer's website

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


Employer details

Employer name

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Address

The Orchard

Lancaster

LA1 4JJ


Employer's website

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


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Staff Nurse

Melissa Crewe

Melissa.Crewe@lscft.nhs.uk

Details

Date posted

11 March 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 6

Salary

£38,682 to £46,580 a year Per Annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

351-BAY950-ZK

Job locations

The Orchard

Lancaster

LA1 4JJ


Supporting documents

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