Mental Health Practitioner

To provide specialist mental healthcare to offenders and to work as part of the Mental Health Team and wider mental health services.

To deliver a range of specialist interventions at primary and secondary care level; to include
- Referral management, screening assessment, triage, and evidence-based interventions
- Care Planning and risk assessing
- One-to-one and group-work facilitation
- Managing a mixed and challenging caseload including people struggling with severe enduring mental illness, personality difficulties and neurodevelopmental problems.

Key Tasks and responsibilities

To contribute to alternatives to inpatient admission and assisting with early discharge, through the implementation of high intensity specialist interventions and complex case management arrangements resulting in continuity of care for an offender on ordinary location, reduced length of stay (both in relation to prison inpatient services and external NHS or independent in-patient services).

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

- We’re Kind
- We’re Fair
- We Listen
- We Care

Main Responsibilities
To communicate effectively on a range of issues that are often complex in their nature and in complex situations.

Participate in the annual appraisal reviews and demonstrate reflective practice through the Knowledge and Skills Framework.

To maintain comprehensive and timely electronic clinical records ensuring confidentiality is maintained at all times.

Provide supervision, mentorship & leadership for junior staff.
Take all necessary care in the working environment, adhering to relevant health and safety policies.

Participate and positively contribute to the services integrated clinical governance arrangements.

Carry out administrative tasks as directed including research, audit, data, and activity statistics.