Mental Health Liaison Practitioner

The mental health liaison team provides a comprehensive service to patients/service users over 16yrs, carers and clinical colleagues based within the Acute Hospital Trust. This involves: + Offering an assessment service to patients presenting with a range of mental health and psychological problems. + Delivering a range of nursing and psychosocial interventions to individual patients and their families, as appropriate. + Providing formal and informal education and clinical supervision to registered and unregistered staff. + Providing a communication structure between the general hospital, secondary mental health services, primary care and non-statutory services, as a means of ensuring the highest possible standards of patient care. + Following assessment, discuss and agree with the band 7 practitioner, the most appropriate pathway, signposting and were an inpatient stay is potentially required refer to the Enhanced Gatekeeping MDT. + Co-ordinate 136 MHA presentations in the A&E Department and support Section 136 Suites co-located. Patients may present with a range of mental health and psychological problems, including following an episode of self-harm, psychiatric emergency and as a consequence of physical illness. You will use higher-level communication skills, both written and oral and have an ability to engage with challenging and/or acutely distressed individuals, sometimes in potentially hostile and/or antagonistic situations., + Be responsible for the full assessment of care needs of patients presenting with a range of undifferentiated mental health and psychological problems. As a result of this assessment, you will be responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of programmes of care, with supervision. + Provide a comprehensive consultation-liaison service to clinical teams, assisting them to formulate appropriate plans of care and make decisions in cases where patients may be exhibiting complex needs and/or challenging behaviours. + Initiate and participate in the teaching and educational programmes of all grades of nursing and non-nursing staff. You will also provide teaching and develop learning opportunities for pre and post- registration students. + When appropriate, maintain a caseload of patients, providing a broad range of treatments and clinical interventions, as appropriate to the individual's needs. + Be responsible for participating in specific clinical projects and undertake all the necessary work to complete these, including facilitating meetings, liaising and/or negotiating with other staff. + Participate fully in appropriate quality assurance initiatives, with the emphasis on developing patient/service user-focused services. + Promote a positive attitude and encourage a supportive culture in relation to mental health and psychiatric illness across the general hospital.

Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism and community based services for the populations we serve. As an integrated mental health, learning disability and community Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including:

• Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, forensic services including low and medium secure care.
• Specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
• Community physical health and well-being services for children and adults.
The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,000 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health and general nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers. Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust supports flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, home/remote working, and flexi-time. For more information visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area. Lancashire & South Cumbria Foundation Trust encourages flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, flexi-time and career breaks. We encourage applicants to state clearly on their application forms this request and discuss these options at interview. For more information please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT