Job overview

We have an exiting opportunity for an Approved Mental Health Professional to join the AMHP service in Gloucestershire.

This is a unique opportunity for qualified AMHPs who want to maintain practice without committing a contract under standard terms. This flexible contract offers a permanent part time position on an annualised hours basis, giving flexibility to those who may not usually consider a permanent contract, possibly because they don't want to commit to a set number of hours week on week. The service will work with you to enable your working patterns suit your personal commitments with a minimum number of committed hours on an annual basis. 

Working as a part time AMHP in the hub based in Gloucester, you will be required to cover all aspects of AMHP work across Gloucestershire. As a Specialist Practitioner you will take an active role in supporting other AMHP's and the development of AMHP practice within the authority area.

You will be employed by Gloucestershire Health and Care Foundation Trust and therefore subject to Agenda for Change terms and conditions. You will be approved to act as AMHP by Gloucestershire Local Authority.

The AMHP hub is a 24 hour service and you will work longer shifts to cover a 12 hour period. It is preferred that you will be able to work some nights and weekends however there is opportunity to opt out  if required. 

Main duties of the job

You will be:

• Required to triage and undertake MHA work through a single point of access over a 24/7 service
• Maintain the mandatory requirements for AMHP approval and undertake ongoing training
• Seek to promote the role of the AMHP and the rights of service users and carers
• Required to work a mixture of weekend, night time and daytime shifts
• Act as, or be willing to train as, a Practice Mentor Assessor to trainee AMHP’s
• Network with users of mental health services including other statutory agencies
• Be involved in data collection and service improvement projects
• Deliver supervision, advice and guidance to other practitioners
• Be passionate about mental health, keeping service users at the heart of what we do

• You will need to demonstrate significant experience of working in a secondary mental health setting and evidence of current AMHP authorisation and professional registration. If you are not currently authorised by a LSSA, evidence of qualification and relevant practice and training in the last 9 months will be considered.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Working for our organisation

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people’s homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us.  In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views.  It was great to hear that:

• 72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
• 76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
• 81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust’s priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement.  However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.