Assistant Practitioner

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people's and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

At any one time, around 23,000 people in Norfolk and Suffolk are receiving care and attention from the Trust. We believe in whole life care - seeing people in the context of their whole lives, understanding the importance of good physical health, friends, family, spirituality, culture, home, work, education and a sense of purpose and achievement to experience good mental health.

Nearly 3,800 full and part-time practitioners care for our service users in hospitals, in the community and in their own homes, whilst an additional 1,400+ staff provide non-clinical support, including cleaning, catering, delivering supplies, ward administration, information technology, human resources and financial services.

We are committed to delivering quality driven mental health services. Every individual makes a valuable contribution. We are proud of our staff who have been commended for the care they provide. Do you value working positively, respectfully and together? If so, we’d love you to join us

JOB DESCRIPTION/PERSON SPECIFICATION

YOUR APPLICATION

**Job overview**:
The 'South Norfolk Older Persons Community Team' aims to support positive mental wellbeing throughout our South Norfolk and Breckland communities. Our purpose is to enable people living with complex mental health symptoms and / or cognitive impairment to lead positive and meaningful everyday lives.

Working alongside carers, families and other agencies we provide an assessment, diagnostic, treatment and supportive service to enable our older persons and their carers to manage symptoms on their path working towards their recovery.

**Main duties of the job**:
The successful applicant should be able to
- Show an enthusiasm, proactive and compassionate approach of supporting older persons living with poor mental health and / or symptoms of dementia.
- Manage an comprehensive assessment of a persons mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.
- Create and support a collaborative plan of care.
- Identify and manage risks positively
- Manage their own diary and be adaptive to change
- Use their professional judgement and initiative to support both patient and carers.
- Be proactive in the safe management of their own caseload
- Communicate effectively - using both discussions, formal letters and notes on our electronic clinical notes
- Be pro active in the recording and detailing of clinical notes.
- Be part of and supportive within a proactive team.
- driving is an essential criteria for this role

**Working for our organisation**:
Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing experiences and learning from each other. In addition to ongoing training and development opportunities, we are committed to providing an environment in which you can thrive.

**Why work for us?** We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

**Why Norfolk and Suffolk? **The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

**Detailed job description and main responsibilities**:
Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY

**Person specification**:
**Qualifications**:
**Essential criteria**:

- Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care/mental health or apprenticeship in H&SC/mental health L5

**Experience**:
**Essential criteria**:

- Working with Service Users with mental health needs
- Working within Multidisciplinary Team (MDT)
- Working knowledge and understanding of CPA process

**Skills**:
**Essential criteria**:

- Able to drive and use of own transport to travel throughout Norfolk
- EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES_Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief._
- As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who