Amhp Service Lead

Job summary Torbay and South Devon NHS foundation Trust (TSDFT) oversees the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) service on behalf of Torbay Council (TCC), in partnership with Devon Partnership Trust (DPT).
The AMHP Lead has overall responsibility, oversight and accountability for the operational delivery, practice standards and strategic development of the statutory AMHP function on behalf of TCC.
The AMHP Lead ensures that TCC fulfil their statutory roles and duties under the Mental Health Act, 1983 (and amendments 2007).
The AMHP Lead will maintain up to date knowledge of policy and practice developments in relation to specific operational areas of work including an expert role in Approved Mental Health Practice.
They will provide effective management and leadership including identification of workforce development within the identified policies and procedures to ensure staff remain equipped with the skills competence and knowledge to practice within mental health and social care law.
Main duties of the job To be responsible for ensuring the statutory duties to provide Approved Mental Health cover across Torbay are met To ensure all AMHP's working in Torbay are practicing to the required capabilities To provide AMHP support to the team when required To ensure all AMHP processes in Torbay are legally compliant About us Why Work With Us The Torbay AMHP service is a specialist team of Approved Mental Health qualified staff that completed Mental Health Act assessments for people in the Torbay area that are in crisis and may require admission to hospital under the Mental Health Act Job description Job responsibilities Communication and working relationships To ensure Torbay Council fulfil their statutory roles and duties under the Mental Health Act, 1983 (and amendments 2007), and maintain close working relationships and good communication with senior managers and legal departments Provide expert professional or technical advice in relation to the teams area of responsibility, with particular regard to complex legal issues To provide operational and strategic liaison with police, conveyance services and any other agencies that have involvement in Mental Health Act assessments.
Including initiating, attending or chairing any meetings that aid collaborative working across the Devon region.
To attend and chair where appropriate, local partnership meetings to discuss and resolve issues as well as promote best practice in regard to Mental Health Act assessments To advise the Trusts and Local Authorities about any developments or changes affecting the AMHP function and ensure any practice or policy changes are implemented To disseminate current and new AMHP-related legal and practice advice, examples of good practice, policy changes and research to all AMHPs and any other interested parties To respond to complaints (specific to the AMHP role), and carry out serious incident investigations disseminating feedback and learning from these matters to the AMHP workforce and wider Trust/Local Authority staff where required To ensure close liaison with the Local Authority Emergency Duty Service Team manager to ensure legally compliant, best practice and robust systems are in place for a 24-hour response to requests for Mental Health Act assessments in Torbay To provide scrutiny and oversight of highly complex decision making that takes place in challenging environments with reference to the Mental Health Act, any other relevant legislation and the principles outlined in the Code of Practice.
To offer professional advice and support to all Approved Mental Health Professionals with regard to best practice and compliance with the law, including related legislation relevant to their work; the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and DOLS (LPS), and provide advice and support to other professionals involved in these areas and Mental Health Act process As professional lead, to participate in complaints and disciplinary matters concerning AMHP staff and contribute to the selection and recruitment processes of AMHP staff.
Together with the AMHP training lead/Principal Social Worker, support the approval and authorisation process To report to the Deputy Director of Adult Social Services and advise of any changes in law, best practice, or gaps in service Planning and organisation To work in partnership with health colleagues and ensure clear plans are in place in relation to the ability to respond to Mental Health Act assessment requests Ensure there is an AMHP rota in place that meets the statutory requirements of the MHA and Code of Practice To ensure data is used in order to monitor demand and predict staffing requirements Analytical and judgement To be a warranted AMHP and undertake Mental Health Act assessments where required The Lead Amhp is responsible for own Health & Safety, as well as that of the Amhp Team, service users and the public.
Employees should co-operate with management, follow established systems of work, use protective equipment and report defects and hazards to the Amhp Lead.
The Amhp Lead should carry out, monitor and review risk assessments, providing robust induction and training packages for new and transferring staff, to ensure they receive relevant H&S training, including refresher training, report all accidents in a timely manner on RMS forms and ensure H&S is a standing item in team meetings Responsibility and accountability To have overall responsibility for Approved Mental Health Professional practice within Torbay To promote the AMHP role and function within the Trusts and Local Authorities.
