Mental Health Act Compliance Officer

Job content

We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and motivated individual to join our friendly and compassionate MHA Compliance Team on a full time contract.

The Mental Health Act Compliance Team provide an administrative service to the Trust in the administration and application of the Mental Health Act for people who are detained in hospital for treatment of mental disorder.

The successful candidate will have excellent time management and interpersonal skills, have a positive approach and be able to remain calm under pressure. The successful candidate will work as part of a team, whilst also working independently on their own initiative.

The post requires a good knowledge of Microsoft Office software packages, such as word and excel, and a knowledge of issues around confidentiality and data protection. You don’t need any previous experience of the Mental Health Act as you will be given full on-the-job training.

If you are an enthusiastic, self-motivated team player with excellent organisational skills and feel that this is the role for you we would love to hear from you.

The post is predominantly based at Wedgwood House, Bury St Edmunds, however, travel to Woodlands, Ipswich, may occasionally be required.

Maintain a thorough understanding and in depth knowledge of the 1983 Mental Health Act (MHA) (as amended) . To be able to convert this knowledge into detailed administration of the Act.

To provide information to patients and their relatives in accordance with the MHA Legislation.

To remind and follow up Responsible Clinicians about the expiry of sections.

To liaise with Social Services Departments and others regarding the ‘sectioning’ of patients.

To deal with the administrative tasks associated with Managers Hearings and Mental Health Tribunals including meeting with detained patients to explain their rights of appeal against detention under the 1983 Mental Health Act.

To deal with the administration of Consent to Treatment Regulations.

To assist in the administrative tasks associated with CQC visits.

To provide timely and effective administrative support to the wards regarding Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards requests/authorisations in relation to the Trust’s duties in the role of Managing Authority.

To process and maintain records for those patients detained under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in line with Trust processes and procedures.

To provide, in conjunction with others, holiday and sickness cover with the MHA Compliance team at all sites.

To participate in on-going audits and service development within the team.

To undertake any other appropriate tasks as requested by the MHA Team Leader/MHA Compliance Manager to meet the needs of the service.

Here at NSFT we pride ourselves on being a welcoming, talented, friendly and supportive team who like nothing better than sharing their experiences and learning from each other.

Why work for us?We have challenges as a Trust, but we have ambitious aspirations, are pushing ahead with exciting transformation work and we need dedicated individuals to support us on our journey. We have strong, established nursing networks coupled with an exceptional leadership team who will ensure you are truly cared for and cared about.

Why Norfolk and Suffolk?The people here are warm and welcoming, you’ll never be far from the beautiful coastline or Broads National Park. We’re an hour and a half away from London and have an international airport in Norwich too. Our villages, towns and cities are packed full of history, independent cafes, shops and theatres. We have excellent shopping, eating out, top ranking schooling and affordable house prices too.

Some of the benefits you can expect:

• NHS pension
• a comprehensive in house & external training programmes
• career progression
• starting annual leave of 27 days per annum increasing to 33 days pa based on length of service (plus paid bank holidays)
• staff physio service
• NHS discounts and many more

Please find attached our Job Description and Person Specification for more detail on your Key Accountabilities, then if you feel you have what it takes to make a difference in your local communities, click APPLY!

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