Job Description

Here at the Lambeth Mental Health Liaison Service, we are excited to advertise our vacancy for 1.0w senior mental health liaison nurse within our team.



The primary function of this role is to work as a highly experienced mental health practitioner, carrying out front of house specialist assessments (i.e. the front door triage model) within the Emergency Department (ED) as part of the Mental Health Liaison Team (MHLT).



The psychiatric nurse in charge (Psych NIC) is responsible for ensuring all those who present to the ED with an acute mental health need, receive timely and appropriate care, in the right place, at the right time, by the right person.



The PNIC will be expected to actively identify and triage those presenting to the ED with an urgent or emergent need for mental health care, psychological support and/ or those with substance misuse problems. Working alongside the ED team they try to ensure appropriate medical clearance wherever appropriate. However, this does not explicitly mean that all face-to-face contact is completed by the PNIC; instead acting as a shift coordinator to ensure that all patients are prioritised in terms of need and allocated to the team appropriate to that need of the patient and the skill mix on shift.

The Psych NIC will:

be based on the emergency floor for much of the shift providing direct formal and informal support to the ED teams and visiting agencies.



Offering face to face support directing referrals from the emergency floor to the most appropriate assessment pathway i.e. via the front door triage model, direct to the PLN's for full assessment or determining if further medical assessments need to be completed inline with our parallel assessment protocol.



work alongside the enhanced care team (ECT) in making decisions about enhanced observations for mental health patients.



Act as part of the ED response team for patients detained on S136 or police referrals, and work to ensure timely throughput in department in line with the GSTT CODE10 protocol.



Work alongside ED triage teams to evaluate fitness for assessment, and support visible parallel working. (see parallel working protocol)



Through use of the front door triage model and from being visable and approachable abel assist referrers in signposting to other services - including UCC, GP, IAPT etc...



Assist the PLN assessment team working as the Psychistric Nurse in Charge.



Take a lead role within the liaison service, providing support and guidance within the service but also within their specialist lead area. i.e. safeguarding etc.



provide clinical supervision with the band 6 (assessing) psychiatric liaison nursing team.



South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol.



We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. There are very few organisations in the world that have such wide-ranging capabilities working with mental illness. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training.



SLaM employ around 5000 staff and serve a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services. You will have access to professional development and learning opportunities, and have the chance to work alongside people who are world leaders in their field.



The core philosophy of the Core24 Mental Health Liaison team is:



"We take a professional, honest, caring and open-minded approach. We encourage and support choice. We are prompt and will take time to listen, work collaboratively with you and stick to our word. We respect differences"



To provide a senior single point of access for staff to make/ discuss referrals to the MHLT from the ED, ensuring they are allocated for further assessment in a timely manner.



To provide specialist, face-to-face screening at the point of referral, to all those who self-present to the ED with an acute mental health need.



Provide initial response to all police and ambulance arrivals in the department, for patients with a mental health need, and lead on co-ordinating the patient's journey through the ED.



Complete a brief risk and mental state examination from the completed screening, making autonomous decisions around discharge and/ or onward referral and signposting to primary care/ mental health services/ third-sector organisations if appropriate; providing brief psychoeducation and intervention where appropriate.



Acting as a senior clinician within both the ED and the MHLT; providing advice, clinical support, clinical supervision and senior review where necessary.



Promoting and devising risk management and admission plans, for those who may be transferred from the ED to a ward within the hospital.



Maintaining oversight of demand and acuity across the entire emergency floor, managing patient-flow effectively and proactively.



To provide senior clinical support in managing incidents of challenging behaviour in the ED, related to mental health/ illness



To liaise effectively with services and service providers both inside and outside of the organisation (including CMHTs, Police, Ambulance, Social Services, GPs and acute trust staff).



Participate in teaching and training of ED and other staff within GSTT, in line with the trust's Mental Health Strategy.