Detailed job description and main responsibilities

•          To lead on the planning and implementation of policies and procedures within the service
•  To ensure that all clinical activity and interventions and responsibilities relating to care & practice are undertaken in a timely and appropriate manner.
• To ensure that staff develop and maintain up to date knowledge regarding their role, experience and interventions.
• To ensure staff are supported to achieve a high standard of practice via regular supervision, support meetings and personal development reviews and have access to the necessary training.
• To actively promote offender healthcare through the provision of information, formal presentations, general networking and liaison with prison, statutory and other non-statutory agencies.

Management responsibilities

·  To ensure documentation is of a consistent high standard and meets the professional standards of practice.

• To ensure that staff maintain up to date electronic clinical records in accordance with professional, prison and trust standards.
• To ensure all record keeping related to own and others practice complies with professional, prison and trust standards.
• To lead on skill mix, recruitment and retention of staff in the Mental Health Team
• Promote a positive image of prison and offender healthcare services.
• To be responsible for and effectively manage delegated budgets as required.
• To ensure that staff adhere to Health and Safety guidelines and maintain safe environments and working practices.
• To act as an authorised signatory as required

Leadership

• To actively participate in the Trust’s Personal Development plan (PDP) Procedures.
• To ensure all staff have a Personal Development Plan.
• To lead the team effectively ensuring competence to practice for all staff.
• To deal appropriately with staff issues such as absence, capability, performance management.
• To ensure regular supervision of junior staff.
• To lead on all aspects of recruitment.
• To undertake specialist interventions as required.
• To manage a multidisciplinary group of staff and deal with issues appropriately making autonomous decisions.
• Deal with staff problems and complaints.
• Respond and robustly manage all offender complaints and serious incidents.
• Manage highly complex interface issues between prison services, criminal justice agencies and healthcare services.
• Interprets policies and changes in legislation in relation to practice.

Clinical

• To be professionally accountable for the planning and delivery of mental health care in HMPYOI Isis, prioritising clinical needs to provide an effective and efficient service.
• To lead on and promote evidence based best practice in offender health services.
• To apply a high level of understanding of the effect of offenders with complex needs and challenging behaviour and provide complex case management approaches, joint-working arrangements, training, and advice to discipline officers to promote the safe and effective management of such cases.
• To assess the physical and mental health needs of a complex offender group, establish and evaluate appropriate treatment programmes.
• Create a therapeutic environment that is built upon recovery and robust risk assessment and management.
• To develop and ensure that safe and effective integrated care pathways are in place for all offenders.
• The post holder will act as a central point of access and link with local and national mental health services (both NHS and independent sector) to ensure consistent co-ordinated care.

 Research

• To engage actively in practice development, evaluation, quality improvement, audit, and research activities relevant to mental/social care and/or services areas.
• To develop and promote evidence-based practice.

 Communication

• To develop and maintain effective communication structures, facilitating two-way communication on professional and trust issues.
• To provide specialist professional advice to the Directorate, internal and external stakeholders as required.
• To work with statutory and voluntary agencies (prison & community) to ensure the provision of a seamless service such as prison services, health & social care services, education, police, probation, resettlement, offender management and advocacy projects to develop robust partnership and joint working arrangements.
• To establish robust communication networks with offenders, other health workers and agencies where there may be barriers to understanding.
• Resolve complex clinical matters between staff and offenders where persuasion, motivation and reassurance may be required.
• Communicate policy implementation in own area of practice and across other health departments.

 Professional Development

·         To apply specialist skills and knowledge in order to establish professional competence.

·         To demonstrate ongoing personal development through participation in internal and external development opportunities and recording learning outcomes.

·         To ensure own supervision requirements are met through regular supervision with their line manager.

·         To identify individual training needs with their line manager.

·         To maintain a supervision structure for staff and monitor its effectiveness.

·         To attend relevant mandatory and professional development meetings to ensure own knowledge and skills are updated and shared with colleagues.

·         To identify staff training and development needs and facilitate access to relevant courses or projects.

·         To identify and contribute to the training of health staff regarding the development of quality offender health services.

·         To promote and facilitate student nurse placements in offender health services.

 Clinical Governance, Quality and Standards

·         To work with the senior managers to develop and implement robust integrated clinical governance arrangements and quality agenda for the service.

• To ensure trust-wide standards and procedures are consistently applied in all aspects of practice.

·     To advise on guidelines/legislation relating to prison healthcare.

•  To participate in clinical governance projects as required