Senior MHCAS Clinician

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our brand-new Mental Health Crisis Assessment Service (MHCAS) at Lakeside.

We are looking for a dynamic and motivated Senior Clinician (Nurse/OT/Social Worker) to provide strong clinical and operational leadership in this fast-paced service, offering rapid crisis assessment, intervention, and safe alternatives to A&E.

We will also consider offering Secondment opportunities to those successful at interview and already working within West London NHS Trust.

Main duties of the job

You'll lead and support staff across a 24-hour service, act as the senior decision-maker in complex situations, and work with partners across health, social care, emergency services, and the voluntary sector to deliver recovery-focused, patient-centred care.

We're seeking someone with:? Significant experience in mental health crisis, liaison, or inpatient services? Strong leadership and decision-making skills? A passion for innovation and partnership working? Commitment to our Trust values: Togetherness, Responsibility, Excellence, Caring

This is your chance to shape a new service, support transformation in urgent care, and make a real difference for people in crisis across West London.

About us

West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse healthcare providers in the UK, delivering a range of mental health and physical healthcare and community services. The Trust runs Broadmoor Hospital, one of three high secure hospitals in the country, with an international reputation.

Our high secure services care for patients from South of England and we provide low and medium secure services across eight London boroughs. The Trust also provides mental and physical healthcare in three London boroughs (Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham). We employ over 5,000 staff, of whom 59% are BME. Our turnover for 2024-25 is over £500m.

The Trust is rated as 'Good' overallby the Care Quality Commission. Forensic services are rated as 'Outstanding'.

The Trust is an established partner and contributor in the development of the evolving North West London Integrated Care System and the Integrated Care Board. The Trust leads the NW London Children and Adolescent Mental Health provider collaborative.

Job responsibilities

The Candidate Pack provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required. Please view as attached

The person specification below is not the full person specification, but outlines the criteria against which your application form will be assessed.

Person Specification Qualifications

• Registered Mental Health Nurse (RNMH) or other professional qualification
• Registered on the NMC register or Social Work England or HCPC
• Recognised teaching qualification, eg; ENB 998, Mentorship, PGCE, Cert.Ed.
• Master's Degree in a relevant subject area Or equivalent level of knowledge and experience
• An NVQ assessor or willing to work towards accreditation

Experience

• To be band 6 for at least 1 year post qualification
• Demonstrable experience at band 6 or equivalent
• Significant experience in a variety of MH settings as a qualified nurse/OT/Social Worker, (which include HBPoS ,Crisis Team , Liaison, Inpatient )
• Experience of undertaking clinical assessments, which include formulation and independent decision making.
• Delivering Clinical supervision/ reflective practice to nursing as well as other professionals.
• Multi-disciplinary team working
• Experience of managing and supervising staff
• Experience of undertaking audit, research and quality improvement
• Experience of contributing to policy and procedure development and implementation

Knowledge

• Demonstrate a wide range of knowledge of the Mental Health Legislation and Framework.
• Demonstrate a profound ability to assess, analyse and resolve complex clinical and operational issues
• Knowledge of quality assurance.
• Demonstrate the ability to assess, develop, implement and evaluate programmes of care for individuals experiencing acute mental distress.
• The ability to use a range of therapeutic interventions with individuals in acute mental health crisis.
• Knowledge of the Mental Health Act and other relevant legislation
• An understanding of the Care Programme Approach and its application
• Ability to determine and reduce level of risk to self, clients and others
• The ability to promote the Home Treatment Team to clients, other professional and non - professional groups.
• Knowledge of issues and developments within Mental Health and the National Health Service
• Excellent negotiation and influencing skills. The ability to manage conflicts.
• Experience and ability to supervise qualified and unqualified staff, including other professionals.
• Evidence of excellent record keeping, experience of writing reports and acting as an advocate for service users
• Experience of conducting appraisals and personal development planning and of providing feedback in a constructive way
• Experience of working in a multi -cultural environment and of involving users and carers ensuring that nursing practice is culturally sensitive
• Demonstrate knowledge of audit and research.
• Declared medically fit by the Occupational Health Department to perform the duties of the post.
• The post holder must have the ability to understand and implement the Equal Opportunities Policy at a level appropriate for the job.
• Experience of developing and delivering teaching and practice development sessions for the team
• I.T. and Database skills with knowledge of word processing and spreadsheet management.

Skills

• Wide range of clinical skills to address clinically complex and challenging presentations.
• Able to inspire and foster a learning culture where all clinicians feel able and support to share and develop clinical skills.
• Ability to work as part of a multi -disciplinary team providing a service to clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Candidate is able to demonstrate that they are able to show empathy towards individuals with a mental health problem as well as show a positive attitude towards mental health care.
• Possession and evidence of effective leadership skills
• Monitoring and evaluation skills
• Demonstrable ability to network internal and external to the Trust including the wider Health Service and health care providers
• Ability to use appropriate strategies for managing performance
• Ability to communicate with colleagues and senior staff internal and external to the Trust

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Lakeside Mental Health Crisis and Assessment Centre

£53,751 to £60,651 a yearper annum inclusive of 15% HCAS

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

222-HOU-078

Job locations

Lakeside Mental Health Crisis and Assessment Centre