Community jobs in United Kingdom

Join our dynamic established team working across our low-secure George Mackenzie ward and community forensic teams in the picturesque regions of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. As a consultant forensic psychiatrist, you will play a pivotal role in providing continuity of care and clinical leadership within our innovative and supportive environment.

In this role, you will share Responsible Clinician (RC) duties with two experienced forensic consultants at our low secure unit in Cambridge. In addition to the established consultant team you will have the support of junior medical staff, including SAS and training grade doctors (CT and ST). You will also lead the treatment of a defined community caseload, conduct specialist evaluations, and collaborate with a comprehensive multidisciplinary team. Our close ties with the prestigious University of Cambridge offer ample opportunities for service development, research, and teaching. You will also have opportunities to engage in relevant research, with links to the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University.

We are committed to fostering a culture of excellence and compassion, and we encourage informal enquiries to our Forensic Clinical Lead, Dr. Alan Smith ( [email protected]).

Your primary responsibilities will include delivering specialist forensic psychiatric evaluations and advice for individuals referred by various agencies, including general psychiatric services, hospitals, prisons, probation, and multi-agency public protection panels. You will develop strong links with other forensic service providers, criminal justice, and voluntary agencies.

In this role, you will lead the forensic community mental health teams, providing clinical leadership and overseeing the treatment and risk management of a caseload of patients. You will also support multidisciplinary team members in conducting assessments, facilitating accurate diagnoses, and implementing evidence-based interventions to improve mental health and risk management.

You will maintain Section 12(2) and Approved Clinician status, ensuring comprehensive knowledge of relevant legislative frameworks. As the RC, you will oversee the care of inpatients detained at George Mackenzie House and community patients subject to statutory supervision, such as s.41 of the MHA’83 and community treatment orders.

Additionally, you will play a key role in the provider collaborative arrangements, facilitating patient repatriation and reducing the need for hospital admission and length of stay. You will actively contribute to multidisciplinary and formulation meetings, working closely with team members, care coordinators, and other CPFT services to ensure continuity of care and timely patient progress.

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

Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children's, adult and older people's mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.

To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high-calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and 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.

For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk

This post provides continuity of care with clinical duties in the Cambridge and Peterborough forensic community mental health teams and inpatient consultant responsibilities at the George Mackenzie House, Low Secure Unit, Fulbourn Hospital. The post is based in Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge with duties in Cambridge and Peterborough.

Working alongside forensic consultant colleagues, the postholder will provide clinical leadership to the forensic community mental health teams and exercise consultant responsibility for the treatment and risk management of a case load of patients registered with the service. The community services in Peterborough and Cambridge are known as the North and South services respectively.

The postholder will provide specialist forensic psychiatric evaluations and advice concerning individuals referred by agencies including general psychiatric services, other hospitals, prisons, probation and multi-agency public protection panels. The postholder will develop good links with other forensic service providers, criminal justice and voluntary agencies.

The community forensic service caters for adults with mental disorder (mental illness and personality disorder). It has recently been expanded to include a small caseload of patients with learning disability and/or autism.

Working alongside two existing inpatient forensic consultants, the postholder will be the Responsible Clinician for a caseload of patients at the low secure facility, George Mackenzie House, Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge.

The postholder will be supported by non-consultant medical staff which includes SAS and training grade doctors (CT and ST).

Forensic Psychiatry in CPFT

The postholder will be part of the forensic psychiatry staff. Forensic mental health services managed by CPFT are of two main forms: services in hospital and services in the community (there is also the OPD pathway based at HMP Whitemoor).

George Mackenzie House is the CPFT 20 bed low secure unit providing inpatient treatment for men and women. The non-secure ward, Mulberry Ward has three forensic beds acting as ‘step down’ beds for the low secure unit as well as forensic admission beds from the community.

