Consultant Psychiatrist - General Adult Mental Health Liaison Team

NHS; Knowsley; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

An esteemed healthcare provider is seeking a Consultant Psychiatrist to join their Mental Health Liaison team in Knowsley. This role involves delivering clinical services, assessing complex cases, and providing leadership to a multi-disciplinary team. The ideal candidate will possess a strong background in mental health, relevant qualifications, and excellent communication skills. Flexible working requests will be considered.

Qualifications

• Fully registered with the GMC with a licence to practice.
• Included on the GMC Specialist Register for General Adult Psychiatry.
• In good standing with GMC.

Responsibilities

• Deliver a quality clinical service to General Adult Patients.
• Participate in assessment and management of patients under the Mental Health Act.
• Provide medical leadership and support to team members.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Mental health knowledge

Communication skills

Liaison psychiatry

Education

MB BS or equivalent medical qualification

MRCPsych or equivalent higher degree

Job description

Overview

We are looking for a Consultant Psychiatrist to join our Whiston Mental Health Liaison teams delivering assessment and treatment to General Adult Patients based on the Acute Hospital Inpatient wards.

The Mental Health Liaison Team (MHLT) operates within the A&E department and Medical Assessment Wards and provides a rapid assessment service for individuals aged 18 and above with the Older Person's Service accepting new referrals from age 70+years. With expertise working at the interface between physical and mental illness, including psychological reactions to physical illness, they are crucial to reducing adverse outcomes associated with hospital admissions, increased costs and lengths of stays.

It is a thriving team, with lots of activity and excellent relationships between different teams and colleagues. The services are delivered as part of a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) that works with individual patients. A range of other professionals with varying level of expertise supports the MHLT: operational manager, team manager, clinical leads, liaison nurses, support workers, administrative and secretarial staff.

Your workload will comprise attending daily team meetings, assessing and providing expert advice for, and in relation to, patients on the wards and AED; delivering training and supervision to the team and the wider hospital staff group, as well as participating in service delivery activities.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will include assessment of urgent referrals from acute medical wards and AED. Medical support is provided for more complex cases and those requiring the specific skills of a liaison psychiatrist. This will include leading on the training of other hospital staff and interacting with other medical professionals throughout the hospital.

Demonstrate an understanding of the interface between physical illness and mental illness; undertake diagnosis and formulation of management plans in complex cases; advise medical teams on appropriate integrated care and assess and manage risk (e.g. suicide risk, violence/aggression, absconding) relating to psychiatric conditions in general hospital settings.

Provide advice on prescribing to medical teams on psychotropic medication; provide expertise, and fulfil a statutory role, in managing medico-legal issues in the general hospital, including application of mental health and mental capacity legislation; understand the medical issues in assessing patients with medically unexplained symptoms and understand the medical issues in mental health patients associated with long-term conditions.

Collaboration with medical colleagues to ensure availability for emergency liaison assessments through the daytime (9am to 5pm) and also to provide cross-cover during periods of annual/study leave.

Assessment and management of patients under the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act.

About us

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We\'re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.

Job responsibilities

While primarily responsible for delivering a quality clinical service, the Consultant Psychiatrist is also expected to be actively involved in taking a strategic lead in on-going developments on the ward and support the Trusts strategic aims of delivering Perfect Care.

General Adult Consultant psychiatrist responsible for providing clinical leadership for The Whiston Mental Health Liaison team.

Medical support is provided for more complex cases and those requiring the specific skills of a liaison psychiatrist. This will include leading on the training of other hospital staff and interacting with other medical professionals throughout the hospital.

To supervise and support team members who carry out assessments of patients referred to the team.

To carry out comprehensive psychiatric assessments and provide treatment for patients.

Supporting staff to manage psychiatric emergencies

To conduct patient reviews and lead Multidisciplinary reviews and multi-professional meetings

To be the responsible clinician for the purposes of the Mental Health Act 1983 (amended 2007) and carry out duties in accordance to the code of practice.

To carry out comprehensive Risk Assessments and participate in Trusts risk management processes such as Health Risk Assessment and Management Meetings (H-RAMM)

To provide medical leadership to the team

Please see job description for further details.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• MB BS or equivalent medical qualification.
• Qualification or higher degree in medical education such as MRCPsych.
• Fully registered with the GMC with a licence to practise at the time of appointment.
• Included on the GMC Specialist Register for General Adult Psychiatry, OR within six months.
• Approved Clinician status OR able to achieve within 3 months of appointment.
• Approved under S12 OR able to achieve with 3 months of appointment.
• In good standing with GMC with respect to warning and conditions on practice.
• Dual CCT (General Adult and Old Age).

Transport

• Ability to fulfil travel requirements of the post.
• Valid UK driving license.

Clinical Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Excellent knowledge in specialty.
• Excellent clinical skills using bio-psycho-social perspective and wide medical knowledge.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Able to manage clinical complexity and uncertainty.
• Makes decisions based on evidence and experience including the contribution of others.
• Able to meet duties under MHA and MCA.
• An endorsement in Liaison Psychiatry is preferred but not essential.

Academic Skills and Lifelong Learning

• Able to deliver undergraduate or postgraduate teaching and training.
• Participated in continuous professional development.
• Participated in research or service evaluation.
• Able to use and appraise clinical evidence.
• Has actively participated in clinical audit.
• Able to plan and deliver undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and training relevant to this post.
• Reflected on purpose of CPD undertaken.
• Experienced in clinical research and/or service evaluation.
• Evidence of achievement in education, research, audit and service improvement: awards, prizes, presentations and publications.
• Has led clinical audits leading to service change.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Knowsley Resource & Recovery Centre, Whiston Hospital Site

Knowsley Resource & Recovery Centre, Whiston Hospital Site