Community Mental Health 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**:
An exciting opportunity is available for an experienced **Mental Health Practitioner** to join our **MSNAP Accredited Memory Assessment Service, **based in Bury St Edmunds.

The Memory Assessment Service East (CMAS) is nurse-led with a strong emphasis on multi-disciplinary team working to ensure that users of the service receive high quality, compassionate care throughout their memory assessment process. You will work within a full MDT which includes nurses, OTs, support workers, a Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Psychology, and which is well supported by admin.

The service is proud of being dynamic, responsive and proactive to the changing needs of the local population and its service users.

The team is currently embracing the opportunity to be part of a Suffolk-wide Memory Assessment Service offer wherein services in both East and West Suffolk are aligned and accredited to the same standard of quality of care. A rebrand of these services over the coming year as the Suffolk Dementia Assessment Services is currently in the works, making this a fantastic time to be part of the development of this ambitious new plan.

**Main duties of the job**:
**General responsibilities include**:

- Completing holistic assessments, including cognitive assessments using a validated assessment tool - training is provided as necessary.
- Present assessments to the MDT to support the formulation of a diagnosis and follow-up plan.
- Triage and Duty cover
- Complete diagnostic discussions as appropriate, and complete onward referrals to appropriate agencies where indicated.
- participation in MDT meetings
- Provide Management Supervision to colleagues as needed
- Support Student Nurses on Placement, either as Practice Assessor or Supervisor, or to support others performing these roles.
- share ideas for service development and innovation in the Monthly team Governance meetings.
- Supporting the facilitation of post-diagnostic groups.
- Attending monthly Management and Clinical supervision.
- Participation in service development.
- Participation in research projects
- Development of robust relationships with partner agencies and services.

You will be expected to be able to work autonomously and manage your time well.

You must be able to be able to travel to various locations across Suffolk.

**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**:
Furthermore, to have a good knowledge and understanding of Dementia and impact on service users and their loved ones is crucial in the work we do. We are committed to ensuring the voice of our service users is central to our