The post holder must have a warm and friendly disposition and have very excellent communication and interpersonal skills. They must also be confident and motivated, flexible and be able to show initiative. They must be robust and resourceful and willing to work outside their comfort zone in an environment which can be demanding and stressful.
You will be a key player of the multidisciplinary team, offering specialist psychiatric advice in the acute hospital setting. You will be well supported by an established team which includes 2 consultant liaison psychiatrists , a service team manager, a deputy service manager, other band 7 nurses, band 6 psychiatric liaison nurses, older adults psychiatric liaison nurses.The Psychiatric Liaison team also provides a service to the Mental Health Emergency Centre (MHEC). The successful candidate will be expected to work some shifts in the MHEC as the MHEC RMN.
The successful applicant may have contact with patients or service users. As an NHS Trust we strongly encourage and support vaccination as this remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course patients and service users when working on our healthcare settings.
The post holder will work as a key member of the Liaison Psychiatry Team at St Marys Hospital.They will be accountable to the Service Manager and will support the Service Manager and Deputy Manager in the day to day clinical and operational management of the Liaison Psychiatry service.
The post-holder will bring senior Liaison Psychiatry experience, skills and knowledge to the team and will work both as a clinician in the team as well as providing support to more junior staff. They will support junior staff in their day-to-day work and practice providing senior advice and direct supervision. They will also support junior staff in complex decision-making particularly relating to risk and complicated admission and discharge planning.
The post-holder will lead on teaching and training initiatives for acute hospital staff and for training within the team.
The post holder will be expected to support the Service Manager, Deputy Manager and the Consultant Psychiatrist(s) to ensure that all team members are performing at their optimum level and that the team is delivering a responsive, high quality and user friendly service for service users and the Acute Trust.
Key Relationships:
- Service users, carers and their representatives
- Liaison Psychiatry Team and their representatives
- Key staff within the Acute Trust who have a lead role in relation to Mental Health
- Multi-disciplinary staff within the Acute Trust, including within the Emergency Department, Outpatients, Inpatients and Specialist Units
- Inpatient Mental Health Wards, Home Treatment Teams, Community Mental Health Teams
- Primary Care Mental Health Teams, Substance Misuse services and Bed Managers
- Sector, Service and Team Managers within other CNWL services
- Westminster Senior Management Team
- Corporate Services – HR, Finance, Estates, etc
The post-holder will be the only senior Psychiatric Liaison Nurse in the team and will be responsible for supervising and providing support for Band 6 Psychiatric Liaison Nurses who will also have experience of working with patients who have mental health difficulties. The Liaison Psychiatry Team is an integrated team providing a 24/7 service to St Mary’s Hospital.
Overview of main responsibilities
1. GENERAL
• To actively support the Liaison Psychiatry Team to deliver a consistent, responsive, safe, high quality and user friendly service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• To provide senior clinical support to the Liaison Psychiatry Team.
• To provide a visible, accessible and authoritative presence in all areas of responsibility for staff, service users and carers.
• To work closely with the Service Manager, Deputy Manager and Consultant Psychiatrist(s) to develop the Liaison Psychiatry Service.
• To regularly undertake delegated managerial responsibilities and duties, and to deputise for the Service Manager and Deputy Manager in his/her absence or as required.
• Enable the provision of evidence based assessment and treatment that incorporates cultural preferences, health beliefs, behaviours and traditional practices as well as respecting differences in relation to gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion and disability.
• To enable delivery of specialist mental health education to Acute Trust staff to increase awareness, empower and enable, promote the specialist skills of mental health professionals with the ultimate aim of improving the service user experience in an Acute Trust setting.
• To work jointly with the Consultant Psychiatrist(s) and local Lead Psychologists to ensure that the links between Liaison Psychiatry and Clinical Health Psychology are maintained and developed and that the many areas of joint interest are taken forward in an effective joined-up manner
• To work closely with all stakeholders to ensure that all key interfaces between CNWL and the Acute Trust are enhanced and working effectively.
