SPOE Practitioner

To provide single point of entry and first level gatekeeping into mental health services for older people. To screen, triage and assess all referrals into the service and allocate to the most appropriate service to meet the needs of the service user.
To undertake comprehensive assessments of the health and social care needs of individuals who are referred to the service in addition to comprehensive risk assessments.
To coordinate assessment clinics and prioritise appointments.
To provide assessment for individuals who present through the urgent care pathway with acute mental health needs. Following assessment to be responsible for identifying appropriate management plans, follow up care, referrals and fast tracking of patients into specialist services within the SPOE function.
To provide brief crisis interventions, and follow up appointments for individuals to support crisis management and harm minimisation.
To participate in the overall development of the service ensuring that the principles of Clinical Governance underpin all developments.
It is expected that you will deliver care in accordance with all Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust Policies and Procedures, the Mental Health Act and Community Care Legislation, To triage all referrals that are made to the service as the single point of entry and first level gatekeeper to mental health services

• To make onward referral to the most appropriate service to meet the individual needs of the service user following triage


• To carry out a thorough assessment of the service users' current mental health problems and individual needs, including a risk assessment


• To develop individualised packages of care for service users with mental health problems, including signposting where necessary


• To provide short term psychotherapeutic interventions as appropriate


• To provide short term crisis management as appropriate


• To identify the need for protection in line with safeguarding children and the Protection of Vulnerable Adult Policy and to comply with statutory obligations


• To liaise and negotiate with other professions, statutory and independent agencies to ensure the best possible service is provided to service users and carers


• To evaluate systematically and record, outcomes of mental health assessments, adapting care on the basis of these outcomes


• To involve family and carers in the assessment and care planning with service users consent, To provide assessment for individuals who present through the urgent care pathway with acute mental health needs. Following assessment to be responsible for identifying appropriate management plans, follow up care, referrals and fast tracking of patients into specialist services within the SPOE function. To provide brief crisis interventions, and follow up appointments for individuals to support crisis management and harm minimisation. To participate in the overall development of the service ensuring that the principles of Clinical Governance underpin all developments.


• To provide advice and information to non-mental health trained medical and nursing staff regarding the management of patients with mental health problems


• To undertake evidence based practice


• To observe and practice within the legal requirements of the Mental Health Act 1983


• To maintain professional awareness by keeping abreast of changing trends in clinical/professional practice


• To be aware of professional accountability, with due regard to your professional Code of Conduct


• To provide education and appropriate self-help resources to patients specific to individual needs


• To maintain accurate and up to date clinical documentation on all service user contacts, ensuring confidentiality at all times


• To develop a thorough understanding of deliberate self-harm, suicide and possible management strategies


• To possess a sound knowledge of issues surrounding violence and aggression and to be able to diffuse potentially difficult and volatile situations


• To contribute to the establishment and review of policies, procedures and practice guidelines relating to the work of the SPOE and the interface between primary, secondary and specialist mental health service

A hints and tips document is attached below for guidance on completing your application form.
Disclosure Barring Certificate check
All of our new starters, who are appointed to a post which requires a Disclosure Barring Certificate check (DBS), will be recharged for the full cost of the check (DBS checks for volunteers are free of charge).
An enhanced DBS check costs £38 and a standard check costs £18 (plus an administration charge of £3.50). If you are a substantive member of staff, the full amount will be taken from your first month's salary.
If you are a member of staff on our bank, you will need to repay the full amount from your first salary.
We encourage you to register with the DBS update service at an annual cost of £13 (this is mandatory for bank staff).
Other important information
+ We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and recognise the importance of ensuring our diverse service user population is reflected within our workforce. Unfortunately, we know that, at present, there is underrepresentation of our communities in our workforce. We welcome applications from people from diverse communities to help us grow, learn, be better and consider brilliant innovation diverse people bring.
+ Priority will be given to applications from existing NHS employees who have an at risk status
+ This post is on our terms and conditions (T&Cs). If you are an existing employee currently on transferred terms and conditions (i.e. you transferred from another employer and retained their T&Cs) and you are voluntarily applying for this post; if you are successful, you will be employed on our T&Cs
+ You will be informed about the progress of your application following shortlisting. Only applicants who clearly demonstrate the criteria listed in the person specification will be shortlisted for interview
+ We will notify you by email if you have been shortlisted or not. Computer access is available at your local job centre or library. Please make sure you check your spam filter/junk folder. If any mail goes to your junk folder please mark it as safe
+ If you would like to be considered under the disability confident scheme, you will be guaranteed an interview if you meet the essential criteria on the person specification for the post
+ If you require reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process please phone us on at the earliest opportunity. We will support you to complete your application
+ We reserve the right to close a vacancy earlier than the advertised closing date if a sufficient number of applications have been received
+ Unfortunately we are not able to guarantee the transfer of lease cars, or cover the costs of early termination charges. We have a strict policy on unsolicited contact from recruitment agencies. Please do not contact our recruiting managers directly.

Our vision is for a happier and more hopeful life for everyone in our communities and our staff work hard to deliver the very best care for the people who use our services. We're really proud of our #PennineCarePeople and do everything we can to make sure we're a great place to work.
Our ambition is to maximise people's potential and we aim to promote an inclusive environment and improve the diversity of our workforce so our people truly represent the communities we serve.

If you come and work for us we will offer a range of benefits and opportunities, including:
1. Generous annual leave entitlement for Agenda for Change and Medical and Dental staff.
2. Flexible working opportunities to support your work/life balance
3. Access to Continued Professional Development
4. Involvement in improvement and research activities
5. Health and Wellbeing activities and access to an excellent staff wellbeing service
6. Access to staff discounts across retail, leisure and travel
If you are Kind, Fair, Ingenious and Determined then we want you to come and join our #PennineCarePeople
https://www.penninecare.nhs.uk/values