NHS AfC: Band 7

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (SCFT) is the largest community healthcare provider in Sussex.

• Over 8,400 full time, part time and bank staff members
• Medical, nursing and therapeutic care provided to over 10,000 children and adults a day
• July 2018 Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating of 'Good' with 'Outstanding' features
• Flexible working patterns offered across all services
• Thriving BAME, Disability and Wellbeing, LGBT+ and Religion and Belief staff networks
• Accredited Level 3 Disability Confident Leader

SCFT is an inclusive employer that promotes equality and challenges discrimination, and welcomes applications from people of all backgrounds. Applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates, disabled candidates and LGBT+ candidates are particularly encouraged, to ensure the Trust's workforce reflects the diverse communities it serves.

Job overview

Calling all Mental Health Nurses (RMNs), Occupational Therapists, Psychological Therapists and other mental health professionals with experience of primary and secondary mental health care! This is an exciting mental health referral coordinator and triaging role.

Time to Talk (TTT) is nationally-recognised as a high performing IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) Service, with a reputation for clinical excellence, innovation and collaborative working with secondary care and voluntary services. We provide a range of NICE compliant psychological therapies, for people experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties and achieve excellent recovery outcomes for our patients. We have good staff retention and aim to grow inclusive staff teams, where diversity is valued and the workforce reflects the communities served.

We are now seeking to recruit to a newly created Mental Health Risk & Referrals Manager post. This is an exciting opportunity to join our leadership team at a time of significant growth and expansion, as the service delivers on the commitments of the NHS Long Term Plan (2019).

Main duties of the job

The Mental Health Risk & Referrals Manager, working alongside the Clinical Leadership team, will be responsible for the organisation and delivery of the TTT Duty Rota. This system provides advice and support to our staff (CBT Therapists/Counsellors, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs) and our Administrative team) about all aspects of clinical risk, to support robust risk management and safeguarding processes across the service.

The postholder will have substantial client contact by telephone, often talking with people who may be distressed, to help screen client suitability for the service and make referrals where appropriate into secondary mental health services. They will manage the interface between TTT and secondary mental health care services.

They will work across all three sites of the service in North West Sussex (Horsham, Crawley and Burgess Hill) and report to the Deputy Clinical Lead. They support with the implementation of the new West Sussex Triage Hub, an exciting new multi-agency approach to management of referrals to services, using the Community Mental Health Framework for Adults and Older adults' "No wrong front door" approach.

The service welcomes applicants who have significant experience of managing risk and a working knowledge of primary and secondary mental health care services. Your base location is likely to be Crawley or Burgess Hill.

Working for our organisation

Supporting staff well is something that our TTT service prides itself on; a high level of support will be provided from the Clinical Leadership and Management team along with opportunities for continuing professional development.

You will be working within a multidisciplinary team that consists of CBT Therapists, Counsellors, Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, Administrators, Managers and Employment Advisors. We are commissioned to provide services from 8am to 8pm and all staff are required to contribute 7.5 hours of cover over this daily time frame.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
We have adapted our service to enable the continued provision of psychological therapies via video platforms and telephone working, and staff have been equipped with laptops and mobile phones to help them work from home. As the situation evolves and we return to working from bases we will move to a blended way of working, keeping the innovations that have worked well. It is envisaged that staff will be able to work one or two days a week from home as part of the new ways of working, although the post holder will still need to be willing and able to travel throughout West Sussex as required.

Please see attached Job Description and Person Specification for full details.

Person specification

Qualifications and/or professional registration
Essential criteria

• RMN or Allied Health Professional with current registration and accreditation e.g. CBT Therapist/Counselling Psychologist.
• Core Profession (e.g. MH Nursing, Accredited Counsellor, Occupational Therapy, Health Visitor etc.).
• Educated to degree level in relevant subject or equivalent level of experience of working at a similar level in health or social care and/or psychological therapies.

Experience and Knowledge
Essential criteria

• Knowledge of IAPT and psychological therapies
• Experience of working with secondary care mental health services.
• Ability to work at pace and effectively under pressure, with patients who are highly distressed and/or at risk of self-harm or suicide
• Effective communication skills in order to work with external partners and agencies

This post may close earlier than the published closing date if sufficient applications are received.

Correspondence relating to this vacancy will be conducted electronically. If you have not heard from us within two weeks please assume that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. Please ensure that you check your emails, including your junk folder, on a regular basis. References will be requested electronically as well; please ensure you provide correct contact details for referees.

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the United Kingdom (UK) are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Please note that from January 2021, to work in the UK all candidates who are not UK or Republic of Ireland (RoI) nationals require sponsorship unless you have permission to work via another route. Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply can self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship here . It is vital that you provide full and accurate details of your current immigration status on the application form. Overseas applicants applying for entry clearance into the UK must present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided in continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Guidance can be found here . Not everyone needs a 'Skilled Worker' visa. If you are applying for a vacancy in health or adult social care, check if you're eligible to apply for the Health and Care Worker visa instead. It's cheaper to apply for and you do not need to pay the annual immigration health surcharge

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

• Mental Health Risk & Referrals Manager JD & PS ( PDF , 769.4 KB )
• Mental Health Risk & Referrals Manager JD & PS ( PDF , 769.4 KB )
• Staff Benefits Brochure ( PDF , 484.5 KB )