Senior Practitioner, Mental Health Single Point of Contact

Job Overview

This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in shaping and modernising Mental Health services in Hywel Dda University Health Board based in Prince Phillip Hospital, Llanelli and Withybush General Hospital, Haverfordwest.

One of the central points of Hywel Dda’s ‘Transforming Mental Health Agenda’ is a ‘Single Point of Contact to improve access for everyone’. This Single Point of Contact will be a 24/7 telephone mental health triage assessment service delivered by skilled professional staff who will provide sensitive and specialist mental health screening to ensure individuals receive the appropriate outcome. The philosophy of the service is as follows:

Compassion- When people ask for support for a crisis of their mental health they are listened to & supported

Prevention- Access to support should be as early as possible, ideally before the point of crisis

Equality- A crisis of mental health should be treated with the same urgency as physical health care

Resilience- Build responses on the strengths of the individual and provide information and options for self-care and self-referral.

Information, advice and guidance will also be provided for families and carers and there will be a professional telephone line for our partner agencies such as GP’s, Welsh Ambulance, Local Authority, Police and the third sector.

Main duties of the job

As a Band 6 Mental Health Practitioner you will provide an all-age service offering high quality telephone triage and assessment to individuals presenting with existing mental illness, in mental distress or acute crisis, resulting in a safe and appropriate clinical decision.

The MH Practitioner will Clinical lead a shift with a varied team of staff including Well-being Practitioners, Health Care Support Workers and Peer Workers, acting as a point of escalation and decision maker for clinical triage and risk.

You will support the Clinical Lead in developing the new innovative Mental Health Single Point of Contact service which will be facilitated though the National 111 service.

You will be an experienced Practitioner who can provide aid to the development of the team in line with the organisations core values to deliver a safe and efficient service to those accessing it.

The service will operate 24 hours 7 days a week and you will need to be flexible in your working patterns to meet the service need, which will include out of hours and weekend working.

Ongoing support and professional development will be provided alongside personal development and comprehensive induction and training package.

The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; English and/or Welsh speakers are equally welcome to apply.

Working for our organisation

Hywel Dda University Health Board plans and provides NHS healthcare services for people living in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, and bordering counties.

We have over 13,000 staff and together we provide primary, community, in-hospital, mental health and learning disabilities services.

We work in partnership with the three local authorities, as well as public, private and third sector colleagues, including our valued team of volunteers.

Our services are provided in:

• Four main hospitals: Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth; Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen; Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli; and Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest
• Five community hospitals: Amman Valley and Llandovery hospitals in Carmarthenshire; Tregaron Hospital in Ceredigion; and Tenby and South Pembrokeshire hospitals in Pembrokeshire
• Two integrated care centres: Aberaeron and Cardigan in Ceredigion, and several other community settings
• 47 general practices (six of which are health board managed practices); dental practices (including four orthodontic); 97 community pharmacies; 43 general ophthalmic practices; and 8 ophthalmic domiciliary providers
• Numerous mental health and learning disabilities services

Hywel Dda University Health Board operates a bilingual policy. All applicants are invited to apply in Welsh, any application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application made in English.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR APPLICANTS: Applications for our roles are carefully reviewed and shortlisted based on specific criteria, which varies from job to job. Using a generic application to apply for multiple roles or relying on automated AI application services, such as Lazy Apply or AI Apply, may not provide the necessary information, leading to your application being overlooked. To ensure your application is given full consideration, we recommend submitting a tailored application that directly addresses the criteria listed in the Person Specification section of the advert.

By submitting your application to NHS Jobs/Trac, you are giving your consent for elements of your application data to be transferred to the NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR) and other secure, internal NHS Workforce systems in order to support and manage your recruitment and employment within your employing organisation; to be used by Recruitment for purposes of checking your Professional Registration online (where applicable).

These processes are in line with Fair and Lawful processing in line with current Data Protection Legislation especially those in relation to your personal or sensitive personal data (sensitive personal data is defined as any declared physical or mental health conditions, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, trade union membership, political opinion, religious beliefs). As an organisation, we ensure that the legislation defining confidentiality is observed such as use of data for specific, defined purposes, and use of data that is relevant and not excessive whilst practicing data accuracy and security of all held personal identifiable information (PII)

If you are successfully appointed, by completing the application form you authorise the UHB to obtain any previous NHS service details including all electronically held sickness information, via the Inter Authority Transfer process on the national Electronic Staff Record (ESR).

To work in the UK, all candidates who are not UK or Republic of Ireland (RoI) nationals require sponsorship to obtain either a Health and Care visa or Skilled Worker visa , unless you have permission to work via another route. Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply should self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship by visiting Work in the UK . If you are eligible for the Health and Care visa, application costs are lower and you do not need to pay the annual Immigration Health Surcharge.