2. CLINICAL
• Utilize a wide variety of clinical skills appropriate to the needs of the individual patients and the clinical setting in which they are required to be seen.
• Conduct specialist psychosocial assessments using the teams established structured assessment template without immediate supervision.
• Demonstrate the necessary clinical skills and interventions necessary to undertake a comprehensive risk assessment.
• Be able to identify risk and formulate a risk management plan following the assessment of self -harm or for any patient in mental health crisis. Ensure that the level and nature of risk is identified, and a risk management plan is clearly communicated to other members of the wider clinical team.
• Have a knowledge of preventative strategies in relation to self harm or harm to others.
• Demonstrate a high standard of record keeping and clearly document all assessments and patient/carer contacts, formulation, care planning and the rationale for clinical decision-making.
• Provide a highly specialised consultation-liaison service to the clinicians and clinical teams within the Acute Hospital setting. Assist in the joint development of care plans and make complex decisions in cases where patients have presented with a mental health presentation, multiple psychosocial problems and are exhibiting challenging behaviour.
• Support and educate Acute Hospital staff in formal and informal settings to enable them to feel confident in managing patients with complex mental health needs. Priority areas would include risk assessment, levels of observation, importance of compliance with medication, mental health related legislation and the ability to understand and interpret changes in mental state.
• Always ensure that the teams clinical practice is based on evidence based practice, current clinical guidelines, and Trust and national policy. Work with colleagues to develop clinical expertise and high standards of nursing practice, as defined by the nursing and midwifery code of professional conduct (2015)
• You must have the ability to frequently work under pressure and maintain intense concentration, particularly in unpredictable situations where there will be exposure to highly distressing and/or very disturbed patients, often exhibiting challenging behaviours with an inherent risk of physical violence.
• Demonstrate a high level of understanding of the legal and ethical issues in providing care to patients with mental health disorders. In particular, demonstrating sound understanding of the mental health act (revised 2007) and the Mental Capacity Act (2005). Also the ethical and confidentiality issues surrounding child and adult protection and awareness of your role in such cases.
• Ability to work autonomously and use your own initiative when making decisions. Recognise your own limitations when acting independently and make use of all available resources for advice and guidance when required.
• Ability to prioritise, manage time and achieve the necessary tasks within available time, particularly in relation to Acute Hospital targets.
• The ability to combine behavioural, environmental, social, cultural and psychopharmacological models in treating individuals with difficult behaviour resulting from mental health disorder, brain injury, influence of substances and social issues.
• Take the lead in encouraging a culture of cleanliness in the clinical area. Implement and evaluate systems to monitor cleanliness and infection control issues.
• To monitor standards of clinical practice within the Team and ensure that the objectives for Key Clinical Outcomes are met. This will include ensuring that all team members are fully aware of the aims and objectives of the service, understand why they are being asked to demonstrate the outcomes they achieve and the delivery of key outcome measures.
• To ensure high standards of assessment and treatment within the Liaison Psychiatry Team by monitoring and developing standards of service to ensure the consistent delivery of high quality care.
• To maintain a coherent and robust clinical governance structure within the Team and contribute to the Acute Hospital Clinical Governance frameworks.
• To provide reliable , relevant accessible and timely information about the care and treatment provided to patients and the patient experience
• To support the Service Manager and Deputy Manager in the identification of innovative approaches to the management of A&E mental health breaches and delayed discharges
• To ensure the safe and effective delivery of high quality health and social care to patients, utilising the knowledge and skills of the staff whilst recognising and helping to manage their stress in this demanding area of work.
• To ensure compliant discharge of the legal responsibilities of the Mental Health Act 2007 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 by the Team and to advise our Acute colleagues where necessary.
• To recognise and promote the role of advocacy, autonomy and self-empowerment in the care of service users and ensure promotion of the recovery model within the team.
• After receiving appropriate training, the post-holder will act as the lead in identified specialist areasfor the team and a will be a source of knowledge and advice for team members.
• To ensure that the service always involves carer’s and families in the treatment, management and the formulation of care and treatment plans.
This advert closes on Monday 28 Oct 2024