Mental Health Practitioner

Mental Health Practitioner roles support adults and older people and the practitioner will be fully embedded in primary care working as part of the Primary Care Network (PCN) MDT. It is likely that their focus will be people whose needs cannot be met by Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), but who may not need ongoing care from secondary mental health services. The practitioner can be any clinical registered role such as a Community Psychiatric Nurse, Clinical Psychologist or Mental Health Occupational Therapist, for example.

As this is part of the wider transformation and expansion of community mental health services the practitioner will be employed by the secondary mental health provider. They will act as “bridge” between primary care and secondary mental health services and can facilitate onward referral to a range of services to meet patients’ needs. The PCN will only need to fund 50% of this role with the mental health provider funding the other 50%.

Where feasible, and with the agreement of the mental health provider, PCNs can also recruit a practitioner for Children and Young People under the same employment model.