Specialty Doctor in Forensic Psychiatry

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 61,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health service provider in the UK is seeking a Specialty Doctor in Forensic Psychiatry to enhance community care for patients. The role involves assessment and support for patients transitioning from secure settings, liaising with various healthcare and justice agencies. Candidates should possess a recognised medical degree, GMC registration, and relevant psychiatric experience. Competitive salary between £61,542 - £99,216 per annum offered.

Qualifications

• Full GMC registration with a licence to practice.
• At least two years of experience in psychiatry, especially in community settings.
• Commitment to Continuing Professional Development.

Responsibilities

• Assess and review inpatients referred for discharge preparation.
• Provide medical and psychological support to service users.
• Liaise with healthcare providers and justice agencies.

Skills

Experience in psychiatry

Teaching and training skills

Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team

Flexibility and adaptability

Education

Recognised medical degree

MRCPsych or equivalent

Job description

Go back Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Specialty Doctor in Forensic Psychiatry

The closing date is 12 December 2025

This is an exciting opportunity to join our forensic outreach service known as FIRST (Forensic Intensive Recovery and Support Team). The FIRST team provides community care across a large and diverse catchment area, for patients who have been discharged from secure inpatient care.

The overarching aims are to facilitate early discharge from inpatient care and reduce the need for avoidable re-admissions to secure care. The team achieves this by providing flexible and responsive, recovery focussed, person centred mental health care. The post holder will have the opportunity to work with a range of inpatient secure providers, contribute to service development and quality improvement, and, as part of a multidisciplinary team, play a key role in enabling the recovery of service users.

Applicants must have full registration with the General Medical Council with completion of four years postgraduate training, at least two of which will be within a psychiatry training programme or equivalent experience and competences.

Main duties of the job

The FIRST Specialty Doctor will work with the multidisciplinary team to provide excellent community care for service users. This will include undertaking assessments of inpatients who are referred into the service in preparation for working towards discharge, and medical reviews of patients who are under the team's care, both on a regular planned basis and urgently when necessary. You will also support other staff in managing physical health needs and will be expected to attend and participate in team reflective practice and formulation sessions.

The role will involve liaison with the Ministry of Justice, other healthcare providers including GPs, and criminal justice agencies where necessary, and in providing written reports when required.

About us

Welcome to Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Our 4000 clinical and support staff help us to improve mental health wellbeing and meet the needs of the 70,000 people we serve each year. We provide a range of mental healthcare services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as specialised services nationally. We also offer medical, nursing and psychology training and are proud of our international reputation for both research and innovation.

Our population is culturally diverse, characterised in places by high levels of deprivation which create an increasing demand for our services and a necessity for us to make sure everyone can access the help they need. We are a team of compassionate, inclusive and committed people working together to provide excellent care to support our community. If you are looking for a place to belong, where you can make a real difference to people's lives, join our team where our warm welcome is waiting for you.

Job responsibilities

The full job description is attached.

There is a monthly peer-group meeting of Specialty Doctors (which includes teaching sessions), which the post holder will be encouraged to attend. There is also an MRCPsych course for Resident doctors which the Specialty Doctor will be welcome to join if they wish.

We have an established process to support Specialty Doctors who wish to explore career progression in terms of Acting Up opportunities and support of CESR applications.

There will also be Regular Management Supervision by the line manager.

There are many opportunities within the service for Specialty Doctor to take on additional clinical and managerial roles and as senior leaders within the service, Specialty Doctors are expected to embrace this, according to their skills and interests.

Person Specification

Scoring

• Recognised medical degree
• Full GMC registration with a licence to practice
• Eligible for approval under Section 12(2) of the Mental Health Act.
• Completed at least four years' fulltime postgraduate training (or its equivalent gained on a part-time or flexible basis) at least two of which will be within a psychiatry training programme or as a fixed term specialty trainee within psychiatry; or have equivalent experience and competences.
• Commitment to personal programme of Continuing Professional Development
• At least two years experience of working in psychiatry, including working with people suffering from severe mental illness, preferably in a community setting
• Experience of teaching and training at an undergraduate/postgraduate level
• Commitment to clinical audit and quality improvement within multidisciplinary team.
• Flexibility and adaptability to respond to changing service needs
• Ability to work creatively within multidisciplinary team
• Demonstrable interest in the provision of gender sensitive mental health service
• Able to travel across the community base area
• MRCPsych or equivalent
• Approved under Section 12(2) of the Mental Health Act (1983)
• Broad clinical training in psychiatry including both inpatient and community service
• Experience serving a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic population.
• Experience of providing psychological and/or social interventions
• Experience of contributing to or completion of a service improvement project
• Completed clinically relevant audit projects
• Skills in working with individuals who are difficult to engage.

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.

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Depending on experience£61,542 - £99,216 per annum