Senior Community Mental Health Nurse (IOPS)

## **Senior Community Mental Health Nurse (IOPS)**

### **Band 6**

Main area

Mental Health

Grade

Band 6

Contract

Permanent: Long Days – 07:50 to 21:00

Hours

– Full time
– Flexible working

37.5 hours per week (7 days a week service)

Job ref

246-CEN8341877

Site

St Andrews Lodge, Julian Hospital

Town

Norwich

Salary

£39,959 – £48,117 gross per annum

Salary period

Yearly

Closing

25/10/2026 23:59

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust provides child and adult mental health services, learning disability, wellbeing, older people’s and eating disorder services across Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and want to reflect the diversity of our local communities within our teams. We welcome applications from all talented individuals with the relevant qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience.

**Please note due to the nature of our roles and patient demographic, you will be required to undertake physical intervention training and remain trained, as required by your role.**

### **Job overview**

Are you a passionate and skilled **Mental Health Nurse** looking for an opportunity to make a meaningful difference to the lives of older people experiencing mental health crisis?

The Intensive Older Persons Service (IOPS) provides specialist assessment, intervention and support to people of any age living with dementia, and adults aged 75 and over experiencing acute mental health difficulties. Working across Norfolk, we deliver urgent, person-centred care in community settings with the aim of preventing unnecessary hospital admissions, supporting timely discharge from inpatient services, and helping people remain safely in their own homes wherever possible.

As a **Senior Community Mental Health Nurse**, you will be part of a dynamic team and highly skilled team. You will undertake comprehensive mental health assessments, risk assessments and care planning for individuals presenting with complex presentations including dementia, delirium, depression, psychosis, anxiety, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, and mental health crises occurring alongside physical ill-health/frailty and cognitive impairment.

This is an autonomous and rewarding role that requires strong clinical decision-making skills, excellent communication and the ability to work collaboratively with families, carers, primary care, social care, care homes and wider system partners.

### **Main duties of the job**

As a Senior Community Mental Health Nurse within the Intensive Older Persons Service (IOPS), you will play a key role in the assessment, treatment and management of older adults experiencing acute mental health crisis, including people of any age living with dementia and adults aged 75 years and over with functional mental health needs. Working autonomously and as part of a multidisciplinary team, you will be expected to undertake comprehensive biopsychosocial assessments, formulate care plans, complete risk assessments and safety planning, and deliver evidence-based interventions for individuals with complex presentations.

This is a senior clinical role requiring advanced knowledge and experience in older people’s mental health, dementia, delirium, depression, psychosis, anxiety disorders, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, and the interplay between physical health, frailty and mental illness. You will be expected to apply sound clinical judgement in often complex and rapidly changing situations, supporting admission avoidance wherever possible whilst recognising when hospital admission is necessary and coordinating this effectively with inpatient and partner services.

As the service operates across a large geographical area, a valid driving licence is required for this post.

### **Working for our organisation**

At NSFT, we are passionate about delivering outstanding care and improving the lives of the people we serve. The Intensive Older Persons Service is a supportive, experienced and forward-thinking team committed to providing high-quality crisis care in the least restrictive environment possible. We pride ourselves on fostering a culture of learning, collaboration and innovation, where staff are encouraged to develop specialist expertise, contribute to service improvement and support one another to achieve the best outcomes for our patients and carers.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced clinician seeking a challenging and rewarding role with opportunities to influence practice, demonstrate clinical leadership and further develop specialist skills in older people’s mental health and dementia care.

**Why work for us?** We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established professional networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

### **Detailed job description and main responsibilities**

We are looking for an enthusiastic, compassionate and motivated Registered Mental Health Nurse who shares our commitment to delivering high-quality, person-centred care. In return, we offer a supportive team environment, regular supervision, opportunities for professional development and the chance to play a key role in shaping the future of older people’s crisis services.

Benefits included with this role are:-

– NHS pension
– a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
– career progression
– starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
– staff physio service
– NHS discounts and many more
– Relocation packages.

*Interviews are yet to be confirmed, and candidates may only be given a minimum of 3 days’ notice. You will be contacted via email and invited to book a time. These emails may go to your SPAM, so please keep checking all your emails if applying.*

### **Person specification**

#### **Qualifications**

##### **Essential criteria**

– Nursing Degree or equivalent
– Valid registration with NMC
– Mentorship qualification or willingness to undertake mentorship training

#### **Knowledge**

##### **Essential criteria**

– General principles of Health & Safety at Work Act
– Working knowledge of Care Programme Approach

##### **Desirable criteria**

– A clear understanding of mental health presentations

#### **Other**

##### **Essential criteria**

– Able to travel independently

##### **Desirable criteria**

– Able to liaise with statutory / non- statutory bodies due to patients’ needs.

#### **Skills & Experience**

##### **Essential criteria**

– Medicine Management
– Risk Assessment

##### **Desirable criteria**

– Experience in appropriate area

**Please be aware that, due to the high number of applications for certain roles, this vacancy may close earlier than the advertised closing date. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.**

YOUR APPLICATION

We can provide all our job application materials in alternative formats so that these are accessible to everyone. Should you require any documents within this job pack in an alternative format, please do not hesitate to contact us at recruitment@nsft.nhs.uk.

PLEASE NOTE: If you use a hotmail, msn or yahoo e-mail account, you will need to check your “junk” mail regularly as these email providers will divert any communication from this Trust/NHS JOBS straight into your ” junk” inbox.

*EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES* *Apart from its legal duties in relation to equality and diversity, the Trust recognises and actively promotes the benefits of a diverse workforce and is committed to treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief.*

*As a part of the Disability Confident Employer Guaranteed Interview Scheme we interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job vacancy (outlined in the Person Specification).. We encourage you to indicate your eligibility through TRAC jobs when applying.*

### **Disclosure and Barring Service Check**

This post may be 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.

### **Applicant requirements**

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

### **Further details / informal visits contact**

Name

Samuel Byrne

Job title

Community Team Manager

Email address

samuel.byrne@nsft.nhs.uk

Telephone number

01603 978448