This includes championing the AMHP role and ensuring its independence is not compromised, resolving conflicts, raising issues and influencing practice, service design and delivery where appropriate To be accountable for demonstrating service quality standards as prescribed locally and with regard to emerging national guidance by designing, developing and implementing quality assurance systems.
To ensure that effective mechanisms are in place to fully investigate complaints and incidents as they may arise Responsibility for patients and client care To ensure all patients assessed under the Mental Health Act have their rights safeguarded and are treated with dignity and respect To ensure a timely response to all patients who are in mental health crisis and there is a requirement for a Mental Health Act assessment Policy and service responsibility To ensure national and local guidance in relation to Mental Health and Mental Capacity and Care Act is adhered to and statutory duties within the remit of the post are met To ensure that robust systems are in place within the AMHP service that minimise risk, adhere to legal and policy requirements, respect confidentiality and demonstrates sound and safe decision making and plans To ensure policies and procedures related to the AMHP Service and Local Authority duties under the Mental Health Act, are up to date and legally compliant.
This includes offering guidance to other professions and managers as well as providing expertise in the development of other services policies and protocols To ensure non-discriminatory practice and promote the Local authorities and Foundation Trusts Equality and Diversity Policy and workforce race equality scheme and ensure at all times that the duties of the post are carried out in accordance with the policy Responsibility for finance, equipment and other resources To manage the resources of the AMHP team including work allocation, monitoring of the adherence to the National Amhp standards, budget control linked to bank staff and legal support.
Provision of timely supervision of the Amhps and completing annual appraisal for all Amhps To have budget responsibility linked to the provision of bank staff and costs incurred to ensure that the working environment is equipped with adequate IT and stationery.
Responsible for the authorisation of legal costs relating to Mental HealthAct assessments, gaining of Court warrants and subsequent legal costs associated with Nearest Relative issues.
In addition to responsibility for any ancillary costs incurred for undertaking Mental Health Act Assessment, such as assessing out of area patients, the purchase of boarding kennel and carpenters when forced entry to homes made Responsibility for supervision, leadership and management Toprovide professional leadership, expertise and advice on all matters relating to the AMHP service.
This acknowledges that the AMHP service often operates outside of 9am 5pm core hours and responds to urgent and challenging situations which require prioritising To provide daily management and be available to the AMHP duty service for advice and support as an everyday responsibility To take operational responsibility for the completion of the Amhps training and competence requirements, to include oversight of Amhps warranting renewal requirements To lead on liaison with all directorates in both Trusts to ensure that the AMHP service is supported to resolve any practice, workforce, or service delivery issues related to the AMHP service To ensure that all warranted AMHPs are provided with regular supervision, monthly AMHP forums and any other forms of support as appropriate which acknowledges the highly complex, risk-laden, sensitive and emotive area of work To ensure that there are sufficient numbers of AMHPs in post and available to carry out duties under the Mental Health Act 1983 and all staff trained as AMHPs are on the AMHP duty rota as required for the service.
This includes working with the appropriate Trust managers, commissioners and relevant staff in mental health, adult social care and childrens services Information technology and administrative duties Prepare and present reports on the AMHP Service activity and workforce issues for Torbay.
This includes analysing and interpreting data on activity and comparing it to national trends, making recommendations and reviewing the service as required Provide regular statistics to the Trusts and the Council, that accurately reflect the current demands upon the service for both statutory and non- statutory work Responsibility for research and development Developing the AMHP services to promote easier access for both internal and external agencies, to the AMHP service 24 Undertake audits of work in relation to improving team practice, focussing upon quality assurance, improving data quality and performance, making, as necessary, recommendations for improvement to the DASS Person Specification Qualifications/ Experience Essential A recognised professional qualification as a Social Worker, Mental Health Nurse, Occupational Therapist or Clinical Psychologist A recognised post qualifying award as an Approved Mental Health Professional oSignificant experience as a qualified Approved Mental Health Professional Advanced knowledge and understanding of the Mental Health Act and Code of Practice oAbility to apply this to practice Ability to manage and investigate complaints and serious untoward Incidents To have recent experience of utilising a range of mental health social work skills at post qualifying level, in a Local Authority or other recognised equivalent agency High level knowledge of mental health presentations throughout the life cycle The ability to plan and complete operational leadership tasks within reasonable timescales Desirable A recognised Leadership or Management Award Qualified Best Interest Assessor (BIA)