Perinatal Practitioner

This post is open to applicants from Nursing, Social Work, Health Visiting and Occupational Therapy.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to work as a Band 7 Perinatal Safeguarding Lead within Oxleas Trust-wide Perinatal Mental Health Service.

Perinatal Mental Health Service provides high quality mental health care for women who are planning a pregnancy, pregnant or up to 24 months postnatal in the boroughs of Bexley, Bromley & Greenwich, with an annual birth rate of over 12,000.

We are keen to employ a motivated individual with child and adult safeguarding experience, who may be looking for a chance to demonstrate their extensive skills and develop specialist skills and knowledge within perinatal psychiatry.

The roles require a clinician with expertise in child and adult safeguarding as well as mental health experience. This level of experience and clinical expertise will be more suited to a senior clinician with varied experience across both services/sectors.

The post-holders will work collaboratively with other team members in the Bexley, Bromley & Greenwich Perinatal Mental Health Service, professionals from other services (e.g. local authority, maternity services, social care and health visiting) and with our experts by experience, to build on the achievements to date and to develop a high quality service to ensure excellent outcomes for women and their families.

Oxleas Perinatal Service consists of three teams who cover Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich. Each sub-team is made of a MDT including Drs, nurses, safeguarding leads, psychological therapists, occupational therapist, nursery nurses and administrators. We work together as a larger perinatal service for team training, complex case reflections as well as business meetings.

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
We Listen
We Care

**The post holder will**:
Effectively manage a caseload of people (antenatal and postnatal) with complex mental health needs, supporting them and their support network

Support and implement holistic care plans in relation to a patient's (and their support network's) perinatal needs utilising the Trust's 'Think Family' approach

Provide intervention around safeguarding and accessing community support

Provide specialist training, supervision, and maintain professional relationships with other agencies including maternity, health visiting, primary care, mental health and social services

Provide liaison and advice as well as managing the interface with the Local Authority, safeguarding team, maternity and health visiting services