Job vacancy: Mental Health Act Assistant, Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, Runwell

Job summary

Main area: Accuracy and attention to detail is paramount for this position
Grade: Band 3
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm)
Job ref: 364-A-8959

Employer: Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Brockfield House
Town: Runwell
Salary: £24,625 - £25,674 per anum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 25/05/2025 23:59

Mental Health Act Assistant

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.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Responsible for the accurate administration and recording of Mental Health Act activity onto the electronic patient systems.
To act as point of contact for the team and deal with a variety of routine and complex correspondence on a day to day basis as well as providing administration support to the Mental Health Act team in matters relating to the Mental Health Act and to assist in the overall efficient running of the department.
Undertake telephone email and written communication with a wide range of clinical staff. Record details of communication in relevant files and advise the Mental Health Act team of any issues that they may need to be aware of.
Responsible for maintaining filing systems on daily basis.
Open incoming mail and action as appropriate seeking guidance where necessary.
Under the direction of the MHA Administrator undertake the printing of documentation from the MHA office printing folder.
Under the direction of the MHA Administrator undertaken the uploading/scanning of MHA documentation to the clinical systems.
Under the direction of the MHA Administrator/officer complete the Mental Health Review Tribunal telephone contact information sheets, meeting the required timeframes as appropriate.
Under the direction of the MHA staff prepare section papers that need to be submitted to a solicitor in regards to a patient’s Mental Health Review Tribunal.
Under the direction of the MHA staff undertake the archiving of detention papers.
Attend Mental Health Act team meetings.

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria

Experience working with Microsoft Word and Excel packages
Good oral and written communication skills based on fluency on the English language
Experience or understanding of working in an administrative environment
Methodical organised approach to work with good attention to detail

Desirable criteria

Previous experience working in a NHS clerical role

Skills

Essential criteria

Demonstration of good numeracy and literacy skills

Please note - staff who are formally at risk within the organisation will be given priority in securing alternative employment. Should it come to light that a post being advertised by the Trust is considered ‘suitable alternative employment’ to an individual who is at risk, the recruiting manager will be advised and the post will be withdrawn from NHS Jobs.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

Important Professional References

Make sure that as a part of your application you have professional references with business contract information covering your last three year employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.

As a newly appointed employee you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post, the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Applications for Job Share are positively welcomed.

Equal Opportunities Employer

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email [email protected] and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Covid Vaccination

Although Covid vaccinations are no longer a mandatory requirement within the NHS we continue to encourage and support the vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against Covid19. The safety of our staff and patients is a top priority for us at EPUT.

If you would like to book a Covid vaccination or would like more information please contact us by emailing [email protected].