George Mackenzie House is part of the East of England Secure Services Provider Collaborative which also covers services in Norfolk, Essex, and parts of Hertfordshire. The Northside Clinic in Norwich and Brockfield House are the neighbouring NHS medium secure providers.

CPFT provides community forensic mental health services based in Peterborough (North) and Cambridge (South). Both community teams are multidisciplinary with community psychiatric nurses, occupational therapists, support workers and forensic psychologists.

The main purpose of the forensic community service is to assess and provide specialist treatment to people with mental disorder in the community who pose or could pose a significant risk of causing serious harm (usually physical) to others. Most, but not all, individuals registered with the service have been convicted of serious violent offending. The ethos is the safe management of risk through effective treatment and care.

Men and women from the locality who require low secure psychiatric inpatient care are detained at the Trust’s secure unit, George Mackenzie House

Key Clinical Responsibilities

The postholder will provide consultant clinical leadership to the forensic community and inpatient teams. The consultant will contribute to the assessment of patients referred to the service for diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders and support multidisciplinary team members who carry out assessments. The postholder will facilitate accurate diagnosis, assessment of risk and interventions to improve the mental health and risk management of those referred.

Treatment needs to be delivered in a timely and consistent manner in accordance with the recovery model. The postholder will provide or oversea ongoing treatments to patients which are evidence based and supported by NICE guidelines.

The postholder is required to maintain Section 12(2) and Approved Clinician status and have a comprehensive knowledge of the relevant legislative frameworks. The consultant will hold RC responsibilities for inpatients detained at the George Mackenzie House, Low Secure Unit and for community patients subject to statutory supervision such as s.41 of the MHA’83 and community treatment orders.

The postholder will undertake and supervise others undertaking secure hospital access assessments.

The postholder is expected to play a key role within the provider collaborative arrangements, facilitating the repatriation of patients, and helping to reduce the need for hospital admission and length of stay.

The postholder is expected to be committed to a multidisciplinary approach to care, contribute actively to multidisciplinary and formulation meetings, and work in close collaboration with team members, care coordinators, other CPFT services. Supportive and good working relationships are essential.

The North and South forensic community services have well established multidisciplinary teams and have close working relationships with the forensic inpatient service. Many professional staff work across both the forensic community and inpatient services so that continuity of care is optimised, and patient care is progressed in a timely manner.

The postholder will be expected to contribute to the collection of clinical information to ensure further service developments and to enable audit. The postholder will participate in clinical governance activities.

Consultants are actively involved in planning and developing services, and there will be opportunities to engage in quality improvement work.

As a consultant, the postholder will be a member of the Medical Advisory Group for CPFT.

The postholder is encouraged to undertake relevant research and there are links with the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University.

Here at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) we are dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion. We deliver many of the NHS services that are provided outside of hospital and in the community such as physical, mental health and specialist services.

We are a health and social care organisation, offering a wide range of services, including:

We strongly encourage applications from all sections of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including disabled people and members of our ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ communities. For further information about our positive equality, diversity and Inclusion work, please visit https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/equalityanddiversity .

CPFT is looking to build upon its pool of temporary workers with Temporary Staffing Services (TSS). You will be asked at interview if you would be willing to register with TSS. This is an excellent opportunity for those looking to take on additional hours that are flexible around your personal circumstances.

Please be advised that in line with the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List, 2020 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust currently are unable to accept applications from overseas candidates whose country of residence is classed as a ‘Red List’ country.

Applicants who require entry into the UK will be required to provide a valid police certificate from the relevant authority from each country (except the UK) where the applicant has been present for 12 months or more, 10 years before the date of visa application, while aged 18 or over.

If you are successful at interview you will be subject to pre-employment checks, including a DBS (if appropriate), references and Occupational Health. To ensure a smooth process please bring all identity documents to your interview. A list of required identity documents will be attached to your interview invitation.

All communications will be sent to you via TRAC Systems. By applying for this post you are agreeing to CPFT transferring the information contained in this application to TRAC. If you are made an offer, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.