Job summary
- Main area
- Support Worker
- Grade
- Band 3
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 364-A-9107
- Employer
- Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Severalls House
- Town
- Colchester
- Salary
- £24,625 - £25,674 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 09/07/2025 23:59
Employer heading
SPA Support Worker
Band 3
About Us
EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:
- We are among the largest employers in the in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
- We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.
EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.
Our vision and values
Our Vision
“To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care”.
Our Purpose
“We care for people every day. What we do together, matters”.
Our Values
- We Care
- We Learn
- We Empower
Our strategic objectives
- We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
- We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
- We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
- We will help our communities to thrive.
Our services
- Mental Health Services
- Community Health Services
- Learning Disabilities Services
- Social Care
Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory.
Job overview
The Northeast Essex Mental Health Single Point of Access (SPA) Support Worker post will play a role providing initial screening and triage for all referrals into the service. The post holder is responsible for screening incoming referrals, ensuring essential clinical and administrative information—such as blood tests, risk assessments, and demographic details— are complete and accurate. They will assist in telephone triage with clinical guidance from registered professionals in the team, gather key information about presenting concerns, and help escalate urgent issues as required. The role involves significant administrative duties, including maintaining accurate electronic patient records, updating referral information, and supporting the wider multidisciplinary team by attending referral meetings and facilitating coordination between services. The post holder contributes to the safe, timely, and efficient flow of referrals, ensuring patients are directed to the most appropriate care pathway.
PLEASE NOTE
This role is exclusively for applicants seeking a full-time position.
This is an office-based post, opportunities to work from home will be limited.
Main duties of the job
Referral Screening and Processing
o Review and screen incoming referrals for completeness and appropriateness.
o Check referral information against referral criteria and flag missing data or red flags to clinicians.
o Ensure required investigations (e.g. blood tests, physical health checks, risk assessments) are included or followed up as necessary.
Telephone Triage Support
o Conduct initial telephone triage calls with patients or carers under clinician guidance.
o Gather key presenting complaint, mental state indicators, risk concerns (e.g. self-harm, suicide risk, safeguarding), and social factors.
Escalate urgent concerns immediately to clinicians or duty staff.
Working for our organisation
EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;
- Season Ticket Loans
- NHS discounts for staff
- Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
- Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
- The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
- Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
- Day One Flexible Employer
The Trust supports and actively encourages flexible working for all employees. We offer many options and you are encouraged to ask the recruiting manager what is possible for this role. If appointed, you will have the opportunity to apply for a flexible working request from the first day of your employment
Join our Staff bank
What is Staff Bank?
Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.
All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.
If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Clinical Documentation and Record Management
o Open and update referrals on electronic patient records (e.g. Paris, SystmOne, EMIS).
o Accurately document triage outcomes and patient contact details.
o Maintain up-to-date demographic and clinical information in the system.
Liaison and Coordination
o Communicate with GPs, other healthcare professionals, social services, and internal teams to request missing information.
o Coordinate collection and collation of relevant clinical documentation (e.g. previous mental health history, safeguarding plans).
Multi-disciplinary Team Support
o Attend and contribute to daily or weekly referral review meetings (MDTs), bringing forward relevant cases or queries.
o Take notes or minutes where appropriate and ensure follow-up actions are logged.
Monitoring and Escalation
o Monitor referral queues and timelines to ensure timely response and triage in line with service standards.
o Identify and escalate any deterioration in mental health or urgent safeguarding issues to appropriate clinical staff.
Safeguarding and Risk Awareness
o Be alert to safeguarding issues and follow appropriate protocols when concerns are identified.
o Participate in risk discussions and assist in compiling risk profiles for new referrals.
Administrative Support to Clinical Pathways
o Assist with booking initial assessment appointments where required.
o Assist in sending reminders for scheduled appointments.
o Upload and tag relevant clinical correspondence and investigations to patient records.
Service User Communication
o Provide information to service users about what to expect from the SPA process.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- NVQ qualification – level 3 or equivalent
Experience
Essential criteria
- Previous experience of working within Mental health services
- Previous experience of working within Mental health services
Desirable criteria
- Working in a Single Point of Access or equivilent
Skills
Essential criteria
- Ability to communicate clearly and effectively - in writing and in person
- Ability to screen and triage clinical and risk information
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
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
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Codillia Chiwora
- Job title
- Team Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
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