Senior Mental Health Practitioner - Newry and Mourne, United Kingdom - Southern GP Federations
1 week ago
Description
JOB DESCRIPTION
JOB TITLE:
Senior Mental Health Practitioner - Multidisciplinary
Team Primary Care (GP Practice)
REPORTS TO:
Primary Care Mental Health Manager
ACCOUNTABLE TO:
Federation Chair
PROFESSIONALLY
RESPONSIBLE TO:
Identified professional supervisor (Social work, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, and Psychology)
INITIAL BASE
LOCATION:
Designated GP Practice(s) in Newry & District Federation area
Multidisciplinary Team (MDT)
These MDTs are intended to deliver the vision set out in "Delivering Together" with an increased emphasis on a holistic model of health and wellbeing which includes physical, mental and social wellbeing with a greater focus on prevention and early intervention.
The main role and function of these new multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) is to provide a first contact and brief intervention service to patients presenting in General Practice.
Each multidisciplinary team will be made up of GPs, nursing staff, practice based social workers, senior mental health practitioners, pharmacists and physiotherapists.
The Senior Mental Health Practitioner can be from one of four professional backgrounds Social Work, Nursing, Occupational Therapy or Psychology.
The Senior Mental Health Practitioner will be an integral part of the MDT working alongside other professionals in a seamless and coordinated way effectively meeting the holistic needs of the GP patient and their families.
Job Purpose
The post holder is responsible for ensuring the delivery of safe and effective care to the whole practice population. S/he will be highly specialist resource providing clinical expertise in care, advice and support within General Practice.
S/he will lead and/or work within the multi-disciplinary team in order to ensure a seamless, coordinated approach to person-centred care, across the clinical pathway, and provide timely onward referral to other professionals and agencies as appropriate.
Clinically the focus of the role is the delivery of evidence-based practice for patients/families, providing an initial assessment to patients of any age, presenting with undifferentiated undiagnosed mental health problems providing initial management including brief interventions or prescribing, where appropriate, and reviewing patients at the request of the GP S/he will work collaboratively with the whole general practice team to lead and/or participate in the provision of expert advice in developing, implementing and monitoring policies, procedures and protocols which meet national, regional and local requirements.
The fundamental role for mental health care practitioner within a GP Practice is to ensure that individual needs are met in a timely, appropriate and accessible manner.
GPs estimate that mental ill-health accounts for a significant percentage of their daily workload in general practice, either as the sole problem or a major part of the presenting problem.
GPs also indicate that patients who present with mental health problems tend to consult more frequently and have longer consultations than those without mental illness, and therefore place a high workload demand on general practice.
The role and function of the Senior Mental Health Practitioner is to work as a core member of the new MDTs alongside the GP in his/ her practice providing a first contact mental health service to patients across the lifespan who present in General Practice with a mental health issue.
The Senior Mental Health Practitioner will undertake consultations with patients registered with the practice presenting with a range of needs and based on a standardised assessment pathway will provide an initial formulation of need, provide clinical advice, watchful waiting, prescribe if appropriate, provide initial short-term treatment and/or signpost to other services.
The post holders will work primarily with people who are not eligible for or availing of other services from the Health and Social Care Trust either primary or secondary care services.
It is envisaged that while the Senior Mental Health Practitioner may assess patients with the full range of mental health issues, they will only provide short term interventions with patients at step one or with patients on the perimeter of step two (see appendix 1 stepped mental health model) The Senior Mental Health Practitioner will have a critical role in signposting and / or referring patients and will have a critical interface role with Trust primary mental health care teams, primary care mental health and wellbeing hubs, recovery colleges, and the community mental health teams for older people.
The Senior Mental Health Practitioner will refer patients with higher level complex mental health conditions directly to more appropriate Health and Social Care Trust services.
The Senior Mental Health Practitioner will have specific areas of specialist or expert practice an
