Sussex Mental Healthline Call Operator

As a Call Operator you will be trained in a specific triage tool, to be utilised alongside your existing skills, to support callers and where necessary escalate to a clinician or signpost to services across Sussex., To be successful in this role you will share our passion, desire and empathetic approach to supporting people of all ages with complex mental health needs, who are often experiencing crisis., The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills


• Competent IT skills


• Experience of working with people with Mental Health needs


• Comfortable working in a fast-paced and varied and demanding role


• Ability to work flexible hours; to include evenings, weekends and nights


• Able to work autonomously


• Ability to travel and work from an office base in Sussex


Flexibility with working patterns to include some weekend and evening work is essential. This does bring with it increased rates of pay for unsocial hours as set out under the Agenda for Change (AfC) guidelines.,
• Demonstrate current experience of working with people with mental health problems


• Knowledge of MHA (1983/2007) and DOLs


• Knowledge of Mental Capacity Act (2005)


• Child and Adult safe guarding procedures


• Change management at organising and prioritising their workload


• Demonstrate ability to enhance care through evidence based knowledge


• Demonstrate professional development relevant to the specific care group
  
  Our organisation is expanding and we're looking for people with the right values, skills and/or potential to join us. We need people with energy, expertise, enthusiasm to help us provide the very best possible specialist NHS mental health and learning disability care. This involves helping us achieve our strategy to improve the quality of life for the communities we serve through People, Prevention and Partnerships.


So what can we offer you in return?

We're an organisation which puts people first. We'll do everything possible to help you feel respected, valued and included. We'll help you learn, acquire new skills and gain further experience to support your career development. And we'll provide the opportunity for you to bring your fresh ideas to work about how we can do things differently and continue improving.

You will also be joining a health and care system committed to working together to do the best we can for the communities we serve. Above all, at Sussex Partnership you'll have the chance to make a difference to the lives of the patients, carers and families across our communities.

As a Trust we are committed in making a difference. Your development is important to us, so don't forget to ask us during interview what opportunities we can offer. We can offer fully funded lifelong learning opportunities such as an apprenticeship from GCSE to Masters level.

If you like the sound of that, then come and join our team., Sussex Partnership NHS FT is committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. Our workforce is currently under-represented from Black and Minority, Ethnic and disabled communities and we would welcome applications from these communities.

We regret that we are unable to advise candidates if they have not been shortlisted. If you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date please assume that you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

In the event of an excessive number of applicants the Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy earlier than indicated.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust takes its responsibilities for the safeguarding and protection of children and young people and vulnerable adults very seriously and expects this of all its employees and bank workers. The Trust works with adult and children's social care to ensure that the integrated service has systems in place to equip staff and bank workers with the knowledge and skills to recognize abuse, and take action to safeguard and protect vulnerable adults and children and young people. It is expected that all staff and bank workers familiarise themselves with the appropriate structures and policies and with the Sussex child protection and safeguarding procedures and the Sussex multi-agency policy and procedures for safeguarding vulnerable adults and undertake the relevant essential training and further training appropriate to their role.

Successful candidates are normally offered salaries at the bottom of the relevant salary range. However, where previous or equivalent NHS experience in a similar role can be demonstrated and evidenced, this may be taken into consideration when setting the starting salary.

We place a large focus on staff training, including a bespoke induction and plenty of on-going in-house training. You will benefit from a full and robust supervision package, with ample opportunities for group reflection, development and mentoring.

There is no appointment system so the work is fast-paced and varied.

Working for our organisation

SPFT provides mental health and learning disability care for children, young people and adults across Sussex and for children and young people in Hampshire.

Working in Sussex:

• Travel easily between coast and countryside, with a blend of picturesque villages and seaside towns


• Embrace the city life with great access to visit Brighton and London


• With easy access to Gatwick and Heathrow and excellent railway links across the UK there is plenty of opportunity for adventure


We'd love you to join our organisation that is rated 'good' overall and 'outstanding' for caring by the CQC. Our staff agree, in our recent staff survey 82% told us that they recognise that care for patients is our top priority.

Key staff survey results include:

• 70% highlighting flexible working opportunities as a key point for satisfaction at work


• 79% reporting feeling able to make suggestions to improve the work within their team


• 77% identifying the opportunities to show initiative in their roles


We encourage flexible working. We know that a positive work/ life balance brings about huge health-related benefits, which has a positive impact on the care we provide. Please speak to us about flexible working, for example, part time hours, if it works for you and works for the role, we'll do our best to make it happen.