First Response Service Clinical Lead | Cambridgeshire and NHS Foundation Trust

Overview

Are you a passionate and motivated mental health professional looking for your next challenge? We’re seeking an enthusiastic Clinical Lead to join our dynamic First Response Service — a pioneering, award‑winning team providing 24/7 mental health crisis support to individuals of all ages.

As part of our service, you’ll work closely with key community partners including the police, ambulance services, and local authorities to deliver compassionate, responsive care during times of crisis. This is a unique opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives when they need it most.

• Provide 1:1 support through both telephone triage and face‑to‑face assessments
• Collaborate with service users to develop effective crisis and safety plans
• Lead and support a multidisciplinary team, offering clinical guidance and mentorship
• Co‑ordinate shifts and allocate referrals and assessments across the team
• Conduct telephone triage and face‑to‑face community assessments, especially for complex cases
• Deliver brief clinical risk assessments, mental health formulations, and short‑term contingency plans
• Liaise with professionals and agencies such as emergency services, GPs, schools, and care homes
• Work closely with other mental health services including secondary care and crisis teams
• Implement solution‑focused interventions to empower patients, carers, and families
• Develop safe and effective care plans using strong communication and clinical judgment
• Draw on your knowledge of external resources to provide tailored support for individual needs
• Provide evidence‑based clinical interventions, making autonomous clinical decisions about your professional practice
• Responsibility for the development, planning and implementation of brief care and treatment interventions for individual patients in liaison with the First Response Service
• Provide assessment, planning and implementation of individual packages of care and treatment
• Ensure that individual episodes of care are delivered in a timely, effective and integrated manner
• Promote a recovery model that empowers patients, carers and relatives to be at the forefront of decision making and ownership of their packages of care and treatment
• Undertake clinical risk assessments, based on latest empirical evidence and compliant with local policies and procedures
• Act as the patient’s and relative’s advocate
• Enable patients and carers to manage disability, loss and change
• Champion patients’ rights, including dignity, equality, diversity, choice and respect
• When undertaking all of the above, ensure good documentation is provided and entered within the appropriate systems of record sharing
• Escalate concerns
• Delegate duties and prioritise urgency of assessments

• A qualified mental health practitioner with leadership experience or aspirations
• Strong clinical skills in crisis intervention, risk assessment, and safety planning
• Resilience, adaptability, and a calm approach under pressure
• A commitment to compassionate, person‑centred care

• Be part of a forward‑thinking, supportive team.
• Work in a role that offers variety, challenge, and the chance to grow professionally.

This role involves shifts: day shifts 07:00‑19:30 and night shifts 19:00‑07:30.

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health & social care organisation dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion to improve the health & wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting & empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services not only via inpatient and primary care setting but also with the community. These services include Children, Adult & Older Peoples mental & physical health, Forensic & Specialist mental health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care & Liaison psychiatry, Substance misuse, Social care, Research & Development.

As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under‑represented groups including disabled people & members of our ethnic minorities & LGBTQ+ communities.

Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.

Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.

Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.

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