Job overview

The AWP Primary Care Liaison Service (PCLS) teams are the single point of access for adults and older adults referrals into adult secondary mental health services based within Bristol, Swindon, Wiltshire, North Somerset, Bath & North East. Some PCLS Teams also provide a main point of access into Older Adult Services. 

The PCLS teams all provide mental health referral screening, support conversations, brief interventions, support, advice and signposting for referrers and potential users of AWP mental health care, their carers and relatives, GPs, health and social care and third sector.

Most challenging part of this role: The postholder must balance their responsibilities as an operational manager for both the health and social care elements of team activity while ensuring a recovery approach keeps the service user and carer at the centre of all decision making. They must ensure that views and contributions from all relevant professionals are taken into consideration when applying organisational standards to the team and facilitate effective mechanisms to resolve issues where different perspectives are present.

Main duties of the job

People leadership and management

• Provide inclusive, compassionate and effective leadership for your team by setting clear vision and direction.
• Develop a culture and environment in which members of staff are encouraged and supported to deliver high-quality services and are supported to innovate and improve services where appropriate.
• Encourage your team to feel able to raise concerns openly and safely.
• Promote equality of opportunity in service delivery and employment, ensuring that no person receives less favourable treatment than another on the grounds of gender, marital status, race, religion, creed, colour nationality ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation or disability.
• Support prompt recruitment by identifying vacancies to the AWP Recruitment Team as soon as they arise, and participate in the selection and effective induction and onboarding of new joiners to the team.
• Implement and lead effective two-way communications to ensure that the Service areas are responsive to the needs of patients/service users and external pressures

Working for our organisation

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust) a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care. 

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.  

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.