Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 3 Health Care Assistant to work in the Home Based Treatment Team in Lancaster.

The Home Treatment Team cares for people who are experiencing acute episodes of mental illness or emotional distress. The service is an alternative to admission and offers intensive support to service users and their families in the community.

The service works closely with the in-patient wards to support early discharges and with other parts of the mental health services as well as third sector providers, so great communication skills are essential.
The post is a full-time, permanent post covering the service over 7 days per week working long days and nights. The team covers Lancaster, Morecambe and surrounding areas.

As a member of the team you would be working with a multi-disciplinary team consisting of Mental Health Nurses; Support Workers; Occupational Therapist; Psychologist and Consultant Psychiatrist.

Main duties of the job

As part of the Community Mental Health Team (Older Adults) the post holder will contribute to the delivery of care pathways for people with dementia and older adults with mental health needs. The post holder will:

Undertake a range of therapeutic activities and interventions delegated by the Community Mental Health Practitioner, within the community, or other settings, in order to focus on the direct needs of service users and their carers.

Provide support, give time to an allocated group of service users/carers on a one to one basis, to promote their recovery and maintain them in the community environment.

Undertake evidence-based assessments to assist in assessment and delivery of care with the Community Mental Health Practitioner, under supervision of the Community Mental Health Practitioner.

Assist the Community Mental Health Practitioner to implement agreed care plan, monitoring progress and providing specific agreed interventions.

Assist the Community Mental Health Practitioner in monitoring the physical health of service users.

Record patient information within clients records in accordance with Trust policies and procedures.

Working for our organisation

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.