Mental Health Practitioner

Overview

Adult Mental Health Practitioners

Mental health practitioners contribute to the ambition to develop integrated models of primary and community mental health care, supporting adults and older adults with severe mental illnesses to live well in their communities. Community mental health transformation defines those severely affected by mental illness, including but not limited to:
  • Psychosis
  • Bipolar disorder
  • ‘Personality disorder’ diagnosis
  • Eating disorders
  • Severe depression
  • Mental health rehabilitation needs

Some of these conditions may co-exist with other conditions such as frailty, cognitive impairment, neurodevelopmental conditions, or substance use.

These roles were introduced to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) of the Network Contract DES in April 2021. Mental health practitioners are based in GP surgeries or neighbourhood settings to:

  • Support people with severe mental illness or complex mental health needs.
  • Act as a ‘bridge’ between primary care and specialist mental health services.
  • Provide GPs and other primary care staff with timely support and advice.
  • Help relieve pressure on workloads.
  • Build stronger relationships with mental health services.

These practitioners work alongside NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression, and other primary care roles that provide mental health support.

Children and young people Practitioner

Mental health practitioners can also be recruited to work with children and young people. These roles focus on:

  • Supporting children and young people who present to primary care with identified or suspected mental health issues.
  • Offering access to mental health advice and additional support.
  • Supporting the NHS Long Term Plan aim for an additional 345,000 children and young people (aged 0-25) to access mental health services.

Flexibility and Local adaptation

Local areas can tailor the role to meet their needs.  A mental health practitioner role can be taken on by a wide range of staff with mental health expertise, registered or non-registered (ranging from Band 4-8a), including:

  • Peer support workers
  • Community psychiatric nurses
  • Clinical psychologists
  • Mental health social workers
  • Mental health occupational therapists
  • Mental health community connectors

Funding Structure

The first mental health practitioner in a Primary Care Network (PCN) is funded 50/50 between:

  • Primary care Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) funding.
  • Funding held by integrated care systems (ICSs) for community mental health transformation.

There is flexibility on funding for any additional mental health practitioners for each PCN. The roles are employed by mental health providers (or subcontracted to voluntary, community or social enterprise providers) and are embedded in primary care.

Supporting Children and young people

Mental health practitioners can also be recruited to work with children and young people. These roles focus on:

  • Supporting children and young people who present to primary care with identified or suspected mental health issues.
  • Offering access to mental health advice and additional support.
  • Supporting the NHS Long Term Plan aim for an additional 345,000 children and young people (aged 0-25) to access mental health services.

Scope of Practice

Role Responsibilities

A Mental Health Practitioner provides the following functions depending on local context, supervision and appropriate clinical governance:

  • Mental health advice, support, consultation, and liaison across the wider local health and social care system, including acting as a first point of contact in primary care for patients whose care needs are not suitable for Talking Therapies services.
  • Facilitation of onward access to mental and physical health, well-being, and biopsychosocial interventions.
  • Provision of brief psychological interventions, where qualified to do so and where appropriate.
  • Work closely with other PCN-based roles to help address the potential range of biopsychosocial needs of patients with mental health problems. This will include the PCN’s MDT, including, for example, PCN clinical pharmacists for medication reviews, and social prescribing link workers for access to community-based support.
  • May operate without the need for formal referrals from GPs, including accepting some direct bookings where appropriate, subject to agreement on volumes and the mechanism of booking between the PCN and the provider.

A PCN must ensure that the postholder is supported through the local community mental health services provider (or by the employer of the postholder, where the local community mental health services provider has subcontracted the service to another organisation) by robust clinical governance structures to maintain quality and safety, including supervision where appropriate.

Entry Requirements

  • Various – Depending on the role recruited will depend on the Entry requirements for that role.

Please discuss with your employer or provider for specific criteria as this may differ across organisations.

Supervision Requirements

Supervision is a process of professional learning and development that enables individuals to reflect on and develop their knowledge, skills and competence, through regular support from another professional.

Supervision can have different forms and functions, and a number of terms are used to describe these. For this guidance we use the below terms and define them as follows:

  • Clinic/practice supervision: day-to-day support provided by a named/duty senior/more experienced clinician for issues arising in the practice.
  • Clinical/professional supervision: regular support from a named senior/experienced clinician/practitioner to promote high clinical standards and develop professional expertise.
  • Educational supervision: supports learning and enables learners to achieve proficiency.

Mental Health Practitioner Supervision

It is recommended that Mental Health Practitioners have access to appropriate supervision.  The recommended supervisor role for a mental health practitioner would be any of the following;

  • A Local mental Health trust (adult MHP’s)
  • Young people’s community mental health teams (CYP MHPs)
  • Employer where subcontracted by the trust
  • Or a more senior/experienced MHP

Recommended minimum frequency of a 1-hour supervision meeting is monthly. (NHSE Supervision guidance, 2023 – link below)

Supervision Guidance for primary care network multidisciplinary teams (NHSE, 2023): NHS England » Supervision guidance for primary care network multidisciplinary teams

Funding for role

  • AFC Band 4 – 8a

A PCN may claim reimbursement for the adult mental health practitioner service from within the allocated Additional Roles Reimbursement Sum for 2025/26.  PCN’s are able to claim:

  • 50 per cent reimbursement for the first MHP recruited, with the remaining 50 per cent funded by the local community mental health provider; and
  • up to 100 per cent reimbursement for subsequent MHPs, where there is a written agreement between the PCN’s local community mental health provider and the PCN outlining this approach, the activities the MHP will support the relevant supervision arrangements, and the commissioner supports this arrangement.

In all instances, the adult MHPs will be employed or engaged under a suitable arrangement by the PCN’s local community mental health provider which will provide the adult MHP service to the PCN in accordance with the local agreement to deliver the relevant service requirements.

The PCN and community mental health provider may additionally agree to the provision of a service to support children and young people’s (“CYP”) mental health. Where this is agreed locally, the PCN will be entitled to claim reimbursement, the level of which is to be agreed with the commissioner, for the provision of the CYP MHP service.

Recruitment Information 

Where a PCN employs or engages a Mental Health Practitioner under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, the PCN must ensure that the Mental Health Practitioner meets the ‘Minimum Role Requirements’ stipulated in Annex B of the Network DES

NHSE Example Job descriptions

NHSE Example Induction Checklist: PRN00057i-example-induction-checklist-template-mdt-general-practice.docx

Extra Resources

NHS England » The community mental health framework for adults and older adults