Community Mental Health Practitioner - Colchester - ref. y73479315
About Us
EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:
- We are among the largest employers in the in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
- We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.
EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.
Our vision and values
Our Vision
“To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care”.
Our Purpose
“We care for people every day. What we do together, matters”.
Our Values- We Care
- We Learn
- We Empower
- We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
- We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
- We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
- We will help our communities to thrive.
- Mental Health Services
- Community Health Services
- Learning Disabilities Services
- Social Care
Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory.
Job overview
We are seeking to recruit a band 6 Community Mental Health Practitioner in our North East Essex Dementia Service. We have a commitment to provide responsive, flexible and evidence based specialist service to those people who are undergoing an assessment of their memory problems or those diagnosed with a dementia offering assessment to their complex presentation and needs.
Based at the Kingswood Centre the NE Essex Dementia Service offers assessment, diagnosis, treatment and support for those experiencing memory problems. We work closely with third party organisations, particularly Alzheimer’s Society in providing support for people using services and their carers ensuring effective forward signposting where appropriate.
We are looking for someone who can contribute to the good work, innovative new ideas, help drive service improvement and work collaboratively with other health care providers to reduce the number of admissions to the general hospital as well as mental health inpatient units.
Applicants will be expected to have professional registration and relevant experience at band 5 or above.
Main duties of the job
The Memory Assessment Service Support Team (DIST) and the Dementia Support Team (DST).e offers age inclusive memory assessments and diagnosis. The Dementia Intensive Support Team provides short-term intensive treatment in the person’s place of residence working towards admission avoidance.The remaining community teams provide support in enabling people with dementia of all ages to maintain their independence in their preferred place of residence looking at a complete holistic assessment leading to better health outcomes. This includes access to other community services that include assistive technology, advice about environment, and healthy living.
Providing education for their families, friends and carers so they are better equipped to understand and support their loved ones with dementia
Working in close co-operation with hospital, community services, primary care staff, social care professionals and third sector organisations e.g. Alzheimer’s Society, Age Well East.
The post holder will work with a range of professionals and have some link into other professional services within the North East Essex area.
Working for our organisation
EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;- Season Ticket Loans
- NHS discounts for staff
- Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
- Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
- The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
- Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
- Day One Flexible Employer
The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment
Join our Staff bank
What is Staff Bank?
Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.
All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.
If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
As part of the ongoing transformation of services in line with the NHS Long Term Plan, development of services for dementia have been working over the past year in developing an intensive responsive service to manage the needs of these patients.The role is to join EPUT as a Band 6 Senior Community Mental Health Practitioner within the Dementia Service which includes the Memory Assessment Service, Dementia Intensive Support Team (DIST) and the Dementia Support Team (DST).
The Memory Assessment Service offers age inclusive memory assessments and diagnosis. The Dementia Intensive Support Team provides short-term intensive treatment in the person’s place of residence working towards admission avoidance. The remaining community teams provide support in enabling people with dementia of all ages to maintain their independence in their preferred place of residence looking at a complete holistic assessment leading to better health outcomes.This includes access to other community services that include assistive technology, advice about environment, and healthy living. Providing education for their families, friends and carers so they are better equipped to understand and support their loved ones with dementia
Working in close co-operation with hospital, community services, primary care staff, social care professionals and third sector organisations e.g. Alzheimer’s Society, Age Well East.
The post holder will work with a range of professionals and have some link into other professional services within the North East Essex area.
Person specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential criteria- Registration Mental Health Nurse RMN Part 3
- Evidence of appropriate CPD post-qualification
Knowledge Skills/Experience
Essential criteria- Good oral communication skills based on fluency on the English language
- Experience of working within mental health community services
Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered ‘suitable alternative employment’ to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.
Important Professional References
Make sure that as a part of your application you have professional references with business contract information covering your last three year employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.
As a newly appointed employee you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post, the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.
Applications for Job Share are positively welcomed.
Equal Opportunities Employer
Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply.If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email [email protected] and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.
The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.
Covid Vaccination
Although Covid vaccinations are no longer a mandatory requirement within the NHS we continue to encourage and support the vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against Covid19. The safety of our staff and patients is a top priority for us at EPUT.
If you would like to book a Covid vaccination or would like more information please contact us by emailing [email protected].